PCI TV Tuner

SoAdCrAzY · 8 Jun 2012 at 19:29

Thought I'd ask in here for some advice.

At the end of the month I am planning on getting a TV tuner for the PC as I have no TV at the moment.

I currently live in a flat with no outside aerial yet one of the people who lives here has Freeview on his TV. I asked him and he said that he installed an aerial booster.

I want to make sure that I know what needs to be done when the time comes around. Earlier, someone recommended me a PCI TV Tuner that comes with a match stick aerial but I guess that aerial will not work.

What are aerial boosters and how are they used?

Thanks.

Beans on toast Dave · 8 Jun 2012 at 19:35

firstly i would try a decent directional indoor aerial, after that you could try a booster but in my experience if the signal is not there without the booster it does not make much difference

Nightglow · 8 Jun 2012 at 19:56

Don't forget about a tv licence if you live in your own separate flat.

SoAdCrAzY · 8 Jun 2012 at 23:27

Nightglow said:
Don't forget about a tv licence if you live in your own separate flat.

Ah thanks, I've sorted that.

challengedavid said:
firstly i would try a decent directional indoor aerial, after that you could try a booster but in my experience if the signal is not there without the booster it does not make much difference

Ok so if I buy a normal pci tv tuner for around £30 and an aerial for about £15 that would, theoretically, be all i need?

Also, just wondering, to get hd channels do I need a special hd tuner for a pci express slot? Do I need a different aerial?

Thanks.

Beans on toast Dave · 9 Jun 2012 at 11:23

SoAdCrAzY said:
Ah thanks, I've sorted that.

Ok so if I buy a normal pci tv tuner for around £30 and an aerial for about £15 that would, theoretically, be all i need?

Also, just wondering, to get hd channels do I need a special hd tuner for a pci express slot? Do I need a different aerial?

Thanks.

yes
and yes, there is not much choice in freeview HD cards
blackgold and tbs do a pciex1 product upto x4 hd tuners expensive though
after that there is a usb 290e nanostick x1 hd tuner
all are quite expensive compared to non HD freeview

SoAdCrAzY · 9 Jun 2012 at 11:43

challengedavid said:
yes
and yes, there is not much choice in freeview HD cards
blackgold and tbs do a pciex1 product upto x4 hd tuners expensive though
after that there is a usb 290e nanostick x1 hd tuner
all are quite expensive compared to non HD freeview

Thanks, was just curious. I'll stick with the non-hd freeview.

Tealc · 9 Jun 2012 at 13:02

Height above ground is very important when receiving UHF freeview signals. If the guy who has freeview is higher in the building than you then he might be able to pick things put ht you can't.

As stated a directional antenna is the best solution but still may require boosting. Try antenna first and if you get a good quality signal but it's low strength then the boost will help. The trouble with boosting is that it boosts noise as well as signal.

SoAdCrAzY · 9 Jun 2012 at 14:36

He's on the same level as me. I'll bump this thread with my findings.

Thanks.

SoAdCrAzY · 10 Jun 2012 at 14:48

*bump* Just wondering what would be the ideal tuner out of these? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/search_results.php?sortby=&groupid=&search=pci+tv+tuner

I just want to use Windows Media Center and already have a remote.

Thanks.

KIA · 10 Jun 2012 at 15:17

I'm using the Avermedia AVerTV DVB-T USB 2.0 (Win7 64bit). It works great with WMC.

SoAdCrAzY · 10 Jun 2012 at 15:53

KIA said:
I'm using the Avermedia AVerTV DVB-T USB 2.0 (Win7 64bit). It works great with WMC.

Do you have an outside aerial? Does the model make much difference in terms of getting good signal? I'm going to buy an indoor aerial too.

Rozzy85 · 10 Jun 2012 at 16:28

You're going to need a good, static aerial to make the most of it. Those cheap boosted indoor aerials do work but you need to be in a high up area facing the direction of the transmitter, preferably with a clear line of sight. Simple having a brick wall in the way may make the difference between receiving a group of channels or not.

The only difference between TV tuners will be its ability to received a good signal. A PCI one will be better than a USB one but the USB ones aren't to bad either as long as the aerial signal is good.

SoAdCrAzY · 12 Jun 2012 at 14:35

Thanks. Will purchase a tuner from overclockers. It's a shame that that they do not have a screwdriver set available.

Freefaller · 12 Jun 2012 at 15:03

If you want HD though it might be worth splashing out a little more? They're not THAT expensive....

SoAdCrAzY · 12 Jun 2012 at 18:37

Freefaller said:
If you want HD though it might be worth splashing out a little more? They're not THAT expensive....

I have thought about that but my graphics card takes up both PCI Express slots.

SoAdCrAzY · 22 Jun 2012 at 13:00

Ok, I have had another look at my mobo and there is a PCI Express slot available. I have been looking for a card that will take advantage of this and will be compatible with the HD channels.

Would this card be worth getting / do the job?http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-029-CP

Thanks.

CaptainCrash · 22 Jun 2012 at 15:18

SoAdCrAzY said:
Ok, I have had another look at my mobo and there is a PCI Express slot available. I have been looking for a card that will take advantage of this and will be compatible with the HD channels.

Would this card be worth getting / do the job?http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-029-CP

Thanks.

If you want the Freeview HD channels, you'll need a DVB-T2 tuner card, the one in your link is plain DVB-T.

AFAIK the only internal DVB-T2 cards at the moment are from the Blackgold range (check out the Home Entertainment PCs subforum at AVForums for more info).

wazza300 · 22 Jun 2012 at 16:59

look for k-world,they make some great tv cards,been using them and they work well with windows media centre and there own software,running a tiny matchstick Ariel here and picks up 100+ channels

SoAdCrAzY · 22 Jun 2012 at 17:37

wazza300 said:
look for k-world,they make some great tv cards,been using them and they work well with windows media centre and there own software,running a tiny matchstick Ariel here and picks up 100+ channels

Thanks ok. I don't really mind about HD. Reading this review though, I wonder about how easy it is to connect to the mobo. I thought it would just be a case of slotting it in?

Card arrived and I slipped it straight into my 9300itx + In-Win mini-itx system using the included low profile bracket.
The fit was fine, I was expecting a bit more hassle tbh, so that was a nice surprise. It's worth noting that the In-Win mini-itx cases don't always have a 3.5" floppy power connector, so you might (like me) have to buy a cheap adaptor and sacrifice one of the 4 pin molex power connectors.
The card does run without the additional power, but only the DVB-T and FM decoders, if you want to use the DVB-S decoder, then you'll need to connect it up fully.

Windows 7 HP x64 detected it and installed the relevant drivers, it's supported by Media Centre too, the HD works fine through MC.
ITV HD is an issue, but that seems to be a general problem in Media Centre since it went from a red button service to it's own channel, not card specific.

The bundled software is a bit lame, I found that my DVBS picture was choppy and struggled a

wazza300 · 22 Jun 2012 at 18:26

mine just slotted into the pci slot,no power cables