HDTV TV Tuner for PC

[deleteduser]

Anyone have any experience using a PC based TV tuner for Hong Kong's terrestrial HDTV broadcasts? I'd much prefer one of those over the expensive set-top boxes that are being sold.

Thanks in advance!

[deleteduser]

OK umm.. how about good deals on a set-top box? What are some good ones for a reasonable price?

[buckshot]

There are a lot more DMB-TH tuners and receivers than there were earlier this year. Unfortunately, I can't find any with Firewire.

[CentralLine]

I have the Avermedia one which is useable for DVB (Europe) and DMB (HK) standards. Picture is pretty good but the receiver does get fairly warm. Make sure you get one that has the HD channel receiver ability.

[JohanSWE]

Does anyone actually think the current HDtv broadcasts in Hk warrant to buy a HDtv receiver..personaly i think it was a waste of $ since half of the services are crap, aird in upscaled SD. And channels 11,15,16,17,and what not are yet to go online :S
And has anyone managed to get it to work in XP/Vista MCE?
I just find 3 channels in MCE and all show without image just sound.

[chowfun]

Quality of the video looks great when it's working. The small antenna that came with my AVerMedia USB tuner worked better than a bigger antenna.

[edx]

The sound problem is easily fixed (I think). I tried to connect now to my computer and got no sound, just picture, changed the connection and got sound.

[gdp]

I use a PCI HD TV tuner card on my HTPC. I can see all DTT cahnnels very clearly. But on Vista MCE I cannot see any. Anbody knows how to configure it for Vista MCE? I am also unable to see other channels here in Dbay.

[buckshot]

I use a PCI HD TV tuner card on my HTPC. I can see all DTT cahnnels very clearly. But on Vista MCE I cannot see any. Anbody knows how to configure it for Vista MCE? I am also unable to see other channels here in Dbay.

How can we help without the make/model? A lot of TV tuners don't work in VMC so you have to double-check before purchase.

I also gave up finding a tuner with firewire or Ethernet and got the AVerTV A855 USB tuner. Works great but you have to use the AVerTV program which is a little slow.

[edx]

I bought a digital TVtuner card (Media-Pro) for 700HK last week and it gets 13 digital channels from my antenna, including 3 Olympic channels, but I have to use the supplied ArcSoft Total Media 3.5 for now, because MediaCenter can't see anything at the moment. It works, but what do set-top boxes cost?

I bought the tuner card so I could watch the digital over-the-air channels on my computer, because I don't want to buy an HD flat panel yet. I haven't tried to send output from computer to the TV, as TV, analogue, already gets i-cable and now, and the only thing different digital has is 3 Olympic channels.

If you want quality and don't want a bunch of cords stretching all over your flat, subscribe to icable and now and watch them on your TV. Get a set-top decoder box for digital broadcasts if you want to watch digital on your TV.

One factor to consider is how much trouble you are willing to go to to get MediaCenter to work. Do you want to spend months to save a couple of thousand $'s? The rate of pay for your effort would be VERY LOW.

Media technology is very crude. Don't trust wireless connections - they work but are useless because of crackling noises and low resolutions and skipped frames. (I live in a high-rise with concrete-reinforced walls, like nearly everyone else.) Don't trust the software unless you have several weeks/months to spend searching Google.

Only 2 things I have seen work. A digital TVtuner can pick up the digital signals being broadcast and play them on your computer. Secondly, I managed to get a signal from nowTV to my computer, using composite, but not i-cable - I haven't yet figured out how to get icable to my computer.

Everything else fails or is of such low quality you don't wan't it.

Also, Media Center can't see anything anymore after installing ArcSoft, which kinda works. The whole thing is not worth the trouble. I'm going to rent a now decoder for 38 a month and wait a few years until and expert can set up a home media center with only 3 or so months of work.