Tv on pc...asked a million times im sure...

Unromantic__Me

Unromantic__Me

Unromantic__Me

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23 Oct 2005
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Right, sick of my tv on my desk...taking up too much room, so gonna watch the tv on the pc from now hopefully, so need some sort of tv card I think. I just want a basic thing, that will let me watch the ol freeview stuff on my pc, Im not sure whether I want a card, or one of those usb jobs...which would you guys recommend? I will probably be interested in recording stuff from the tv too. So something smooth, a nice interface, and freeview, a remote would be a bonus....and not too expensive either, hoping to keep it around £40...so what to do for guys?

Thanks

Jay
 
First off work out exactly what you want it to do :)

Freeview if you mean digital TV rules out many TV cards straight away

Smooth recording - if you're using analogue you can either get a hardware encoder card (about twice the price but very low cPU overheads whilst recording), or a basic card (cheap but can have higher CPU overheads and may not take kindly to you using other CPU heavy programmes at the same time).

I think Digital cards depending on the software can capture the mpeg2 stream straight from the transmission (no need to encode it from the analoue signal).

I would definately recommend an internal card over a USB one if you can find one that suits your budget, as internal cards still tend to be less of a CPU hog in most applications than USB ones in my experiance.
 
Sorry to hijack the thread slightly, but im interested in buying a digital tv card as well. How do these things work?, do they come with an aerial or do i have to plug it into the external aerial on my house? Also which tv cards would one reccommend?

Alex
 
we have a freecom usb one at work for the world cup, a nightmare to get channels as have to move the arial about for diff ones, get bbc tho but itv wont have it (am in an IT building btw so about 100 pc's on our floor alone so interference is uber)

for 30 quid it does the job... just
 
G1BB0 said:
we have a freecom usb one at work for the world cup, a nightmare to get channels as have to move the arial about for diff ones, get bbc tho but itv wont have it (am in an IT building btw so about 100 pc's on our floor alone so interference is uber)

for 30 quid it does the job... just
Click to expand...

I have bought the MSI one which is suppose to be really good :)

Stelly
 
sorry guys, but so what is the difference between digital and analoge? I always thought analoge was well...bbc1 and 2, itv and channel 4....digital was well....all the freeview stuff....if this is the case...dont freeview also inclue 1 2 3 and 4? so why would you need to plug in two aerials?

I like the sound of digital recording straight though with no encoding...

how much are the msi cards?

anybody any experience with the leadtek ones?
 
Having TV on your monitor is great, I got a digital freeview card when they came out in 2002 and am still using it now.

There are a lot of points to consider though.

1. As said above usb versions can be a problem with high cpu loading, I recently got a usb stick and have found I can only really run it on the gaming rig as my other pcs struggle with it.

2. TV units create a lot of heat, this may cause problems when using internal cards if you already have heat issues. My usb stick gets almost to hot to hold in my hand.

Yes it's a double edged sword :p

3.You need good reception to properly receive digitv, so find out can other people around you get it also? and is your aerial as good as thiers?

4. Some will encode to mp2 format which means further work to make a playable dvd, some will put your recordings into the correct format for you.

5. For those of you willing to spend a good bit more than 40 quid, you can get cards with twin tuners allowing you to record one channel while watching another.

6. Some cards work with MCE remotes, some work with the media modules that are around at the moment.

7...my brain is going will probably think of 7 after some sleep

Both units I have are Hauppauge and just incase you hadn't realised I'm not impressed with the usb one.
 
Unromantic__Me said:
sorry guys, but so what is the difference between digital and analoge? I always thought analoge was well...bbc1 and 2, itv and channel 4....digital was well....all the freeview stuff....if this is the case...dont freeview also inclue 1 2 3 and 4? so why would you need to plug in two aerials?
Click to expand...

I forgot your post.

The point with digital is that it is meant to give you a better selection of channels, with a better picture and will replace analogue when they switch it off.

Yes all the main analogue channels are on freeview but you do not need two aerials, just one good one.

Some units have both analogue and digital capabilities, this can be useful if you have problems with digital reception. I often find that interference during the day renders my digital unwatchable.

:D Just thought of point 7. If you want to start doing lots of recording make sure you have plenty of storage, I've built up a few hundred gig of recordings.
 
Im not sure how good our aerial will be for digital tv, but heck ill give it a shot....If it doesn't work...you can buy aerials from argos and places like that can you not, that just pick up digital signal, im sure I saw a friend do this?

Looks like ill be heading for the Hauppage one, seems like a good deal, with some good feedback...

Im not that fussed about recording one channel and watching another...ok well I am, but not enough to pay twice as much...

Whats the user interface like with the Hauppage, as it would really bug me if I had this blocky interface playing the tv back to me....if it isnt something I like...is there anyway to like, get a skin for them or somethign similar so that I have more choice over whats being displayed?
 
The Hauppauge software in my opinion has never been very good but threre are other third party programs around like GBPVR or Showshifter, some (NOT ALL) cards will work with other software.

When watching TV you do not have to actually see the UI you can watch fullscreen or in a window. will try to get a pic of recent Hauppauge software up after I've watched the GP qualifying.
 
I would also like to get TV on my PC however i do not have an external arial available so I am looking at a USB one. Anyone have any experience with the Leadtek Winfast DTV-Dongle Digital TV USB2.0 Tuner (GX-075-LT)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_TV_Cards_169.html

The digital freeview site says digital is not available at my location in Coventry, will that mean i cant get digital on my PC?
 
abbviper said:
I would also like to get TV on my PC however i do not have an external arial available so I am looking at a USB one.
The digital freeview site says digital is not available at my location in Coventry, will that mean i cant get digital on my PC?
Click to expand...

Ok the usb units still need the same aerial feed as internal cards, so you have the same problem. Some usb versions come with small desktop aerials but they are poor for the job (unless watching analogue) and in my opinion more of a gimmick than anything else.

If you are living in an area that has no digital coverage then getting a digital card is not really a good idea, what you could do is get a hybrid card that has analogue as well as digital. This would give you the 5 standard channels and you would have the ability to get digital when your situation allows.

As a general rule you need near perfect analogue reception to be able to get satisfactory digital reception. Hopefully when the analogue systems get switched off in the future the digital power will be boosted and coverage will be better.

Screenies coming :)
 
I'll just put links in

Current WinTv2000 UI

Taken on phone to get image, Come on England

Old Hauppauge software

Tv in a window

The thing that bugs me most with the new software is how you have to make a numbers of clicks on fiddly menus, unlike the program list in the old software.

The ant-xx channels in the list are the analogue ones, with digital names lower down. I'm using a WinTv-HVR900
Have done a scan today and have a full channel list, yesterday it found 12 analogue and no digital
That is because of reception issues rather than hardware problems, athough I've just rebuilt overnight in a different case with a new Mobo, this may make a lot of difference. (Going to have to look into that)

Edit: A little more about usb versions http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17579297
 
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i use hauppauge wintv nova-t pci with cyberlinks powercinema and it works a treat for digital viewing!

The hauppauge software is seriously pants! i mean really really bad.

u'll need a pretty decent ariel aswell! preferably roof ;)
 
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