TV cards

[Christo]

not sure at all about these things at all

I have no TV in my room (bedroom) I have a 17" TFT monitor which simply has
a blue VGA connector on the back

I have a TV aerial line coming down the wall and out at the skirting board.

thing i would like to know is

will this card

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=6895&GroupID=387

allow me to watch TV on my monitor?

if i simply plug the TV aerial cable into the socket on that card (it looks
as though it will fit into the round connector) will i be able to tune into
BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel4, Channel 5, also I have been able to (in the
past) get a satellite image on a seperate channel (say tuned into channel 6)
through the same TV aerial cable into a standard portable TV (when i say
satellite i mean sky digital, for those from the UK)

anyway will this allow me to watch terrestrial TV at least on my PC monitor?
with me just plugging the TV aerial cable into the card, and not into the
back of the TV?

any info on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Gareth Tuckwell]

will this card

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=6895&GroupID=387

allow me to watch TV on my monitor?

if i simply plug the TV aerial cable into the socket on that card (it
looks as though it will fit into the round connector) will i be able to
tune into BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel4, Channel 5, also I have been able to
(in the past) get a satellite image on a seperate channel (say tuned into
channel 6) through the same TV aerial cable into a standard portable TV
(when i say satellite i mean sky digital, for those from the UK)

It is impossible to pick up satellite TV through a normal aerial system.
Satellites broadcast using microwaves and are received by a dish, then
decoded and a normal aerial receives normal UHF frequency signals. You might
find that in your area the main terrestrial channels are broadcast on a
certain frequency, but you are able to faintly pick up signal from a near by
region on a different frequency, but satellite and digital signals are
encoded so even with the right dish, you still wouldn't get a picture - it
has to be decoded as well!

anyway will this allow me to watch terrestrial TV at least on my PC
monitor? with me just plugging the TV aerial cable into the card, and not
into the back of the TV?

Basically - yes. You will need the computer switched on, but you will also
be able to set your computer up as a recorder! This is an expansion card for
your PC. You plug it into an empty PCI slot and plug the normal, terrestrial
aerial in the back, install some software and off you go! Investigate
further, because you can now get cards that decode the digital (freeview)
signal as well - something you might want to investigate for when the analog
signal is switched off in a few years!

 

[Christo]

It is impossible to pick up satellite TV through a normal aerial system.
Satellites broadcast using microwaves and are received by a dish, then
decoded and a normal aerial receives normal UHF frequency signals. You
might find that in your area the main terrestrial channels are broadcast
on a certain frequency, but you are able to faintly pick up signal from a
near by region on a different frequency, but satellite and digital signals
are encoded so even with the right dish, you still wouldn't get a
picture - it has to be decoded as well!


Basically - yes. You will need the computer switched on, but you will also
be able to set your computer up as a recorder! This is an expansion card
for your PC. You plug it into an empty PCI slot and plug the normal,
terrestrial aerial in the back, install some software and off you go!
Investigate further, because you can now get cards that decode the digital
(freeview) signal as well - something you might want to investigate for
when the analog signal is switched off in a few years!

how can you tell if a card will decode digital freeview signals or not?

will it be in the product description.. digital TV card?

 

[Christo]

It is impossible to pick up satellite TV through a normal aerial system.
Satellites broadcast using microwaves and are received by a dish, then
decoded and a normal aerial receives normal UHF frequency signals. You
might find that in your area the main terrestrial channels are broadcast
on a certain frequency, but you are able to faintly pick up signal from a
near by region on a different frequency, but satellite and digital signals
are encoded so even with the right dish, you still wouldn't get a
picture - it has to be decoded as well!


Basically - yes. You will need the computer switched on, but you will also
be able to set your computer up as a recorder! This is an expansion card
for your PC. You plug it into an empty PCI slot and plug the normal,
terrestrial aerial in the back, install some software and off you go!
Investigate further, because you can now get cards that decode the digital
(freeview) signal as well - something you might want to investigate for
when the analog signal is switched off in a few years!

for example something like this

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=7838&GroupID=387

would that card be able to decode the digital freeview signal?

