Suggestion for USB TV Tuner Stick

[jpatrick]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a bargain USB TV Tuner Stick with Freeview capability for use with a laptop?

I was wondering if I could better the offer of a Freecom DVB-T at Amazon for £39.99 delivered.

Thanks in advance,

Jeremy

[RufusA]

For a start I'd suggest getting it from Scan (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...ductID=243628), only £38.88, with free delivery if you posted a bit more ;-)

They have an MSI one for less and it was featured on TodayOnly a week or so ago. You might be able to persuade them to feature again, though doesn't appear to come with an aerial.

Be warned they still require a signal with the same caveats as a freeview STB. So unless you live within a few 100 yds of a transmitter, or have a full sized high gain external aerial to carry around with you (and a compass to align it), you may be disappointed with the results.

Office environments, computers etc. tend not to play too nicely with digital terrestial signals.

YMMV - Rufus.

[Jonny]

I've been looking for one of these too. Is the signal really that bad? I don't need crystal clear, would just like to watch some TV on my laptop from time to time.

[DavidM]

For a start I'd suggest getting it from Scan (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...ductID=243628), only £38.88, with free delivery if you posted a bit more ;-)

(But be sensible as the Hexus mod's keep an eye open for naughty spammers )

They have an MSI one for less and it was featured on TodayOnly a week or so ago. You might be able to persuade them to feature again, though doesn't appear to come with an aerial.

Just use the handy-dandy link in my sig

[jpatrick]

Thanks for the suggestion of the MSI. I'm not in a great area for Freeview reception so I wonder if it might be worthwhile looking for a model which could fall back onto analogue in marginal areas- perhaps a Hauppauge?

[autopilot]

I had the Freecom one, but had to take it back. The main reason was that the drivers were absolutely-shockingly-awful. They totally took my system out several times and caused conflicts with just about everything they could. The ones on the Freecom's rubbish website were just the same version as came in the box.

On top of that, the software that they came with was a joke. It looked like they were written by 10 year old in VB. The worst part was the EPG, absolutely terrible.

Also the portable digital aerial that comes with it is, A) advertised as being magnetic, when actually it was a cheap sucker that would not stay stuck to anything, and B) completely crap. I live in an area with medium to good signal but could only get about 4 channels. When i used a cheap 10 year old analogue portable ariel i could get most channels. Go figure.

One other thing, it's not MCE compatible, although that was not really an issue for me.

I don't get why this product got so many good reviews, and i am sure someone will post to tell me how wrong i am, but from my own personal experience i really can't recommend it. It's been a long time since i have been so disappointed with a product.

[RufusA]

I've been looking for one of these too. Is the signal really that bad? I don't need crystal clear, would just like to watch some TV on my laptop from time to time.

The problem with Digital signals is that they don't fail gracefully, unlike analogue where you will get ghosting or snowing, for Digital you'll get blocking, loss of sound, dropped frames, severe pixelation making the signal unwatchable!

If you can plug in a decent TV antenna (preferably located a little away from your computer etc.) and are in a reasonable Freeview coverage area, then you should be fine. However if you've got visions of propping the stubby aerial near your laptop in an average freeview area and getting all the freeview channels in a watchable state, you may will to think again!

HTH - Rufus.

[RufusA]

Thanks for the suggestion of the MSI. I'm not in a great area for Freeview reception so I wonder if it might be worthwhile looking for a model which could fall back onto analogue in marginal areas- perhaps a Hauppauge?

Yes, but again you may not get a good enough signal on analogue without a decent aerial with all the noisy electronic equipment near by.

To give you an example switch on an FM radio with a short antenna (or a portable one with headphones) near your computer (switched off). Then switch the computer on, and see how listenable the radio is! Then imagine what would happen to a TV signal.

HTH - Rufus.

[Jonny]

The problem with Digital signals is that they don't fail gracefully, unlike analogue where you will get ghosting or snowing, for Digital you'll get blocking, loss of sound, dropped frames, severe pixelation making the signal unwatchable!

If you can plug in a decent TV antenna (preferably located a little away from your computer etc.) and are in a reasonable Freeview coverage area, then you should be fine. However if you've got visions of propping the stubby aerial near your laptop in an average freeview area and getting all the freeview channels in a watchable state, you may will to think again!

HTH - Rufus.

Cheers Rufus!
Probably not worth my cash then, tbh.
Oh well. That's why I buy DVD's!
Cheers

[RufusA]

Cheers Rufus!
Probably not worth my cash then, tbh.
Oh well. That's why I buy DVD's!
Cheers

Or download desired shows the following night to watch at your leisure at a time that suits you*!

*assuming you are part of the BBC iMP trial or similar as using torrent sites to download last night shows is legally questionable.

Rufus (currently catching up with Life On Mars).

[RufusA]

Thanks for the suggestion of the MSI. I'm not in a great area for Freeview reception so I wonder if it might be worthwhile looking for a model which could fall back onto analogue in marginal areas- perhaps a Hauppauge?

FWIW MSI is on "Today Only" specials "all this week" at only £30.54 + delivery (if not an active Hexus member) at scan:

http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly

Bargain!

Rufus