actually average Freeview is about 500kbps. Yup It really *is* that bad...
Getting TV on your computer
Dec 30, 2008
27 Replies
Actually, even the lowest bitrate (I don't know what period that is measured over) of the crappiest channels (excluding the shrunken video within an MHEG page ones) is above 500kbps, the average bitrate varies for different channels from about 2Mbps to 4.5Mbps
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The Mrs watches DTV TV via her PC all the time now using a cheap capture card and cheap 'bare bones / Maplin' external PVR. This means she can switch the PC off and leave the box to do it's recording thing. I was thinking of getting her a combined DTV / monitor but she would have to switch between sources regularly (she plays word games during the adverts ) and wouldn't get the recording facility of the external PVR.
My main PC has a dual chan DVT card and I use that now and again.
Daughter has similar setup on her PC and eyeTV / hybrid on a Mac Mini (ok but quite expensive at £99 at the time) but doesn't use either much.
I also have a Freecom DTV USB thingy that I can use on pretty well anything (I can also *just* get away with the portable antenna on most channels).
FWIW we always watch our main TV [1] via a 250G Topfield PVR and managing that is easier than any computer based solution (IMHO).
Cheers, T i m
[1] TV is analogue / digital and has built in DVD player (rarely used).
#What's a PVR and what's the Maplin reference?
- thanks for that.
- also does PC World do something similar?
andy
A PVR is really just a VCR which records to a HD rather than tape. Many have twin FreeView tuners which allow you to record two progs at once - and under some conditions watch a third at the same time off FreeView even if your TV doesn't have a FreeView tuner. One of their better tricks is pausing or even rewinding a 'live' prog.
Maplin do (or did) a basic version where you supplied and fitted your own HD - but it's a pretty crude and unfriendly device to use.
Dunno. It's a place best avoided if possible.
I've got one of these:
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that works well. I use it with Windows Media Centre rather than the supplied software.
I've also got one of these:
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for high definition satellite. Works well with DVBViewer software that now provides the freesat EPG.
Both running on Vista Home Premium.
Why not use a 'television set' to receive TV?
Horses for courses and all that...
I do.
And your point is...?
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