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After 20 months of being in HK, I've finally bought myself a TV. Nothing special, just a 32" LCD, not Smart TV, it goes on the end of my bed so now I don't need to watch stuff on my macbook pro resting on my belly.
Atm, the only thing I've got hooked up to it is just my macbook pro, via HDMI, will consider getting an Apple TV at a later date so I can wireless stream to it. In the meantime, the TV is just sitting there being lonely.
Our flat's broadband is with Pccw, old building, so it's the only choice, supposedly 8mb line, but I wouldn't hold my breath. When my flatmate took out the contract, it had to come with NowTV, so I've got the box somewhere, but I'd need to hook it up, dangle wiring from the lounge to the TV, and from experience, NowTV tend to lag the broadband connection.
I've just been up on the rooftop with my dog, just one floor up, and there's no aerial. It must have gotten removed a while back.
I'm looking to see if there are any indoor TV tuners in HK, and if so, what would I expect to pick up? I can speak Cantonese, so picking up local channels is not a problem. I'm just hoping for some news, and just something different really.
Do indoor aerials work well in HK? If so, I can maybe hook one up directly to the TV.
When I asked my colleagues, they mistook me and thought I wanted a PVR, and the all suggested either Magic TV or EightTV, both of which need an aerial input. Or can I get away with using an indoor aerial with them. I'm not clued up with these things, I know they come with either single or dual tuners.
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03-01-2014, 10:39 PM #1
Looking to somehow get a little TV reception
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03-01-2014, 11:14 PM #2
You can buy aerials in those little mom and pop stores. We have an indoor aerial and it works fine. But it takes up space and can be annoying, to be honest. Why bother? Local TV is crap anyway! We have not used ours for months.
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03-01-2014, 11:15 PM #3
You can get Now TV to 'de-couple' the TV connection from the internet, which I believe they will do for free if you take out a new contract. If not I guess there may be some charge. Friend had it done, said the internet speed went up 1-2 mb. They were around 4.5, now get 5-6mb.
We stream our TV using a VPN on our 8mb line, which averages around 5.5 - 6mb. Streaming HD tv from UK works fine. Occasionally it starts to lag, but mostly it is pretty good.
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03-01-2014, 11:33 PM #4
Or you could buy a UKTV HK box as it works over the internet. Box costs around HK$ 600 to buy upfront. There's a monthly subscription via Paypal but no minimum contract length so you can stop whenever you want. It gives you real time TV from the UK for all the freeview channels (incl. Sky News, BBC, CNN etc plus kiddies channels and National Geographic which all seem to be pay channels here) plus stores the last 2 week's episodes for most channels so you can catch up on whatever you fancy. Handy for football fans if you're missing Match of the Day.
Last edited by bibbju; 03-01-2014 at 11:36 PM.
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03-01-2014, 11:43 PM #5
cost HK$1300 for box, not HK$#600
http://uktvhongkong.com/boxorder.html
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03-01-2014, 11:52 PM #6
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04-01-2014, 01:13 AM #7
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04-01-2014, 01:20 AM #8
Mine's been fine. Occasionally they do server maintenance and you get a message saying to use the US server instead of EU or vice versa but it takes only a few seconds to switch (just go back to the main menu and select). I know quite a few people who use it (a former colleague is involved in the company) and everyone is happy. Some of the guys who've lived in HK a long time did get somewhat over-excited at first but they seem to have calmed down now and I don't have to listen to them waxing lyrical about "Escape to the Country" (argh!!).
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04-01-2014, 08:17 AM #9
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04-01-2014, 02:57 PM #10
Thanks for the info, but I spoke to one of these small shop owners and he was very helpful. Basically, he said unless I have a good line of sight to the transmitters and live on a highish level, then the reception will be poor. Considering I live in a tst walk up surrounded by tall buildings, I'm not going to get much reception.
I just went into Wanchai computer centre and bought an Android smart box. Lots of free streamed channels like HBO, Discovery Channel, etc. Will give that a whirl and see how the wireless network and the broadband connection hold up. Got it cheap ($600) as I was recommended by a friend. If that fails, then I'll start looking into the possibility of getting a bloke over to install an aerial on the rooftop.
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Originally Posted by bibbju:
