Hi there all, long time reader (Well, not really. probably only a month or so), first time poster.
So the thought of Freeview popped into my mind whilst building a new PC, so I decided to get myself a card compatible.
First off, I'd like to thank those people from these there forums, the ones who I have found very helpful, Fossie, sbiddle and freitasm. Fossie, for your wonderful guide, sbiddle for your support and freitasm for providing a means of integrating DVBViewer into Media Centre.
Now, one thing that I have noticed which hasn't cropped up, or caught my eye, is what sort of aerial to use.
We currently have one on our roof, and it has a direct line of sight to the big tower out in the Waitak's that I can never remember the name of except it starts with W and ends with rua. (Line of sight thanks to our friend Mr Bowsaw)
My reception became marginally better after performing some arbory (I hope thats a word!), but still not really good enough. I get a broken picture (half rendered, has part of the last frame) and moves at about a frame every second or two.
Now when the picture quality comes through, its amazing. Although it does lock up my computer occasionally. It DID lock up on a frame of Mischa Barton, so it wasn't all bad!
So I borrowed the neighbours ladder and got up on the roof (3 story house btw, and I'm not a fan of heights!) and the aerial is pretty bung. Bottom mesh is missing, and a PCB which is hidden away in a plastic box which is all eroded and stuff.
So I figure that our house aeriel is not going to do any good.
What I'm wanting to know is (And that was a very long winded way of getting to this, I know) what sort of aerial will I need? I was thinking of getting an indoor UHF aerial to sit on my desk, and I can see the W<something>rua antenna right out my window.
BUT, I don't want to go investing in one if its not going to work.
Also, is there any software that is capable of displaying DVB-T signal strength? I'm not sure if DVBViewer 3.9.2.0 has this feature or not.
ALSO! Just remembered this one. After installing Cyberlink 7 (Which conveniently came with my DVD Writer), I get the error message in DVBViewer stating "Invalid Pointer" and an error code, which I can't provide right now sorry, as I'm (hard) at work (Chuckle).
I'm thinking something along the lines of the Cyberlink H.264 codec, so may have to reinstall. But if anyone has encountered it and already knows the answer, that'd be great. I'll provide more detail when I get home.
Thanks for any help guys, and look forward to posting more in the future. (Honest, I promise they won't be this long again. Just that I've had my first coffee in like, a month)