Portable Freeview Laptop viewing

nilagin

nilagin

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Does anyone have experience of the Freeview TV Dongles for laptops and the mini ariels? I'm considering getting one for my laptop to take to BTCC motorsport events so I can watch the TV coverage on itv4 at the same time. Will the ariel be strong enough to give me a signal for viewing, basically in the middle of a race track, or am I just wasting my time?:thinking:
 
if you have a 3g dongle then you can go to www.tvcatchup.com to watch itv4 or pretty much any freeview chanel.

All legit, T&C's advise you have to have a tv license etc etc


can also watch it on iphone :) iphone.tvcatchup.com
 
tvcatchup wouldn't be much use for live broadcast though.

The usb dongles work fine as long as the signal is good and that's the bit you'll never know until you try it. The signal has to be very very good for the supplied aerial to pick up enough to avoid picture breakup. If you find the picture is almost there you could buy a quality set top aerial that would give you a better signal.

The other option is to buy a small flat panel portable tv.
 
I have one and it work well
As for signal it will all depend on where the transmitter is
I got a Hauppauge one The aerial you get with it is OK if you get a strong signal but you can get as I did a better one which has some more elements to it this let you point it at the transmitter and get a better signal. Check out where the nearest transmitter is to where you will be. there are maps with all the transmitters on.
It will work as well as a small tv there be no difference there
 
Steep said:
tvcatchup wouldn't be much use for live broadcast though.

The usb dongles work fine as long as the signal is good and that's the bit you'll never know until you try it. The signal has to be very very good for the supplied aerial to pick up enough to avoid picture breakup. If you find the picture is almost there you could buy a quality set top aerial that would give you a better signal.

The other option is to buy a small flat panel portable tv.
Click to expand...

http://www.google.co.uk/products?hl...esult_group&ct=image&resnum=4&ved=0CCgQzAMwAw

So do I chance one of the cheaper ones from those in the link above. All seem to have similar mini ariels so I'd assume the reception would be the same regardless of whether I spend £15 or £50. I have seen the mini ariels used in cars for freeview so I suppose they must work to a certain extent, just will it give me reception sitting inside Druids at Brands Hatch or at Russell Chicane at Snetterton?:thinking:
 
Chaz Photos said:
I have one and it work well
As for signal it will all depend on where the transmitter is
I got a Hauppauge one The aerial you get with it is OK if you get a strong signal but you can get as I did a better one which has some more elements to it this let you point it at the transmitter and get a better signal. Check out where the nearest transmitter is to where you will be. there are maps with all the transmitters on.
It will work as well as a small tv there be no difference there
Click to expand...
I've manged to get reception on a small hand held tv ok, which Happauge one did you get?
 
I have one of the usb dongles (a haupague WinTV nova or something), and it's unusable without a proper arial where I live. If you're somewhere with really strong signal then it might be o.k, but if you can put up with a few seconds extra delay, I'd have thought a 3g dongle and tvcatchup would probably be better!

Chris
 
Chaz Photos said:
guess its the name as in catch up means it already gone bit like bbc iplayer was in early days you watch it after it had ended IE you Catch Up ....
Click to expand...

Ah right, it streams digital channels live (well, about 5 seconds after they come up on tv anyway), hence needed a TV licence to use it. How much the delay between something actually happening, and the signal coming through though, is a different matter!
 
Jimmy_Lemon said:
Why not? it is a live streaming service. :thinking:
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Didn't realise that, I had assumed that it was similar to the bbc iplayer in that you can watch programs after broadcast.
 
Steep said:
Didn't realise that, I had assumed that it was similar to the bbc iplayer in that you can watch programs after broadcast.
Click to expand...

ah right, the name is a bit miss-leading. I think it used to be for catching up on old tv but got shut down, so re-launched as live streaming, which seems to be more legal.
 
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