TV Tuner - PC Into HTPC?

Airalith · 17 Nov 2013 at 04:54

Hi all,

I am likely going to be moving my computer from the spare room down into the living room, which naturally makes me think HTPC.

I have been looking at this

If I got one of these, would I be able to bang my TV aerials and free-view into it and record as well as watch TV channels?

Has anyone done this before? Is it as simple as it sounds?

Air

asim18 · 17 Nov 2013 at 06:36

In one word: Yes

That model you linked to is a twin tuner, DVB-S (Satellite) and DVB-T (Terrestrial). This means you can plug in an aerial and receive in Freeview channels and you can also plug in a satellite dish and get a load of free-to-air channels.

deadite66 · 17 Nov 2013 at 08:25

Get DVB-S2 and DVB-T2 if you want HD.

Airalith · 17 Nov 2013 at 11:16

deadite66 said:
Get DVB-S2 and DVB-T2 if you want HD.

If I want to record or view in HD?

Does anyone have any suggestions on a good/better make or model? I would love to be able to record a couple of channels at the same time.

Can anyone suggest good software to go with this, specifically one that is smart enough not to cut the first and last 30 seconds off every show like my TV seems to do.

andy_mk3 · 17 Nov 2013 at 11:18

I used a Blackgold BGT3620 and just use Windows Media Center for TV viewing as it just works

deadite66 · 17 Nov 2013 at 11:54

Airalith said:
If I want to record or view in HD?

yes, both.

Airalith said:
I would love to be able to record a couple of channels at the same time.

I only have 2x DVB-T2 tuners, on freeview every (at the moment) HD channel is on one frequency so it only takes one tuner to record every HD channel satellite may be different.

lurkio · 17 Nov 2013 at 13:15

defo go with DVB-S2 or DVB-T2 tuner types

I have 2 x DVB-S2 and a dual DVB-T2 in my HTPC

Great thing about the channels being transmitted in mux's is that IF
you are tuning a tuner to a channel on a particular mux you could record any or all
of the other channels on that mux

eg details for my local transmitter
http://www.ukfree.tv/txdetail.php?a=IJ287750

so if I was watching PSB1 CH27 BBC1 , then all of the other channels are up for grabbing :-)

Grimley · 17 Nov 2013 at 16:09

andy_mk3 said:
I used a Blackgold BGT3620 and just use Windows Media Center for TV viewing as it just works

Agreed, Just avoid using Windows 8.1 though. Vanilla W8 works fine now as the drivers on Blackgolds website have been updated. I've waited the best part of a year for them to do so.

malachi · 18 Nov 2013 at 13:53

Grimley said:
Agreed, Just avoid using Windows 8.1 though. Vanilla W8 works fine now as the drivers on Blackgolds website have been updated. I've waited the best part of a year for them to do so.

And on top of that, issues with Media Centre not going into standby after a recording has finished on Windows 8.1.