TV card for freeview HD

Golden Ape · 16 Dec 2009 at 13:03

So I'm pretty excited having just found out that BBC HD started being broadcast from the Crystal Palace transmitter (south east London) on the 2nd December. Now since I can see the transmitter from my house I'm looking to get some HD goodness. Current I've got a media PC which I'm about to put Win7 on but I'll need to update the TV card to get HD. Question is what's the best option? I'll need a dual tuner card (it can be PCI or PCI express) and if I'm correct it needs to receive DVB-T2 transmission (is that correct?). Has anyone got a recommendation?

edit: After a bit of digging around I've come to the conclusion that there are currently no decoders around that can handle the dvb t-2 transmission standard. This seems to be a result of the fact that the UK is the first country to start HD broadcasts using that standard (other places are working with dvb t or the older dvb-s and s2). Hmmm

Chris1712 · 16 Dec 2009 at 15:02

Golden Ape said:
edit: After a bit of digging around I've come to the conclusion that there are currently no decoders around that can handle the dvb t-2 transmission standard. This seems to be a result of the fact that the UK is the first country to start HD broadcasts using that standard (other places are working with dvb t or the older dvb-s and s2). Hmmm

Correct. I would hazard a guess at T2 set top boxes around feb-march (currently testing these at work), IDTV sets April-Jun and probably PC cards around the same time, maybe a bit later.
Most manufacturers will be pushing hard to get as much as out before the World Cup as possible.

alex24 · 16 Dec 2009 at 15:04

Darn, I can get Crystal Palace here in Essex. I have a HD capable tuner but not dvb t-2. This is rather annoying.

Golden Ape · 16 Dec 2009 at 15:59

It does beg the question who, if anyone, is actually watching those crystal palace transmissions?

Chris1712 · 16 Dec 2009 at 16:03

Golden Ape said:
It does beg the question who, if anyone, is actually watching those crystal palace transmissions?

No one, yet. It will be being used for development and testing work though most probably. The very first STB's (looking like Humax atm) may well appear in small quantities late Jan, which isn't really that far away.