 

[Christo]

It is impossible to pick up satellite TV through a normal aerial system.
Satellites broadcast using microwaves and are received by a dish, then
decoded and a normal aerial receives normal UHF frequency signals. You
might find that in your area the main terrestrial channels are broadcast
on a certain frequency, but you are able to faintly pick up signal from a
near by region on a different frequency, but satellite and digital signals
are encoded so even with the right dish, you still wouldn't get a
picture - it has to be decoded as well!


Basically - yes. You will need the computer switched on, but you will also
be able to set your computer up as a recorder! This is an expansion card
for your PC. You plug it into an empty PCI slot and plug the normal,
terrestrial aerial in the back, install some software and off you go!
Investigate further, because you can now get cards that decode the digital
(freeview) signal as well - something you might want to investigate for
when the analog signal is switched off in a few years!

I am also assuming that the sound will come from the onboard sound on the PC
motherboard, or does this come from the PCI card

I am using some creative I-trigue speakers and would really like for them to
be used if i do get the card, and not have to repeatadley switch from
plugging the sound cable into the onboard motherboard sound and the sound on
the digital PCI tv card

ps

sorry about all the posts, i just dont want to purchase anything that isn't
going to work properly

 

[Paul]

how can you tell if a card will decode digital freeview signals or not?

will it be in the product description.. digital TV card?

It will be in the description. Check you can receive Digital TV in your area
first at http://www.freeview.co.uk/canireceivefreeview/

Your example card would be fine, and the sound is through the sound card on
the computer as there is no audio connections on the card for output.

 

[kony]

how can you tell if a card will decode digital freeview signals or not?

It will have a digital tuner.
That card doesn't appear to have one.

 

[MCheu]

how can you tell if a card will decode digital freeview signals or not?

will it be in the product description.. digital TV card?

It will say so in the description. Digital TV decoder cards are
pretty new though, so they're still kind of hard to find and
expensive. As such, if the card has that feature it's a big deal, so
it *WILL* be in the description.

 

[Gareth Tuckwell]

for example something like this

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=7838&GroupID=387

would that card be able to decode the digital freeview signal?

Yup. That one look like it!

 

[Christo]

It is impossible to pick up satellite TV through a normal aerial system.
Satellites broadcast using microwaves and are received by a dish, then
decoded and a normal aerial receives normal UHF frequency signals. You
might find that in your area the main terrestrial channels are broadcast
on a certain frequency, but you are able to faintly pick up signal from a
near by region on a different frequency, but satellite and digital signals
are encoded so even with the right dish, you still wouldn't get a
picture - it has to be decoded as well!


Basically - yes. You will need the computer switched on, but you will also
be able to set your computer up as a recorder! This is an expansion card
for your PC. You plug it into an empty PCI slot and plug the normal,
terrestrial aerial in the back, install some software and off you go!
Investigate further, because you can now get cards that decode the digital
(freeview) signal as well - something you might want to investigate for
when the analog signal is switched off in a few years!

somehow i can get it with only normal cables, there is a box on the skirting
board, which the cable plugs into, and then goes into the TV

it works though my bother was watching ITV2 (newcastle game) this evening in
his bedroom on a 10 year old portable TV

 

[Gareth Tuckwell]

somehow i can get it with only normal cables, there is a box on the
skirting board, which the cable plugs into, and then goes into the TV

it works though my bother was watching ITV2 (newcastle game) this evening
in his bedroom on a 10 year old portable TV

Sounds like the box you have is a digital decoder box for freeview. You
can't receive digital television through the normal analog TV decoder
receiver that is build in to your TV. The digital signal has to be decoded -
you could tune your TV to the exact frequency that digital is broadcast on
and see nothing: it would be like listening to the phone socket on the wall
and claiming to be able to hear a phone call - you need another device to
turn the signal into a picture!!