Freeview HD pci Card

movingtables · 5 Apr 2011 at 20:21

So after all this time there doesnt appear to be a TV PCI card supporting Freeview HD or am i looking in the wrong places?

Short supply of chips is a poor excuse surely as Freeview HD has been out a year or more now in the UK ?

Fanatic · 5 Apr 2011 at 20:26

Blackgold BGT3620, and there is a Hauppauge USB stick one out too

movingtables · 5 Apr 2011 at 20:52

Fanatic said:
Blackgold BGT3620, and there is a Hauppauge USB stick one out too

thanks. did a search for the Blackgold BGT3620. only 1 place has it but out of stock.
i will look into hauppauge later cheers.

rgritchie · 5 Apr 2011 at 21:32

UNless you will be making it a permanant addition to your box go for the Hauppauge, usually very high quality

deuse · 5 Apr 2011 at 22:20

Just make sure it's a DVB-T2 not a DVB-T. I only found one called PCTV DVB-T2.

Confused · 6 Apr 2011 at 13:03

I've just had my BGT3620 delivered today (ordered it direct from Blackgold's site last Sunday once the Grand Prix had finished), so should have it installed this evening

niggyg · 6 Apr 2011 at 15:00

As deuse mentioned make sure the card is DVB-T2. Even if a card advertises it's HD it won't work (in the UK) unless it's a DVB-T2 card.

Just incase the OP did mean PCI the BGT3620 is a PCIxE, not PCI. I'm not aware of any PCI DVB-T2 cards.

There is a Happuague USB version but I'd recommend the Blackgold over that. Nebula Electronics also have a DVB-T2 PCIxE card that's probably a couple of months away from release.

deuse · 6 Apr 2011 at 15:29

Confused said:
I've just had my BGT3620 delivered today (ordered it direct from Blackgold's site last Sunday once the Grand Prix had finished), so should have it installed this evening

Lets us all know if it does 1080p will you please

I was looking at the Blackgold's card but for an extra £30 you can get a Freeview HD box.

Tealc · 6 Apr 2011 at 17:58

The PCTV/Hauppage records full 1080p (well 1440x1080 as that's what they broadcast here) 50 frames per second interlaced.

A recording freeview HD box will cost a fair bit more I would have thought. A simple box may be cheaper but having the record function is mighty handy for those early morning qualifyings which aren't so worth getting up for as the races.

Confused · 11 Apr 2011 at 09:30

Got the BGT3620 installed last Wednesday, and using the latest 8.1.0.0 drivers, installation was a breeze.

Windows Media Center in Windows 7 picked it up, found all the channels, including the HD ones, and away it went, merrily showing me TV

First off - the Guide/EPG - the HD channels have encrypted EPG data, and in order for Microsoft to decode & display it, they'd have had to pay for a licence, but more importantly - use DRM on any recorded stuff - meaning no transfer to portable devices or extenders, so they've decided to just not display any EPG data.

That, however, is easy to resolve for BBC One HD, ITV1 HD, and Channel 4 HD - Nicely written guide, with photos. For BBC HD, however, there is no "other" channel to steal listings from, so you need to do something a bit different - using the xmltv app and this to send the correct parameter and schedule it.

I did have issues with the HD channels stuttering, and displaying a "previous" frame every few seconds. This, however, was resolved by updating my graphics drivers for my on-board nVidia 7100 from ~197.x to the latest 265.x release

All HD stuff I've seen so far appears to be 1080i - you can get up loads of cool information by entering 411 as the "channel", then pressing the More Info button

I've not tried recording 2 HD channels yet, but I'll get the scheduled recordings set up soon (already got my series link for the F1 set up on the BBC One HD channel)

ViRuS2k · 11 Apr 2011 at 09:55

PCTV nanoStick T2 Freeview HD stick

Guys this is what i bought for FREEVIEW HD and it works great

==============================================

Quality is pritty great.

nshire · 11 Apr 2011 at 10:19

best remove as it links to 3 competitors

ViRuS2k · 11 Apr 2011 at 10:22

nshire said:
best remove as it links to 3 competitors

Link removed

ash_scotland88 · 14 Apr 2011 at 17:52

Joys of google bringing me to this thread.

Looking again at getting freviewHD for the PC.

deuse · 14 Apr 2011 at 20:04

Tealc said:
The PCTV/Hauppage records full 1080p (well 1440x1080 as that's what they broadcast here) 50 frames per second interlaced.

So we don't have true HD(1920X1080p)

I take it it's upscaled to 1920?

varkanoid · 14 Apr 2011 at 20:08

I believe Freeview HD is not 1080p anyway because of the limits to frequency/bandwidth. Even Sky is 1080i methinks.

Alternative is the MyGica USB DVB-T2 box that retails for about £65.

ash_scotland88 · 14 Apr 2011 at 22:17

Part of me wants something external so I could watch tv on a laptop if I could one in the future, or even plug into my netbook to SDTV, which I doubt I'd ever do. Even future laptop I am sure I could buy a usb stick or try and find one with built in TV/something more descrete than a thing sticking out.

Is the blackgold worth the many more pennies it retails at?

Otaku Punk · 15 Apr 2011 at 00:39

Is there much on Freeview HD that would warrant an upgrade from a regular freeview card, or is it still only about 5 HD channels?

dante6491 · 15 Apr 2011 at 00:53

Are any of these dual tuners? That would be the only thing that would get me to upgrade from my Hauppauge Freeview USB stick. Would love to be able to record one thing whilst watching another.

cstones183 · 15 Apr 2011 at 01:00

varkanoid said:
I believe Freeview HD is not 1080p anyway because of the limits to frequency/bandwidth. Even Sky is 1080i methinks.

Alternative is the MyGica USB DVB-T2 box that retails for about £65.

Sky HD broadcasts at 720p

You will find that the majority of "High definition" broadcasters actually only broadcast in 720p such as Virgin. But Freeview HD is 1080i