cookie456_the2nd Posted January 18, 2006 Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 (edited) Ive read so many reviews and im still not to sure what to go for, so can anyone recommend one that they have personnally used?I was thinking of either getting a freewview box, and hooking it up to my standard TV card on my PC or getting a PCI card. If i got the box i could put it through my Tv as well.So what has anyone got that they can reccomend?Ive looked at a few different topics, not to sure whether to get the box or pci card though Thanks, James Edited January 18, 2006 by cookie456_the2nd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tank_rider Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 There are advantages to either obviously. I have a digital tv card in my media pc, which is really handy as i use it as a video recorder if im going to miss anything i want to watch. The one i have has a reasonable remote, and you hook it up to the on/off button on your pc so you can use the remote to turn on the pc (kinda handy for lazy mornings in bed ) The disadvantage being the startup time of a pc (~45 secs -> 2 mins), compared to a normal digi box (5 secs max!).The set top box route is probably better if your going to mainly use it for watching tv on, and are gonna have it primaroly hooked up to a normal tv, and on the rare occaision you want to record something you feed it into your tv.I like the pci card route as i only have a pc in my bedroom (no normal tv), so i can do everything throught it, stream music, videos and access the net as well as watch tv on it rather than having two seperate screens (small room, therefore low on space).The card i have is a compro dvb-t200 i think, which cost around £50 in october, so should have come down in price by now. I'd recommend you have a look around the reviews for the latest cards, as the software that comes with many is a bit iffy, and its quite a lot of faffing around to get them working with anything other than the bundled software or windows MCE (assuming it passed for MCE use). I use the bundled software as it seems to work pretty well (i did select this card due to it having reasonable reviews of the software).Anyhoo, there's my 2p to start with, any more specific questions and ill be happy to help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
totaltrials Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 There are advantages to either obviously. I have a digital tv card in my media pc, which is really handy as i use it as a video recorder if im going to miss anything i want to watch. The one i have has a reasonable remote, and you hook it up to the on/off button on your pc so you can use the remote to turn on the pc (kinda handy for lazy mornings in bed ) The disadvantage being the startup time of a pc (~45 secs -> 2 mins), compared to a normal digi box (5 secs max!).The set top box route is probably better if your going to mainly use it for watching tv on, and are gonna have it primaroly hooked up to a normal tv, and on the rare occaision you want to record something you feed it into your tv.I like the pci card route as i only have a pc in my bedroom (no normal tv), so i can do everything throught it, stream music, videos and access the net as well as watch tv on it rather than having two seperate screens (small room, therefore low on space).The card i have is a compro dvb-t200 i think, which cost around £50 in october, so should have come down in price by now. I'd recommend you have a look around the reviews for the latest cards, as the software that comes with many is a bit iffy, and its quite a lot of faffing around to get them working with anything other than the bundled software or windows MCE (assuming it passed for MCE use). I use the bundled software as it seems to work pretty well (i did select this card due to it having reasonable reviews of the software).Anyhoo, there's my 2p to start with, any more specific questions and ill be happy to help Wouldnt you get away without paying for a TV license by using your computer, they arn't going to check your computer to see if it has TV capabilities are they sneaky, good though.Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tank_rider Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 Wouldnt you get away without paying for a TV license by using your computer, they arn't going to check your computer to see if it has TV capabilities are they sneaky, good though.PhilOfficially, you still have to have a tv license (im in a shared house so its less than £20 each). I'd say it's not worth the risk of a £2k fine for not having one. The people they send round to look round your house, are hardly going to be stupid anyway, they will know what a tv card for a pc is and know what you should have a licence with one, so the risk is only really the same as having a normal tv without a license. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krisboats Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 I just bought a philips dtrsa 200/05 freeview set top box today from argos. I on;y just saw now after i read andy's post about reviews that my model can be very prblematic. There's loads of people saying theres has broken within two hours and ususlally freezes within 25 minutes use. Well i plugged it into my tv downstairs with the main roof aerial and got about 30 channels through on it (including the radio channels). It was missing the biggy's like e4 and itv2, hell the thing didn't even pick up itv1 or channel 4. Slightly dissapointed and convinced i was going to be taking it back tomorro, i trudged upstairs to my room and for some reason thought it would be a good idea to try it on my indoor aerial with the tv in my room. Shit me was it better! I now have around 80 channels including the five normal channels and e4 and itv 1 through to itv4 . Not only is it picking up more channels but they are also geting a better signal than they were downstairs as well even the normal channels of one to five are insanely better . I like the menu's because it seems very easy to use, and it has a 7 day electronic program guide so it shows me whats on and when.I also have not had any issues with it freezing or losing sound like some people have said they got and its been on for around 5 hours now with no problems, there was a little flicker earlier but that is quite common with digital tv anyway.. my mates sky box does it quite a bit. The thing i have found though is it gets quite warm, i suppose its due to the fact its re-encoding all the data so your tv understands it. I also think this is the reason why mine has had no problems but other peopl do, a lot of peopl stick it on top of their vcr/dvd player in the shelf unsder their widescreen tv and they overheat. Mine is on top of my high-fi in the open and it has a lot of room around it so it stays cool. you may want to start off here (click link) to see if you have enough of a signal to warrant getting it without an aerial upgrade or if you live relatively close to a signal tower. For a point of referance i'm getting a decent enough signal and it told me i might receive freeview but i might need an aerial upgrade. This site is also pretty decent as well (click link), they run through pretty much everything you need to know about a freeview set up. If you understad much about tv signals and how they work you can use this site (click link?) and it will tell you the details of your nearest signal tower (distance away, compass bearing for you to point the antenna in the right direction), again for reference mine is 14 miles away and it suggests i use a high gain tv aerial.that should do youhope it helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
munkee Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 i should have got a sony Unlucky choice.. freeview is well worth it if you get the right box (sony sony sony sony sony sony) and unless your into recording things on to your pc... id go for the freeview box anyday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
that NBR dude Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 I just invested in a freeview box, with an internal HDD like Tivo or Sky+. Its excellent as it has 2 recievers, so you can watch one channel, while recording another, Pause/rewind live TV and set it up to record series of programs ect.It has up to 10 hours recording time which is plenty for me, and was a reasonable price from ebay.Worth a look I reckon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krisboats Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 Unlucky choice.. freeview is well worth it if you get the right box (sony sony sony sony sony sony) and unless your into recording things on to your pc... id go for the freeview box anydaythe sony one was too much for something that doesn't really seem to stand out from the others. mine looks nicer too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
munkee Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 the sony one was too much for something that doesn't really seem to stand out from the others. mine looks nicer too. But yours doesnt work properly... thats the main difference. Function over fashion anyday thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krisboats Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 But yours doesnt work properly... thats the main difference. Function over fashion anyday thanksmine works absolutely fine, i havn't had a problem with it yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Booth Posted January 20, 2006 Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 Dunno if its anyhelp, but i've got an el gato freeveiw set up on my mac...not sure if they do a wondows equivalenet..And its mint. Its the same as sky plus in effect just with less channels Dunno if its anyhelp, but i've got an el gato freeveiw set up on my mac...not sure if they do a wondows equivalenet..And its mint. Its the same as sky plus in effect just with less channels Www.elgato.com if you wanna check it out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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