Wanting Freeview on my PC

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apoth99

16 posts

Geek

#30788 21-Feb-2009 14:14

Hello,

I have been searching around to find a good piece of hardware and software for my computer that would enable me to watch Freeview. Unfortunately my knowledge of TV Tuner cards and the various accronyms like DVB-T or DVB-S is quite limited, I understand the former is for Digital and the latter is for Satelite. Anyway, suffice to say I was looking at getting one of these:

Hauppauge WinTV-HVR900 Digital/Analogue Hybrid TV Tuner, External, USB 2.0

or:

Genius DVB-TO3 HDTV TV Tuner, External, USB 2.0

I would like to get the Digital Broadcasts of Freeview in HD quality. If I get one of these, do I need to get a Freeview decoder, like for televisions?

Is it plug and play, that is, after I plug it in, load the software and connect it up to a UHF anteanna will it get Freeview and be HD? (for those HD broadcasts)

My computer specs if relevant:

Dell 22" LCD Widescreen Monitor
Core 2 Duo E6600 - 2.4ghz
4gb of DDR2 Corsair Memory
MSI 8800GTX 784mb card
SoundBlaster Extreme with 5.1 speakers.
Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit edition.

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

boby55

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#197130 21-Feb-2009 16:34

Is there any reason you want a external card? as a internal card is likely to be cheaper.

apoth99

16 posts

Geek

#197131 21-Feb-2009 16:54

Got some recommendations?

davidcole

6036 posts

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#197132 21-Feb-2009 16:57

Let me correct a couple of terms.

DVB-T is digital video broadcast terrestrial (i.e using UHF aerial)

DVB-S is digital video broadcast satellite.

Both are digital.

I agree with bobby55, why external? Depending on the exapansion slots inside your PC you may be able to look for internal options that will give you both DVB-S and DVB-T.

DVB-S is a very simple beast to get going. It is a pretty standard video format, and contains the program guide information it requires.

While DVB-T can be difficult. Because of our sound scheme being onthe bleeding edge, not all software supports it yet. I notice however that you do have a big enough video card to run dvb-t successfully. And there are a number of people in NZ that have both DVB-T and DVB-S going (me being one of them).

But you yourself said all these acronyms were confusing. I'd recommed going the dvb-s route if your can (existing dish on your roof), and to do that look at a card like the Hauppauge HVR3000. You could initially set it up as a dvb-s system, then later on as your experience grew, transistion to DVB-T.

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apoth99

16 posts

Geek

#197145 21-Feb-2009 18:17

I just want something I can plug and play. I want to get HDTV and the external seems the best way about it, i.e. just plug and play. I don't know a thing about DVT-S or T, I don't really want to know about them either. :)

I wanted to know if the two things I linked were plug and play, that is plug it into the computer, load the software, hook up the aerial (don't have saterlite) and watch freeview. Is that possible?

davidcole

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#197146 21-Feb-2009 18:24

Yes, but you are looking at it just a bit simplistically.

Look around these same forums at the problems people are having getting freeview|HD going (which is the dvb-t service).

Once you hardware installed, you will need Media Portal or GBPVR (or if using windows 7 this supports our freeview). You will also need the monogram audio codec, and a video codec capable of driving your video card - power dvd 8 seems to be the most recommended.

Those are the basic steps your need to follow.

sbiddle

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Biddle Corp

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#197166 21-Feb-2009 20:04

apoth99:. I don't know a thing about DVT-S or T, I don't really want to know about them either. :)

I wanted to know if the two things I linked were plug and play, that is plug it into the computer, load the software, hook up the aerial (don't have saterlite) and watch freeview. Is that possible?

Without being rude if you don't want to know about DVB-T then you aren't going to get far.

The reality is that watching Freeview|HD on a PC is by no means a plug and play solution if you want a rock solid setup. If you don't understand some of the basics (which you can learn by reading) and don't have plenty of time for playing with various configurations when I would suggest you go and buy a Freeview certified a box as it will save you a huge amount of time and stress.

BadMac

69 posts

Master Geek

#197385 23-Feb-2009 00:13

Just for fun I bought one of the KWorld DVBT380U USB tuners from 1Day last week.

Box arrived next day, opened the packet, read the first 4 lines of the instructions, inserted the USB Stick, connected a UHF Aerial, hit cancel when windows offered to find drivers.

Inserted the supplied CD, from the Autorun Menu I selected install, hit OK a couple more times, rebooted the PC and I had Freeview HD with all the channels, including timeslipping and all, Watched it all night with zero glitches, even recorded 2 programs to HDD.

Pretty straightforward. The supplied software is not the flashest interface but very usable. Also plays all music and other movies from your HDD.

Also came with PowerDirector V5.

So far very good, only downside is it uses your processor rather than offloading, so you need moderate grunt (my system is only a puss old 2.4Ghz P4 and it coped although I couldn't do anything else without it stuttering).

All up $77 + $4pp = $81.

Not the flashest solution, compared to others around here but pretty simple and does work (much better than my 3, different brands, Freeview DVBT HD set top boxes! Note this is unde XP Sp3. Not tried on Vista (deleted) or Windows 7 (will try soon).

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njb

12 posts

Geek

#197455 23-Feb-2009 14:43

Trying to do this my self so I can appreciate the confusion but you will be lucky to get a plug and play system for HD TV.

There are three broadcast systems in New Zealand that are free (i.e. not Sky or Telstra Clear cable). Basically you will need a tuner (internal card, usb stick, or an external box), an aerial, and a TV player.

Normal free to air is land based and analogue. You can use Microsoft Media Centre (MMC) or the player that comes with your tuner. The tuner must be analogue capable. Should work out of the box.

Normal FreeView is digital and is broadcast from a satellite. DVB-S. You will need a satellite dish and a digital capable TV tuner. Normal FreeView is transmitted in MPEG2. This is a universally used video coding system (DVDs are MPEG2). Again MMC or the player that comes with your tuner should be able to handle this out of the box.

FreeView HD is High Definition TV. It recently came into service. It is land based and broadcast in the UHF spectrum. A type of DVB-T. You will need a digital tuner, a UHF aerial, a player, and some software to handle our particular brand of digital HB broadcasting.

The problem is that FreeView HD in New Zealand is transmitted in MPEG4 (part 10). This is an advanced video coding system that will probably replace the old MPEG2 system. But at the moment we are about the only country that uses it. MMC cannot handle it and most likely the player that comes with your TV tuner will not either.

There are a number of free TV players that you can use. MediaPortal and GBPVR are popular and you can find links in this forum. You will also need a H.264 codec to decode the MPEG4 video. These are not free and are therefore not included. You can get this codec with some DVD player software such as Power DVD. Or if you hunt around the internet you may find one.

This is a simple explanation. Many people have endless trouble getting the free HD players working. Looks like BadMac above found a package that included all the bits needed but if you are buying a package you will have to be careful as the overseas manufacturer probably do not think about the New Zealand requirements and it may not cover it in their descriptions. Cheers