newbie: TV card

net said this...
http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/html/digi...d.htm#novatpci). It says
this card can pick up the 'Free-to-View' channels. My query is: can this
card be software-tweaked to pick up more channels? or is it hardwired to
only pick up the free ones?

I have a friend with a Hauppauge TV card. He can tune his card thru the
software to pick up all his cable TV channels, however some of these are
encrypted and so cannot be viewed without the correct decoder setup.
In other words, he can see the free channels but the paid ones are just
garbage and static.
hth.
--
º~ dªv¡d ~º

i doubt it very much, i think thats more like a hardware problem rahter than
software tweaking, its like saying can i use a software tweak on a
standalone unit, and the connection says 1 rf and therefore you cannot use
your satelite dish to connect up to your aerial plug as this is completly a
different connection to the rf connction, there is a tv card for satelite
so you can receive more channels that will incorporate your satelite dish as
long as it is a digital dish

look at the near of top of page for the type you want. but for the ones
where it says freewiew you need your outdoor aerial. it needs a strong
signal coz its digital and not analogue

"net" wrote in message
...
I'm thinking of buying a TV card for my PC (Win 2000 Pro) and as I don't
know a single thing about them I was hoping to get some insights...
The one I had in mind to buy was the Hauppage WinTV Nova-t (PCI) from
maplin electronics (also at
http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/html/digi...d.htm#novatpci). It says
this card can pick up the 'Free-to-View' channels. My query is: can this
card be software-tweaked to pick up more channels? or is it hardwired to
only pick up the free ones?
The spec for this card says Connections 1xRF Antenna (which I understand
is a normal roof ariel) but I have a small satellite dish where I live,
so can I utilise this?
Thanks for any help.

On Tuesday, "net" wrote:

The one I had in mind to buy was the Hauppage WinTV Nova-t (PCI)

I just returned mine to PCWorld today:

(1) I get a perfect picture on my TV/Pace box, but using the same
aerial, I couldn't get ITV1, ITV2 or Ch4 on the WinTV.

(2) The software is worse than bad. It's a clunky interface, is slow
to respond and locks up far, far too frquently.

(3) The recording side is next to useless. You can record what you're
watching (though they recommend running no other software at the same
time), and you can manually set recording times, but you can't record
one channel while watching another.

(4) The picture freezes for no reason for tend/fifteen seconds. Sound
is still heard, and then the pictue might start again. It might....It
probably wont though.

(5) Although you ought to be able to allow the card to see "through"
your firewall (if you have one), I found that even after doing this,
I still needed to actually shut down Zone Alarm to tune the channels.

All-in-all, a very disapointing experience. I'm amazed that there are
no other digital tv cards (except the Nebula?) for pc's. Seems that
Hauppage have this tied up and are under no pressure to sort out the
software problems that they have.

Back to watching TV in the lounge then.

--
Bryan Anderson | www.bryananderson.co.uk

Bryan Anderson wrote:
On Tuesday, "net" wrote:


The one I had in mind to buy was the Hauppage WinTV Nova-t (PCI)


I just returned mine to PCWorld today:

(1) I get a perfect picture on my TV/Pace box, but using the same
aerial, I couldn't get ITV1, ITV2 or Ch4 on the WinTV.

(2) The software is worse than bad. It's a clunky interface, is slow
to respond and locks up far, far too frquently.

(3) The recording side is next to useless. You can record what you're
watching (though they recommend running no other software at the same
time), and you can manually set recording times, but you can't record
one channel while watching another.

(4) The picture freezes for no reason for tend/fifteen seconds. Sound
is still heard, and then the pictue might start again. It might....It
probably wont though.

(5) Although you ought to be able to allow the card to see "through"
your firewall (if you have one), I found that even after doing this,
I still needed to actually shut down Zone Alarm to tune the channels.

All-in-all, a very disapointing experience. I'm amazed that there are
no other digital tv cards (except the Nebula?) for pc's. Seems that
Hauppage have this tied up and are under no pressure to sort out the
software problems that they have.

Back to watching TV in the lounge then.

thanks for your feedback Brian, very enlightening. What OS did you use
the TV card on and what are the specs of your PC? Was it the Nova t you
had or another one of the Nova range?