usb Mpeg4 DTT dongle with arieal for the WC

eoinf

Hi

Can anyone recommend a good usb irish DTT receiver to pick up RTE on my laptop for the WC?

What software would be needed to tune in the channels?

Is it easily done?

Is there anything to look out for?

Thanks in advance.

Eoin

Tonio

I think rte player will show the games so you may not need a dtt receiver

eoinf

i wont have an internet connection as its a work laptop .

zilog_jones

Picture quality is crap on RTE Player in comparison anyway.

I'd be interested in any recommendations too, preferably something that works with ProgDVB or similar non-useless software. Don't need an aerial myself.

tlaavtech

eoinf wrote: »

Hi

Can anyone recommend a good usb irish DTT receiver to pick up RTE on my laptop for the WC?

Just figured out that WC means World Cup (had some unpleasant images as to where you use your laptop )

Any USB digital receiver will do the trick - just make sure you install an MPEG 4 codec also - the current version of DivX should do the trick. If it's a Windows 7 laptop, it should have the codec already.

Your location and the location of the arial are also a major issue - particularly if you need to hide your viewing in a hurry. The sticks come with a small arial, but you won't know if it works util you try it.

Obviously sinc time is an issue, a €12 from china will not get here in time for Friday. PCWorld or similar is your best bet - will probably cost you anything fom €40 to €100 depending on how desperate you are!!

I have a Pinnacle stick which works nicely. It said it only did MPEG2, but since the PC does all the decoding, it still works fine

I also have a Terratech in work which is good, and Hauppage are also excellent. I use an outdoor arial with all of these, but I need to because of the location. Other people have posted on these forums about success with the stubby arial that comes with them, but I have not tried it - Sorry.

parasite

you could try ebay too, any freeview stick will work, it doesn't have to be a big brand or 'HDTV', you don't need to spend more than 20€ at the most
you can use alt-dvb/vlc/progdvb/dvbdream etc ..

mossym

parasite wrote: »

you could try ebay too, any freeview stick will work, it doesn't have to be a big brand or 'HDTV', you don't need to spend more than 20€ at the most
you can use alt-dvb/vlc/progdvb/dvbdream etc ..

yup, just bought a second one ot use at work for the world cup. any of the cheap ones on ebay will do.

if you want to make sure it works with most software make sure it specifies BDA drivers, that will allow maximum capability

eoinf

Maplins had a few for around €40 but weren't able to garuntee MPEG4 support.

They were relectant to let me buy it and return it if it doesn't work.

Think i might take a punt with it.

Will revert back with my results.

Eoin

mossym

eoinf wrote: »

Maplins had a few for around €40 but weren't able to garuntee MPEG4 support.

They were relectant to let me buy it and return it if it doesn't work.

Think i might take a punt with it.

Will revert back with my results.

Eoin

usb dongles use software decoding, so mepg2 or mpeg 4 is totally irrelevant as far as the hardware is concerned

eoinf

mossym wrote: »

usb dongles use software decoding, so mepg2 or mpeg 4 is totally irrelevant as far as the hardware is concerned

guess you are right , just watching the nuacht now.

shame the Irish guy in maplins was such a dick. asked him again today what the chances of it working was and he swore blind it wouldnt and that he will personally see that i don't get a refund if i open the box and it doesn't work.

these guys could sell a packet of these for the world cup if they had any sense.

i said ill ring him and let him know how i got on .

anyway just to confirm the k-world TV stick II defo works on a my two laptops one is an old dell with XP on it , picture is very stable on it. Audio is in sync too.

cost about €40 , there are two models one with a built in aerial i got one with the small external aerial and it works perfect with just that.

Im based around the north circular in case that makes a difference.

guess there goes my productivity in work for the month.

Thanks for everyone's help.

mossym

Just to point out for anyone else looking to buy, that 40 euros would buy you 3 on eBay that would work just as well. My 14 euro one worked perfectly with the small aerial supplied today at work so I could keep an eye on the world cup.

These things can be picked up dirt cheap

johnayo

parasite wrote: »

you could try ebay too, any freeview stick will work, it doesn't have to be a big brand or 'HDTV', you don't need to spend more than 20€ at the most
you can use alt-dvb/vlc/progdvb/dvbdream etc ..

