Trouble with DTV reception on Compro T200 card

The Belgain · 19 Mar 2006 at 23:16

Hi there,

I'm trying to get a Compro T200 DTV card working. I want to get it running on Linux with MythTV, but I'm staring by seeing if I can get it working on Windows...

After installing the latest drivers from their website (the ones on the install disk didn't work), it's picking up most of the Freeview channels. It looks like it's having trouble with the signal though - some channels (eg. BBC1, BBC2) are fine, but some channels either don't display at all, or block up/drop out every few seconds.

Now I'm slightly surprised that some channels would work fine and others not. Is it possible that this is due to bad cabling? The reception is from a roof aerial, going to a booster and 4-way splitted, with one cable to the TV in the living room, one to a TV in one bedroom, and on to my PC. All the other TVs have fine reception...

Radiation · 20 Mar 2006 at 00:27

Not sure its of much help but i also find some channels work on and off, i think the software is pretty terrible really, it often pauses when it can't find a signal but i know for a fact there is one because the channel would be fine before changing.

If your getting poor signal strength on some channels then adjusting your aerial could help but maybe not if its fine for other freeview boxes.

Does this card cause your computer any other problems?

IT Insider · 20 Mar 2006 at 10:11

Your problem sounds not so much a technical problem with the card but more on the signal strength in you area.

Remember, DVB-T still has a lot of flat/dead spots in the country. In my office we can not get any signal, but in the pub just down the road I can use my Compro U3 USB Stick and get full signal and 30 channels.

The Belgain · 21 Mar 2006 at 00:13

Well, I live in London and I thought the coverage was supposed to be pretty good there. The fact that none of the other TVs in the house have any trouble would back that up too.

I've bought myself some proper coax cable (the one I was using was one I'd fitted the connector on myself, and not very well), I'll see if that helps. How well do DTV PC cards pick up signals compared to set top boxes? Do they tend to need a better signal?

Radiation · 22 Mar 2006 at 09:24

I think the more expensive boxes are better at picking up the weaker signals but i doubt your standard box is much different to the card, i believe the software is more likely at fault here, maybe try some free software like media portal to see if it can find all the channels.

Tesla · 22 Mar 2006 at 09:49

The reason you get some channels but no others is that there are 6 digital multiplexes (mux's). A multiplex is essentially a group of channels.

If you think of DTV as a train with 6 carriages, well not all of the carriages are making it to the station - your PC.

I am interested to hear how you are splitting the signal.

The Belgain · 22 Mar 2006 at 19:58

Well, it was just a case of dodgy cabling (when I checked the connection was good, the plug just fell off the end). I bought myself some premade coax and it works fine and dandy now.

Tesla: The signal from the roof aerial is going into a 4-way spitter/boosted (3 ports of which are used). Seems to work fine on all three TVs connected to it.