Dazzle Videoconverter 2006 - Analogue in + DVB-T & Analogue Tuner £27

mbailey

I have not come across this card before. It appears to do alot of things for a very cheap price:

Dazzle VideoCollector 2006, PCI Card / Analogue In, DVB-T & Analogue TV tuner / Studio QuickStart & TVCenter SW

Link to Amazon for £27 (including postage!) - Search for item "202262317"

Link to Product information: Dazzle Video Collector 2006

Is this card only recently released? Any one tried one yet?

The only part the worries me is that the production information says: "Watch and record TV on your PC; Added features include Timeshifting, Teletext and web-based EPG (30- day trial included) "

I can not see any information saying how much the EPG will cost after 30 days, and does this work with teletext transmitted through Freeview?

mitch2000

A Bit dearer at Savastore (£32.53 Delivered) and a few good reviews
http://www.savastore.com/productinfo/product.aspx?catalog_name=Savastore&product_id=10285300&pid=204&rstrat=3166

ra11

I've seen EPG's for analogue cards before where they use a software interface that links to https://www.tvtv.co.uk - whihc you use to select what to record.
Around £5 a year gets you a license and the app sits happily on the system tray and can even wake your PC / laptop from Standby when a program is scheduled to be recorded.

However, given this card is DVB-T aswell, I would have thought the DVB-T software had ome sort of EPG... I can't see people using the analogue for anything other than inputs for backing up from VHS.

Great price for a combi card though!! - wonder if it's MCE2005 compatible (almost certainly not...)..?

cleudo

Min spec is a P4 1.8GHz though.. suggests most of the processing is done in software.

I'd be interested to see how much this would slow your pc down.

great price though!

lowedb

Apparently EPG isn't included as standard on DVB-T. The set top boxes (or idtvs) manufacturer pays a fee to the on air provider. Rather than do the same, most PC based units use an internet based service and hence you pay for the service if you want it.

Apparently that's the main reason why cheap STBs only have now/next EPG, because the license is cheaper.

debs626

Have been looking for one of these and this look just about the best one for price , shame it dosnt have a remote tho

Thanks

mbailey

debs626 wrote:

Have been looking for one of these and this look just about the best one for price , shame it dosnt have a remote tho

Thanks

On another forum I read " ...the upgrade for the remote costs £20 with some extra mediacenter software which is nearly the same as the card!"

I am not sure where this is from, as there is nothing on the Pinnacle web.

Anyone know if this is Windows Media Centre compatible?

Any ideas if 2 cards can be used together?

gazbert_2

Does this thing have a tv-out?

mbailey

gazbert wrote:

Does this thing have a tv-out?

I don't think so - just inputs.

debs626

mbailey wrote:

On another forum I read " ...the upgrade for the remote costs £20 with some extra mediacenter software which is nearly the same as the card!"

I am not sure where this is from, as there is nothing on the Pinnacle web.

Anyone know if this is Windows Media Centre compatible?

Any ideas if 2 cards can be used together?

Looks like it does support media centre

text taken from site

System Requirements

Operating System
Windows® XP (Home, Professional or Media Center Edition 2006) with latest service pack

Thanks for the tip about the remote rumor ... will keep an eye out ......... as it happens I have ordered one but delivery is not until the 4th of march :-(

but I think its worth the wait.

gromituk

lowedb wrote:

Apparently EPG isn't included as standard on DVB-T. The set top boxes (or idtvs) manufacturer pays a fee to the on air provider. Rather than do the same, most PC based units use an internet based service and hence you pay for the service if you want it.

Apparently that's the main reason why cheap STBs only have now/next EPG, because the license is cheaper.

I don't think that's true. After all, my Freeview box was updated on-air to 8-day EPG capability a couple of years after I'd bought it. The update was free, and two years before, the 8-day EPG hadn't even been thought of, let alone promised by the box maker. I think any price differential is simply down to the development cost of the software to decode the EPG information.