Will these work with a netbook?

eoinf

mossym wrote: »

Just to point out for anyone else looking to buy, that 40 euros would buy you 3 on eBay that would work just as well. My 14 euro one worked perfectly with the small aerial supplied today at work so I could keep an eye on the world cup.

These things can be picked up dirt cheap

unfortunate thing is that i wanted it for world cup 2010 not 2014.

mossym

eoinf wrote: »

unfortunate thing is that i wanted it for world cup 2010 not 2014.

ordered last monday came wednesday.


just trying to save people a few bob mate, if you want to buy local nothing wrong with that.

cwboy

mossym wrote: »

ordered last monday came wednesday.


just trying to save people a few bob mate, if you want to buy local nothing wrong with that.

do you have a link to the one you bought on ebay? would love to get one to complement my humax box.

mossym

sure, last one i bought was item 140414701706

orderend that one as it is shipped from the uk so came in two days

the ones from hong kong are cheaper but slower to get here

just make sure and get one with BDA certified drivers. that should allow you to use it with other software

eoinf

Thanks for all the info to date.

can anyone recommend good software for tuning/watching/recoding with EPG.

The software that came with my usb stick is ok just wondering if there are any alternatives.

Cheers

Eoin

mossym

eoinf wrote: »

Thanks for all the info to date.

can anyone recommend good software for tuning/watching/recoding with EPG.

The software that came with my usb stick is ok just wondering if there are any alternatives.

Cheers

Eoin

dvbviewer is decent, but will cost you 15 euros or something like that.

mediaportal is free, but is meant for a lot more than just tv so might be overkill for what you want

lucernarian

I thought I'd jump in with this issue as it's relevant to this topic.

So I got a ~€15 USB dongle from Dealextreme and I did manage to get it working with VLC and a vista laptop. Not very user-orientated but it was a proof of concept really. But the USB tuner has terrible sensitivity! At the time, the aerial was picking up Clermont Carn and formerly Kilkeel with a Group B amp in place. Any flatscreen TV, the wharfedale freeview box from the trial days and the Humax HDCI-2000 trial box all report full strength from Clermont Carn, almost full strength for Three Rock/Kippure, OK signal from Cairn hill and strong but poor quality muxes from Mt. Leinster depending on whether Kilkeel was strong or not at the time.

When I plugged in the USB stick to this aerial, I could get CC only with occasional breakup, it barely managed to find a mux from Three Rock and the rest were absent. The indoor aerial was totally useless, and I used another indoor aerial which worked fine with another box to pick up Cairn Hill. Still no joy.

So, what USB or PCI tuners has anyone found to be sensitive compared to e.g. set top boxes? I don't mind paying up to €60 or so if it is capable of picking up weaker signals.

irishchris

hauppage win tv nova is a brill usb tuner - very sensitive and is giving me 100% quality from maghera in clare. in galway myself

tmcw

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

So, what USB or PCI tuners has anyone found to be sensitive compared to e.g. set top boxes? I don't mind paying up to €60 or so if it is capable of picking up weaker signals.

Sorry, can't help you with regards comparing with PCI cards, but I was setting up the WandTV from DX with Mediaportal this evening, and when doing the scan, it got a signal at 738000Mhz (3R) but couldn't find any channels. I had the USB device lying across a power adaptor which had a "wall-wart" PSU on it, so moving the USB device away from the PSU and rescanning, I got the channels. I moved it a bit further away from it again, and the signal got a bit better, so obviously there was some electrical interference reducing the signal quality in the USB device.

Comparing it to the Sagem Picnic box I have (from the same aerial), I didn't see much of a difference in signal quality; I'm using a cheap TV-top small Yagi type aerial, and it seems fairly near the cliff-edge for receiving a solid signal with the Picnic, and it's similar for the USB device.

Only issues I have with the USB device are Radio 1 and Radio 1 Xtra having no sound (both work fine on the Picnic) and although the manual mentions it does FM radio, I can't figure out how to get that to work with Mediaportal. Anyone have any pointers for these issues?