help with buying a pvr

coolbean12

i want to buy my teenage son a pvr but cant afford the hauupauge ones. i came across a company called tv stick co.uk who are doing a usb tv mini stick for £25.99. It is a mini tuner and if the blurb is anything to go by, you can watch freeview and use it as a pvr. Has anyone bought one of these and if so, are they any good? is it a a reputable company? my son wants to record gameplay on ps3 off the tv and edit and do montages on youtube.
the company says that it is the Best TV Stick for Digital TV and they are an indepentent retailer.

I am a single mum and this seemed like a good deal as I haven't a huge budget. Any comments would be gratefully received.
thanks.

Painkiller

The Digital TV Sticks are not PVRs - they are just TV tuners. You will need a program on your PC to work in conjunction with the tuner (Windows Media Center, Blaze, WinTV etc...) and those programmes will have the option to record tv shows, giving your PC the ability to act as a PVR.

There are cheaper DVB-T USB TV Tuners available from about £12, don't be conned by a retailer claiming that a specific tuner is the best.

What is important is that you can find the website for the manufacturer of the usb dvb-t tuner and make sure they have up-to-date drivers that are free to download so that it'll work with your pc.

The tuner will need to be connected to a proper TV aerial to get the channels - the small one that comes with them are pretty useless.

A USB TV Tuner will not in any way allow you to record video from the PS3 to your computer.

This tutorial video might help (some strong language included);
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNPkmA6Gwfc&feature=related

The Dazzle product that he's using is on amazon.co.uk

coolbean12

thanks a lot for your help. it's confusing with all these gadgets - but i have heard of a dazzle so will look for one of them. thanks a lot.

Painkiller

No problem - remember that the Dazzle does not have a freeview tuner built-in

zee_2

wait and try
http://www.tvcatchup.com/channels.html
no cost or anything to buy

Jenna_Appleseed

zee wrote: »

wait and try
http://www.tvcatchup.com/channels.html
no cost or anything to buy

except that just a live streaming site and recording from it isn't legal.