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Forums › HTPC › NOVA-T Stick - Anyone using one?


87 posts

Master Geek
Topic # 21850 8-May-2008 19:41 Send private message

Anyone tried one yet?

They ( http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/pages/products/data_novatstick.html ) look very similiar to the HVR-900 but do not have an  analogue function.

They're $90 at ComputerLounge, whereas the HVR-900 is another 1/2 again. Cheap enough to play with and also supported by  ScanChannelsBDA_UK.exe (Ie: Roof, Aerial, Laptop & Spanner).

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166 posts

Master Geek
  Reply # 129863 10-May-2008 14:19 Send private message

Thanks for the heads-up, I just got one to add to my 2200



87 posts

Master Geek
  Reply # 130059 11-May-2008 19:38 Send private message

Cool. Have you had a chance to install it yet?

166 posts

Master Geek
  Reply # 130070 11-May-2008 20:47 Send private message

Yep I have now - it's fine, in fact I'm going to get another as I really need 4 digital tuners, currently only have three including the twin 2200. It was a snip to install, drivers only & I set it up in my GBPVR setup - took 2 minutes. I guess digital tuners are only as good as the software. In any case, I think this was a great tuner at a great price.



87 posts

Master Geek
Reply # 131140 15-May-2008 22:56 Send private message

...And I've got one now too. Works great and if you already have a laptop this is a great way (read: cheap) to have a go at DTT.

 Things I tried/found:

a) Don't be "smart" and download the latest driver from Hauppauge - use the one on the CD that's included in the box. I "prepared" my PC before picking up the T-Stick and although the drivers seemed to work fine (recognized h/w etc) I could not get a signal. After some frustration I rolled XP back and installed the CD drivers - and voila all good!

b) Due to situation above I took the setup into work, which is in the city, a block from the Skytower. Using the little aerial supplied and ScanChannelsBDA.exe I measured an average signal quality of 96% (min: 80%, max: 100%). Moving the aerial from vertical to horizontal slowly, caused the graph (displayed by ScanChannelsBDA) to reduce and vice-versa. This then supports my idea of using this setup to "point" an aerial. Also if you live in the city, from this I would say that the supplied aerial would possibly be all you need.

c) Back at home 8.93km from Skytower (as determined by Google Earth!) I decided to repeat above but this time plugged into my UHF/VHF combo aerial pointed at Waiatarua. In this config I received Waiatarua at 20% quality (not bad considering my Prime reception is rubbish) and quite suprisingly Skytower came in at 60% - with the aerial pointing ~90 degrees the wrong way!.

d) I then loaded on GBPVR and after scanning for all channels (it found 22) and downloading the EPG via DVB (cause I could), I tried to watch LiveTV. Assuming my reception was still at ~60%  quality, this produced images as if looking at a slideshow. I reckon that's not bad, as 60% Q makes for an extremely poor Bit Error Rate.

e) Next thing to try: Hop on to the roof with laptop and spanner and turn the aerial to the Skytower and see what I get (thereby killing VHF analogue reception in our household!!).

Conclusion:
- DTT reception is not as problematic as I thought it was going to be (although I still aren't at the point of watchable TV).
- If you have a laptop, the T-Stick is a cheap way to give DTT a try.

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