USB TV stick

[RogerRust]

Has anyone tried one of these gizmos?

I'll need a new TV for the kitchen soon (analogue switchoff time) and thought I might use the laptop with an USB TV tuner Stick but I don't know if they are any good.

Any one tried one????

[bmcecosse]

They seem a bit hard to believe - I struggle to get a decent digital signal even with aerial dangled out the window - from which I can SEE the blasted mast! This digital switch over has a lot to answer for - with analogue I had nice steady pictures - with digital I get pixilation and sound interference - it's a great step forward - I don't think.....
Or - just thinking - does the USB thing use the internet ?? Will you need to pay a subscription ?

[d_harris]

I have one of these

http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/product ... stick.html

I bought it so I could watch tv at work on Saturdays its actually pretty good. Comes packaged with a neat little arial which is actually plugged into my tv at the moment as I can get better signal off that than the wall point

I've found it to be pretty good. The picture seemed a little grainy but I suspect thats more down to the laptop screen. The other thing with these is that as long as the computer is turned on at the relevant time, you can use the computer to record any programs you might miss.

[MColes]

I have a similar one to the one Dan has (same make different model) Had it a few years now and find it really good. Easy to setup and use, even easier if you use Windows Media Center

[Alec]

Hello BMCE,

I recently built an extension to the house and fitted a good quality outside aerial, with high specification cable and some chanels gave me pixilated pictures. I saw on the net a recommendation that good quality gold plated T.V. c-axial plugs make a big difference. I bought some from Maplin (Not as expensive as I expected) and no pixilation at all at any time and also some extra channels (Freeview) that I hadn't had before?

Alec

[irmscher]

How much are these ???

[d_harris]

I think mine was £40 from currys (wanted it at short notice) but can be picked up new for £10-£15 on ebay (or cheaper from China/HK) not nessecarily the same make/model though

[bmcecosse]

Thanks Alec - so my aerial from Poundland may be the problem???

[phurn]

Without doubt that's the problem. I insist on gold contacts in my house. Ordinary ones have too much in the way of losses to be worth considering. Also cheap aerial, Leeds ect tend to have badly made connections, which introduce outside noise and interference.

[Alec]

Hello BMCE,

maybe, there are different bands and also horizontal and vertical polarisation, it's better to have the right one rather than a 'universal' type.
This is the company I bought my stuff from, a very comprehensive site with lots of advice. http://www.aerialsandtv.com/index.html.

Alec

[bmcecosse]

Thanks Alec - I am a Radio Amateur.... I set one leg of the aerial vertical and the other horizontal. Works fine for some channels and hopeless for others. Unfortunately it was working all too well when watching the rugby this afternoon...... Main TV is on SKY dish - this one is just for the odd program when swmbo doesn't want to watch.....

[MarkyB]

My aerial came from £3.50 land and works fine until a bus or moped goes by .
Aren't there quite stringent regulations about interference from vehicles? Does anyone enforce them?

Now I have a dish up and a Freesat box, getting the dish actually lined up on a satellite with free output is on my to do list somewhere.

[phurn]

It's not interference from the vehicle which would be tiny, more just the vehicle being in the way. If you really wanted to you could stop the bus dead for about 3 quid worth of resistor and capacitors. Me and my mate did it once and melted next doors speakers. Which were, by the way, the season we built it in the first place. Highly illegal mind, counts as theft.

[MarkyB]

I'd agree with you if the interference was momentary, however it lasts rather longer than that.

A badly suppressed spark put out an enormous radio signal across a very wide spectrum which may explain the moped problem, the buses being diesels are harder to explain, maybe knackered alternators or radios on an inconvenient frequency?

[phurn]

that second sentace sums up perfectly the device you can make for a few quid, fills ht eair with noise, knocking out everything electric, phones, tv, cars, everything. hence why it counts as theft... denial of service.

i still think its loction based... the wavelength for a uhf signal is an average of 0.6 metres i believe, ad to this refraction cuased by atmosphere, trees ect and that bus could have quite an effect on your tv for a good distance. especially when the critical error rate for digital tvis 1 in 1000... anymore than that and you get no picture!

[MarkyB]

I'm not interested in giving other people problems, more in stopping the problems I'm getting from the buses as I believe they are at fault.

[phurn]

the only things on the busses that might have an effect are the florescent lights runnign down the inside of the bus, the radio they use for ommunications and the engine, but as you say theyre deisels so that shoudlnt be a problem.

for my money its gotta be a mix of refraction off the surroundings and then the bus adding the final straw and giving you far more errors than the 1 in 1000 tollerance. only way i cna see around that woud be to put the aerial higher up.

[rayofleamington]

I have a haupage USB unit for the PC upstairs, working off an indoor arial (not the one with arial included) - it works really well but the wife still insists on watching the TV as she doesn't like the hum of the pc..

I had it 3 years before using it in that time a friend wanted to try oneso he borrowed mine but they didn't get any reception at all! I got load of channels one the first attempt.

However one issue we had with roof arial and the indoor arial was drop-out caused by a moped that came up and down the street many times per day We switched over to hardwired tv downstairs but still had the problem on the indoor arial upstairs. Eventually the plonker with the moped out-grew it The moped affected all the digital arial users in the street.

[MarkyB]

I think you are spot on phurn, I might even invest in an aerial for the loft as my chimneys are in a sorry state already, florescent lights is an interesting thought too.

[phurn]

If you live in a poor signal area then even loft insulation will cause you problems!