cheap USB DVB-T stick

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pThree

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#91913 22-Oct-2011 18:15

I have purchased an IT9135 BDA nano USB DVB-T receiver from TM and I am having problems tuning it. I have tried several scans both using Media Center and the provided application (BlazeDTV 6.0) with no luck.

To make it worse, I have no other DVB-T capable device so i cannot confirm that I can, in fact receive the signal. (main reason i bought a CHEAP solution).

FVNZ website specifies that reception is "highly likely with a tall aerial" (western BoP) and the one on the roof of the (rental) property is pointed in the correct general direction.

To make it worse, Bullguard has been reporting viruses in the installation files most of the day today and even tho i have "allowed" the installers to go ahead, I'm not sure if it worked properly.

The last, but not the least, I'm running W7U x64...could that be causing problems.

No errors were reported, seems like a clean installation, and both the supplied app and WMC "see" the receiver, but neither can find any channels.

Are there specific frequencies/settings i should adjust before re-trying?

thanks!

B1GGLZ

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#536565 22-Oct-2011 21:20

pThree:

FVNZ website specifies that reception is "highly likely with a tall aerial" (western BoP) and the one on the roof of the (rental) property is pointed in the correct general direction.

Presumably the aerial is a UHF aerial?

trig42

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#536573 22-Oct-2011 21:36

I have a couple of the cheapies from DealExtreme, and they worked without drivers in W7, tuned all Freeview|HD channels just fine.

I would be checking your aerial out. As above, are you sure it's UHF? If you plug it into a TV can you get Prime/Maori OK on an analog tune?

richms

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#536586 22-Oct-2011 22:16

Take the PC elsewhere and try it.

Also I had no end of problems with cheapie tuners when I ended up with 2 different versions that reported themselves as being the same device. One worked fine with the windows update driver that it got automatically, the others only worked with the one on the CD, which would not work with the first one that I got. Would install and work and then not tune anything in any apps.

DSE have a good return policy and sell STB's.

Richard rich.ms

pThree

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#536621 23-Oct-2011 03:10

@ Bigglez: Yes, definitely a UHF yagi, a bit on the short side (as in not a 40+ element one) but mounted correctly, right polarisation etc

@ Trig: Not quite convenient to check it out that way... TV is in a different part of the house and i never bothered plugging it in - dish feed is in that spot and i have a DVB-S set-top going with no probs.

@ Richms: STB? and this one got recognised after loading the drivers off the CD, media center AND the app see it but neither can tune it...

Part of the challenge is i want to have this done as cheap as possible.... don't want to buy and keep a 12m 75Ohm cable @ $30 just to try it out and find out its not working. Returining it to dickies not an option as they are 50km away... trip there and back would cost almost as much as the cable.... will check out the local $2 shop for cables and see if i can get anything on analog.

Thanks for the info and ideas.

P

sbiddle

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#536629 23-Oct-2011 08:40

Many of the cheap USB sticks are only designed for small whip antennas. Hook them up to a high gain external aerial and the front end becomes swamped and picks up nothing.