Whats a good TV card?

[Greatbloke]

What's a good value TV card..any good websites with comparative reviews?

I want high definition wide screen digital.

[spud]

Hey GB, I know its not the norm here to do any sort of moderation but I figure you're going to get better responses if this is in its own topic

[jof]

Bit of a late reply so not sure if you are still in the hunt for a TV card GB, but I purchased a yesterday and seems to be doing the job nicely so far. I bought it direct from their site via paypal and it arrived the next day. I'm still playing with the various settings but have watched and recorded a few things and it seems to be working ok.

The manufacturers also are quite active on and seem very prompt to help and update their drivers/software when necessary. That forum is also quite handy for Aussies with alot of good info.

Two things to remember though with these USB based solutions is you need a USB 2.0 port and a decent arial that will pick up digital properly. When I first moved into this house the reception wasn't really good enough to get a signal that didn't break up quite a bit so I had to get a booster installed.

[Greatbloke]

Hey Jof thanks for the reply.. Somehow I missed it earlier, and it wasn't flagged.

I bought a bon-g usb one.. and it's crap. I bought a u-bute aerial and am still lucky to get more that one station working 100%.

Anyway a couple of days ago I bought a Median brand laptop from ALDI with a TV card. It even works pretty well with the pissy 150mm aerial that comes with it.... as long as it's not near the PC.

[kanonfoda]

Really late post again as usual but it is a two fold post.

I just bought a $59 Tevion USB HD tuner from Aldi and it seems to be working fine. It picked up 16 channels with the first indoor aerial with each station looking good. It had 10, ABC, SBS but not 7 or 9. I tried a different indoor aerial and it then found 25 channels, including 7 and 9. Think it would be great with an outdoor aerial. It didn't find anything with the supplied aerial though, so be warned.

2nd Part. In a sort of similar vein. I bought a widescreen TV but it displays the channels as 4:3 (square with black edges). I can "stretch" it to fit the screen using various options but I thought the purpose of a widescreen was to display 16:9. It doesn't matter whether it is viewed with the analogue signal or a SD digital signal, it displays 4:3 if left on auto.

Whats the go here? Are the stations only broadcasting in 4:3 with widescreen sometimes? I put in a video and it had black lines top and bottom. I feel really ripped off.

Can someone explain to me "why this is so". Any help would be appreciated.

PS. It is not a HD Lcd etc, it is a superceded widescreen CRT and SD digital set top box.

[jof]

You won't get widescreen with an analogue signal fullstop. If you are running from a SD digital set top box most programming now is widescreen... I would say 80% or more programs are WS. Are you sure you the widescreen settings are set correctly for BOTH the STB and the TV?

[blink]

I bought this TV Tuner ($30) from PlusCorp - it's an advertiser special on the OCAU forums - login with username/password ocau/overclocker and you get free airexpress delivery.

Pretty good, you get HDTV and all (see sample pic)

[kanonfoda]

Hey Jof, thanks for the reply. It has helped clarify things a bit. Obviously if it is not going through the STB it is an anologue signal and thus no widescreen, so it is stretched if you want the full screen used. Going through the STB it still looked wrong, so I checked what you said and sure enough the STB was set to 4:3 not 16:9. The picture now appears ok.

The TV has numorous settings you can use - auto, full, 14:9, 16:9, normal etc and it suggests leaving it on auto. Where the confusion is, is that auto should detect the signal and put it in 16:9 or 4:3, however it is not doing this. It talks about WSS (Wide screen signalling or something) so maybe the STB isn't supporting this. Anyway, now that the STB has been changed and I leave it on the normal setting, all seems ok.

Once again, thanks for your help m8

[jof]

No worries Kannon, glad you sorted it out. I wish the silly kents would put their station waterwarks in the corner of the WS picture though like the CBS logo in the cap Blink posted.