TV Tuner questions for laptop

Umiq88

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=315276

komplett wrote:

WinTV-NOVA-T-USB2 is a Plug & Play USB device which brings digital terrestrial broadcasts (TV and radio) to your PC. Digital reception provides sharper TV pictures and near CD quality audio. And Free-to-View digital TV does not require a PayTV subscription!

WinTV-NOVA-T-USB2 turns your PC monitor into a high quality digital TV receiver. You can watch digital TV broadcasts in a window on your PC screen, or watch TV full screen. Record your digital TV shows to disk, and play them back at any time. You can also listen to digital radio in stereo.

I got one of these on ebay rather cheaply a bit of an impulse buy but im wondering is there anyway i can make use of this will it work with a normal "rabbit ears" aerial or will it let me plug in a vhs or playstation into my laptop.

What will it let me do or is there anyway i can watch rte and tv3 on my laptop with it.

If it makes any dif im in bishopstown in cork

christo82

Just looking at the Komplett specs, it says only mpeg2 not mpeg4 which would mean you couldn't get the DTT trials and eventually DTT.

Alun

christo82 wrote: »

Just looking at the Komplett specs, it says only mpeg2 not mpeg4 which would mean you couldn't get the DTT trials and eventually DTT.

These sticks don't do MPEG decoding in h/w, that's done in s/w. Just install an MPEG-4 s/w decoder and it'll work.

Umiq88

Ok but can anyone answer my questions will it work with a normal aerial will i be able to watch tv on my laptop with this.

gzoladz

Can anyone kindly explain how to get one of these sticks to decode mpeg4 in software?
I have one of these and decodes mpeg2 ok. I have installed mpeg4 decoders but no luck.
Any advise or someone who can point me in the right direction will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Gustavo

Alun

psittacosis wrote: »

Ok but can anyone answer my questions will it work with a normal aerial will i be able to watch tv on my laptop with this.

Possibly, it depends on where you are, and the signal strength. I'm quite close to 3 Rock and can get a perfect picture just using the little stick antenna that came with the stick, but you'll never know until you try it.

Alun

gzoladz wrote: »

Can anyone kindly explain how to get one of these sticks to decode mpeg4 in software?
I have one of these and decodes mpeg2 ok. I have installed mpeg4 decoders but no luck.
Any advise or someone who can point me in the right direction will be appreciated.

What software are you using? And what decoder did you install?

gzoladz

Alun wrote: »

What software are you using? And what decoder did you install?

To watch tv I use the default software that came with the tv tuner, TotalMedia 3, by Arcsoft.

The TV Tunes is an USB Stick Freecom Hybrid.

Once I installed a codec called CCCP, that I think includes h264.

Thanks,
Gustavo

Alun

That's probably the same H264 codec that's part of the ffdshow package which doesn't seem to work too well. With my system it just produced about a 1/4 screen of something that looked vaguely like a picture and the rest was just blocky rubbish.

Try installing the trial version of Cyberlink's PowerDVD 8 which includes an H.264 codec. It seems to carry on working even after the trial has expired. One problem you might have is that you'll then have 2 H264 codecs and you'll have to tell your application which one to use (not sure if you can do that). Either that or uninstall the codec package you installed first. Another good codec is the CoreAVC one although that you have to pay for.

gzoladz

Should the application pick it up automativcally? I will try it tomorrow and see how it goes.
Unfortunatelly the application has very limited settings and it doesnt let you play around with the codecs.
Will give it a go and see.
Thank you Alun!
Gustavo

Alun

gzoladz wrote: »

Should the application pick it up automativcally? I will try it tomorrow and see how it goes.
Unfortunatelly the application has very limited settings and it doesnt let you play around with the codecs.
Will give it a go and see.
Thank you Alun!
Gustavo

I don't know. I have a codec package installed with the ffdshow codec as well, but in ProgDVB and DVBViewer you can manually select which of multiple installed codecs you want to use. Don't know if you can do that in TotalMedia or not.

gzoladz

Thank you Alun!
I couldnt get ProgDVB and DVBViewer to work with my tv tuner.
Will try PowerDVD 8 and revert.
Gustavo

gzoladz

It didnt work

I queried with Freecom support and I received the following answer. Nedless to say, I am not buying anything freecom again.


De:
"Support Uk Harrogate" <supportuk@freecom.com>
Añadir remitente a Contactos
A:
xxx@xxx
Hi,

No, I'm afraid that nothing we have can support h.264.



Technical Support
On behalf of Freecom Technologies
Technical Support Line: 01423 704715
Email: supportuk@freecom.com
Web: www.freecom.com
CCI Distribution Ltd is a limited company registered in England,
with registration number 3371018.
Registered Office and principal place of business: Crimple
Court, Hornbeam Business Park, Harrogate, HG2 8PA

Alun

gzoladz wrote: »

It didnt work

I queried with Freecom support and I received the following answer. Nedless to say, I am not buying anything freecom again.

Hi,

No, I'm afraid that nothing we have can support h.264.

Technical Support
On behalf of Freecom Technologies

Freecom don't know their arses from their elbows .. absolutely useless support

Have you got the latest BDA drivers from Freecom? If so, both ProgDVB and DVBViewer should work. having said that I have the DVB-T only version, not the hybrid one that you have.

gzoladz

Happy days Alun!!!
Yesterday, after playing around for a few hours, I got the stick to work.
I used DVBViewer and Core AVC codec and I can see digital tv ok.
I couldnt get the analog part to work, but I can still use the TotalMedia software for that.
As usual, it didnt end up being too complicated. But as I wasnt familiar with some of the configuration options in DVBViewer, it required a lot of testing.
Freecom also mentioned they no longer produce tv tuners. At least they should advise of alternatives to avoid their customers having to trash their sticks.
Thanks again Alun!
Gustavo

gzoladz

Very last one Alun, do you know how to set up the dvbviewer to be able to run it "not as administrator"?

I followed the steps provided by the manual but it didnt work.

Thanks,
Gustavo

Alun

gzoladz wrote: »

Very last one Alun, do you know how to set up the dvbviewer to be able to run it "not as administrator"?

I followed the steps provided by the manual but it didnt work.

Sorry, I don't ... I always work with Admin privileges myself.

gzoladz

I have defaulted the application to Open always as admin, and I am ok now.

What antenna do you use? I use the little antenna that came with the device and a booster to avoid having to open the window in winter. It is just enough.

What about you?

Alun

gzoladz wrote: »

I have defaulted the application to Open always as admin, and I am ok now.

What antenna do you use? I use the little antenna that came with the device and a booster to avoid having to open the window in winter. It is just enough.

What about you?

Good to hear you got it sorted! I use the little stick antenna, but then I live in Bray, only 9 kilometres or so from 3 Rock on highish ground with line of sight, so the signal is pretty strong.