HDTV USB TV Tuner??

Crabman

I'm thinking of bidding for this but it's strange that it's advertised as HDTV - my laptop screen isn't HD as far as I know - how's it going to work??

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-Digital-TV-Remote-Freeview-DVB-T-HDTV_W0QQitemZ8817133926QQcategoryZ3761QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

tomd84

A lot of tuners out there support HDTV, but dont go rushing in to buying anything at the moment becuase there is no HDTV channels on freeview, and it is not know what broadcasting standards they will use when they come out!

Thanks Tom :-)

Crabman

tomd84 wrote:

A lot of tuners out there support HDTV, but dont go rushing in to buying anything at the moment becuase there is no HDTV channels on freeview, and it is not know what broadcasting standards they will use when they come out!

Thanks Tom :-)

Broadcasting standards eh? I know nothing about what that could possibly mean so I'll just give this one a miss then - cheers much appreciated :beer:

raymond

tomd84 wrote:

A lot of tuners out there support HDTV, but dont go rushing in to buying anything at the moment becuase there is no HDTV channels on freeview, and it is not know what broadcasting standards they will use when they come out!

Thanks Tom :-)

BBC are to transmit coverage of the world cup on freeview in HD according to their website.

Most computers are capable of displaying HD, but many old ones will struggle especially laptops.

Go to the microsoft media website and down load a demo or let it analyse your system to see if its capable. Mine is, and the hd clips look terrific.

tomd84

Even though they are going to broadcast the world cup in HD it is still not know what standards and codecs they are going to use yet, they are still expermenting! As soon as its been confirmed (check out https://www.digitalspy.co.uk) get one that meets the requirments!

Thanks Tom :-)

Hillfly

Hey Crabman! :rotfl:

Sory to hijack your post but this is related.

I want to buy a usb tv stick and i'm not sure which t go for. The freecom one seems popular but i see ebuyer now have a 19.99 extra value one which has no reviews as yet.
What are the key things to be looking at when buying one of these things? Am i right in saying software is important?

tomd84

Hillfly wrote:

Hey Crabman! :rotfl:

Sory to hijack your post but this is related.

I want to buy a usb tv stick and i'm not sure which t go for. The freecom one seems popular but i see ebuyer now have a 19.99 extra value one which has no reviews as yet.
What are the key things to be looking at when buying one of these things? Am i right in saying software is important?

Software is very important, you could have the best usb stick in the world, but if it will only work with that bit of software and its cheaply made..... well you can see what happens

You should try and get a DVB-T card with MCE support or BDA Drivers, this means they will work with any software! Freecom and the DVB-T are not bda compatible meaning they will only work with the supplyed software

You also have to be careful about the signal, i get a great signal on everything, but i got a cheap dvb-t box to start off with and i didnt get half the channels, but i got a new hauapage dvb-t stick and now i can use what ever software i want and i get all the channels without a problem!

Hillfly

Doh - i just bought the freecom one this aternoon from pcworld (:eek: ).

Would you suggest i return it?
If so any ideas of a good replacement for £40 max?
Also which software would you reccomend?

Thanks.

MarkyMark_2

Hillfly wrote:

Doh - i just bought the freecom one this aternoon from pcworld (:eek: ).

Would you suggest i return it?
If so any ideas of a good replacement for £40 max?
Also which software would you reccomend?

Thanks.

Why do you want to replace it ??? i have one after trying a few cheapy ones which were returned and the freecom is far the best for picking up stations and playing near faultless playback and imo the software which came with it works pretty good and i see no reason to change it.

Hillfly

That's good to know. Seems good in early experiments to me so i'll probably stick with it. I was just a bit put off by the above comments.

The proof of the pudding.....

tomd84

Hillfly wrote:

That's good to know. Seems good in early experiments to me so i'll probably stick with it. I was just a bit put off by the above comments.

The proof of the pudding.....

If your happy with it and like the software and it meets your needs, keep it, but remember it has no bda drivers, so if you want to use it with other software you can't!

A good altentive for £39.99 is a hauppauge usb stick this has full BDA drivers so you can use it with altentive software and media center :-)