Mt Mrs watches some rubbish on TV, Emmerdate, Corry, East Enders, My Britains got a voice, etc so I tend to spend most of my evenings either in the garage or on the computer.

There are some programs I would like to watch so I have a TV USB dongle, a Hauppage Win TV DVB-T Nova-T. Unfortunately I have mislaid the serial key and for some reason it is now demanding it! The software for it is very poor, if a signal for a channel is low, the whole thing freezes and has to be shut down and restart to continue, the channel acquisition is random, and channel are allocated the channel numbers apparently by lottery!

So, I need a new one, I don't mind if it is a stick or a PCI card, but need recommendations, or which ones to avoid, or any other solutions I haven't thought of

Over to you, the fountain of all knowledge

Have you considered internet TV? Most big channels now have some sort of 'catch up' option, and while it might not all be live, there is a lot of content out there. I've found it needs at least 1 Meg internet though to stay smooth.

I can't help on the dongle side I'm afraid. I've had a few digital TV dongles, and not yet found a good one. I think it's mostly the aerial they plug into, even the more expensive units with external aerials are still only relying on a six inch piece of wire.

As above, if you have broadband use something like TV catch up.

Stu

http://www.tvcatchup.com/

lets you watch live tv Free to use. Obviously requires internet.

If no internet, I think you may be able to download other tv viewing programs to use with your dongle, it may just be the bundled software that requires the serial.

Just make sure that you've got a generous download allowance from your ISP before using TVcatchup or BBC's iPlayer...

Do you have the CD that came with the dongle ? You can download the software for it on the Hauppauge site here.

Pete,

I have the CD but not the serial key and the crafty buggers want 39.95 dollars for a new one, even though I have the hardware which cannot be copied

I'm using the Avermedia TVVolar USB stick on my PC and it's fine, I just us it to watch TV on my laptop through Windows Media Centre. Picks up over 100 digital freeview channels with no problems and no activation key. It does come with it's own software but I just prefer Media Centre.

It will play up if you have a weak signal, I live in a weak signal area so I need a plug in booster and on wet windy days I can sometimes lose a few channels but on a decent day I get everything fine, that's more my freeview aerial setup's fault than the USB TV card though.

AVERMEDIA DVB-T PC HD TV A835 BLACK | eBay

Edit - I should mention this just takes the standard RF aerial socket which is a plus, some have micro plug adapter lead which is really easily broken and you can't replace them when they break either.

[Edited on 10/6/13 by Scuzzle]

quote:

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Originally posted by Scuzzle
I'm using the Avermedia TVVolar USB stick on my PC and it's fine, I just us it to watch TV on my laptop through Windows Media Centre. Picks up over 100 digital freeview channels with no problems and no activation key. It does come with it's own software but I just prefer Media Centre.

It will play up if you have a weak signal, I live in a weak signal area so I need a plug in booster and on wet windy days I can sometimes lose a few channels but on a decent day I get everything fine, that's more my freeview aerial setup's fault than the USB TV card though.

AVERMEDIA DVB-T PC HD TV A835 BLACK | eBay

Edit - I should mention this just takes the standard RF aerial socket which is a plus, some have micro plug adapter lead which is really easily broken and you can't replace them when they break either.

[Edited on 10/6/13 by Scuzzle]

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I used to use a couple of bits of software with my Hauppage card : ProgDVB (free) and DVB viewer (15 euros). I've not used them in ages, so they may have been overtaken by other things like MediaPortal now. They should work with your dongle.

I may even have a copy of the Hauppage software somewhere, so I'll have a look for the disc / serial number tonight if that helps.


Tim.

[Edited on 10/6/2013 by TimEllershaw]

sorry for the hijack (ish) post, but would one of these things mean you could watch tv in europe? was just wondering about getting TV at le mans if one of the local free view channels showed any?

paul

quote:

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Originally posted by swanny
sorry for the hijack (ish) post, but would one of these things mean you could watch tv in europe? was just wondering about getting TV at le mans if one of the local free view channels showed any?

paul

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quote:

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Originally posted by TimEllershaw
I used to use a couple of bits of software with my Hauppage card : ProgDVB (free) and DVB viewer (15 euros). I've not used them in ages, so they may have been overtaken by other things like MediaPortal now. They should work with your dongle.

I may even have a copy of the Hauppage software somewhere, so I'll have a look for the disc / serial number tonight if that helps.


Tim.

[Edited on 10/6/2013 by TimEllershaw]

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I have had a look and I have the install cd for Hauppauge WinTV-2000 v1.3 for Nova-T, but can't find anything with a serial number on. You are welcome to it, but to be honest it is older than I realised, so you would be better off with one of the many shareware DVB applications.

Tim.

quote:

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Originally posted by TimEllershaw
I have had a look and I have the install cd for Hauppauge WinTV-2000 v1.3 for Nova-T, but can't find anything with a serial number on. You are welcome to it, but to be honest it is older than I realised, so you would be better off with one of the many shareware DVB applications.

Tim.

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