Monday 2 March 2009

Wee TV

Something that has often been obvious with computers is to get TV on the computer (and then rip the program or something). I got a WinTV tuner thingy, so now I can view TV in a tiny screen on the computer laptop as opposed to watching it on the 42" plasma... (main reason I went for it was because it was cool... I mean, because Saturn doesn't get Freeview channels 6 and 7).

Once the device is plugged in and some software is accessing it, the big challenge is... does it actually pick up anything? The "scan channel" button is pressed and time passes...

The device comes with a dinky wee aerial. As with anything described by the word "dinky", it inevitably isn't worth a damn, and indeed nothing is scanned. Great, are we back to the bunny aerials already?

However, I do have some kind of external aerial coming into my place (which I ignored in favour of a digital link), so dug that out, hooked it up, and waited... and waited...

But, YES, I have channels! Including 6 and 7! Now the real test, is the signal actually watchable?

TV One, yes. TV Two, yes. TV Three... eh... first time didn't want to, but second time seemed to be fine. C4... er, sound is good. And as for 6 and 7, get a little, highly distorted picture, but I do get sound. Which is a broad summary of the other channels, picture not watchable, sound okay.

Ultimately... if I'm desperate, but basically I'm thinking it was a waste of money...

[END]

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