TV Tuner for PC

K

Kilkennycat

Guest
Just saw this Tv Tuner on Komplett.ie and was wondering do you get get digital channels in Ireland

TerraTec Cinergy T², DVB-T, USB2.0 Digital Terrestial TV broadcast,TeleText



Your price: €100.01


SKU: 306786
Weight: 0.45 kg
Manufacturer P\N: 10072



With the Cinergy T2 you can receive all free digital terrestrial TV broadcasts (DVB-T) on your desktop or notebook PC using the included antenna. The Cinergy T connects directly to a USB 2.0 port and also draws its power from the port. Separate power adapters or batteries are not required.

The Cinergy T2 receives its signals from a common antenna. But digital TV has so much more to offer. DVD picture quality, loss-free recordings in MPEG-2 format and Timeshifting - with which you can simply pause live programs and restart them later where you left off. Take you to the TV of the future.

Enhance your TV experience with additional tasty features: The Electronic Program Guide delivers up-to-date program information for the coming days and lets you plan your recordings with a single click. All received teletext pages are stored in the T2's memory for lightning-fast navigation with your mouse.

Digital recordings are a great thing, but sooner or later they can fill even the largest hard drive. No problem to manage them with the included Ulead MovieFactory 3 TV! Remove annoying advertising blocks from your recordings and archive them on DVD.

Control the on-screen menu of the Cinergy T2 and a wide range of other multimedia applications from the comfort of your sofa using the included remote control.


Product Description TerraTec Cinergy T2 - DVB terrestrial receiver - Hi-Speed USB
Device Type DVB terrestrial receiver - external
Interface Type Hi-Speed USB
Dimensions (WxDxH) 5 cm x 7.5 cm x 2.3 cm
Weight 75 g
Video Input TV tuner - external
Digital Video Format MPEG-2, DVB
Features Remote control, time shift function
Cables Included 1 x USB cable - external - 0.6 m
OS Required Microsoft Windows XP SP1, Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP4
 
You won't get any digital terrestrial channels in Ireland without a suitable external antenna. In some parts of Ireland it will be impossible to receive UK digital terrestrial signals at all due to geographical and environmental conditions.
 
Was interested in this query as I'm considering if I can do this with my home PC.

Is it as simple as adding this TV tuner card into a PC (I'm ok on taking the PC apart and sticking this in), hooking it up to your cable connection and then you get to watch the Late Late (or whatever)? Or it is a lot more complicated than that?

Another question: if you have TV tuner on PC - do you still have to have a TV licence? Not trying to get out of paying for one - just curious...
 
Kildrought said:
Is it as simple as adding this TV tuner card into a PC (I'm ok on taking the PC apart and sticking this in),
Click to expand...

If you do some further research, you could find one that attaches just to your USB port.
 
thanks for that Tarfhead, both the usbs are used at present so I guess I'm looking at a PCI card.
 
you can always plug a usb hub into one of your usb ports to provide more usb ports for your machine.
here's a few on komplett:
[broken link removed][broken link removed]
 
Kildrought said:
Is it as simple as adding this TV tuner card into a PC (I'm ok on taking the PC apart and sticking this in), hooking it up to your cable connection and then you get to watch the Late Late (or whatever)? Or it is a lot more complicated than that?
Click to expand...

I doubt it will work with cable. It is called a digital terrestial tuner which would seem to indicate it is intended for use with the UK Freeview digital terrestial system (like Clubman mentions with a good antenna you may be able to pick up this UK signal, in particular along the east coast and border areas). There is no Irish digital terrestial system yet and they are only at the stage of talking about testing something at this point.

AFAIK the digital signal used with cable is different (and likely encrypted) and can only be viewed with the proprietary boxes you get from your cable provider.
 
Kildrought said:
Another question: if you have TV tuner on PC - do you still have to have a TV licence? Not trying to get out of paying for one - just curious...
Click to expand...

Yes, the legal requirement for a TV licence is something like "apparatus capable of receiving a TV signal" (paraphrasing somewhat).
 
dam099 said:
AFAIK the digital signal used with cable is different (and likely encrypted) and can only be viewed with the proprietary boxes you get from your cable provider.
Click to expand...

Ok, so I can't plug the cable into the back of the PC, even with this tuner card? Not sure I quite understand the box from the cable provider you're referring to?

I have what seems to be a standard cable feeding into the house, I don't have a separate box. (Never bothered with Sat. TV and the like) So possibly stupid question, what can I do (if anything) with the Tuner card?

Thanks for answering licence question - thought it had to be something like that!
 
Kildrought said:
Ok, so I can't plug the cable into the back of the PC, even with this tuner card? Not sure I quite understand the box from the cable provider you're referring to?

I have what seems to be a standard cable feeding into the house, I don't have a separate box. (Never bothered with Sat. TV and the like) So possibly stupid question, what can I do (if anything) with the Tuner card?

Thanks for answering licence question - thought it had to be something like that!
Click to expand...

Are you getting cable from NTL (or similar)? Are you on the analogue or digital package? I suspect it is the former?

Analogue cable does not necessarily need a box as it can be tuned in on a standard TV's built in tuner (at least that is the way NTL worked a few years ago when I had it. In some other countries even the analogue signals required a box but I believe that was due to encryption.)

Digital cable cannot be tuned in on a standard TV so you need a box to decode the digital signal before it is sent to your TV. This box is as far as I know different to the freeview boxes used in the UK for terrestial digital i.e. while both are digital signals the over the air (terrestial) broadcast and cable signals are in two different formats.

Note that if your cable is analogue there are PC TV tuners you can buy (the majority of current models I would say) that tune in the analogue signal, it is just the one mentioned by the OP is specifically a digital tuner.
 
Aha! She said in a "light bulb going on" way! I definitely don't have any fancy digital stuff on the TV (and currently am not worried if I never have!)

Sooo...if i get a TV tuner for an analogue signal such as this one? I can hook in the cable and watch the Late Late show? (it's not that I have a thing for Pat Kenny, I just want the standard stuff!)

[broken link removed]

Where I'm trying to get to (basically) is a 'sort of' Den for the kids. I reckon if I can just get the TV thing sorted; my PC will effectively act as a 'one stop shop' for all the entertainment gizmos they might want; as it has DVD player, pretty decent sound system for playing CDs etc., and if they have TV out of it also that should keep them quiet for a while!

Won't stop them bickering of course, but as long as I don't have to hear it.....!

thanks for the help - appreciate it.
 
Kildrought said:
Sooo...if i get a TV tuner for an analogue signal such as this one? I can hook in the cable and watch the Late Late show? (it's not that I have a thing for Pat Kenny, I just want the standard stuff!)

[broken link removed]
Click to expand...

Looks along the right lines. That particular one has dual tuners so if you don't need picture in picture or the ability to watch one program while recording another on to the PC then one with a single tuner would also suffice and be cheaper. No experience of that brand so I can't comment on that aspect.
 
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