Zoom7000 Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 (edited) Freecom DVB-T USB Stick The product is neat, small, sleak and about time an external TV product was cheap and provided Freeview capabilities. However, I have noticed quite a few flaws. I have loads of USB ports on my computer and I find that if I plug it in to a different port it requires me to reinstall the software. Very Annoying! I was glad to see subtitles, however, what is extremely annoying is they are poorly out of sync with the actual programme. Even on non live shows. Live shows like the news are worse! When scanning for channels, if you decide to do a rescan, it sometimes duplicates the channels already in your list so that you get 2 or more listings of the same channel. On the other hand, if the channels are not broadcasting, it doesn't pick them up at all, and sometimes deletes them from the list! I've had issues with BBC3, BBC4, ITV4 and CITV, CBBC, CBeebies. As these channels don't broadcast at the same time they get deleted from the listings whenever I do a scan depending on the time of day. EPG is VERY basic and it would be better if it was viewable during channel surfing, rather than having to be launched as a separate process. Teletext is very basic and takes long to get working. Would be nice if it picked up the proper Freeview channel numbers. The recording feature doesn't allow you to adjust the quality of the capture so that you can control how much space it takes up on your hard drive. Therefore, captured files need to be compressed in a 3rd party program. Also, it uses propriety codecs and can only be viewed with the software provided. I have actually managed to get it playing in Media Player Classic. But video editing software cannot read the MPEG files. The unit needs a very powerful signal for some channels, even more so than some regular Freeview boxes. The remote control doesn't seem to want to work from a distance that it would be useful for. You need to be pretty close to the unit and usually you find that the case is you are close enough to the unit to manually change channels. Other than the 301 and 302 BBC1 Interactive Options, there is no Red Button feature for any other channels including BBC News 24. It picks up Top Up TV channels but as they are coded there is no way of watching them as you cannot use any form of Top Up card with the unit. I suppose some of these are flaws that can be fixed in later software/firmware updates. However, for a portable unit and at just ?40, it is still one of the best in its range.> See Below Zoom7000 Edited June 4, 2006 by Zoom7000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frash Posted June 3, 2006 Share Posted June 3, 2006 Nice review! I read somewhere else the "install driver when plugged in elsewhere" bug is a Windows XP bug though :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callumy Posted June 3, 2006 Share Posted June 3, 2006 That thing with the USB driver reinstalling also used to happen with my old Epson stylus 740 printer if I put it into the wrong USB port. It is quite annoying, as when you went to print, you got multiple versions of the same printer! I think it is a problem with XP, but it doesn't do it on my new printer (Brother HL-2070N laser). The device sounds pretty crap to me for GBP40, and that is a lot of money in Australia (AUD$120 probably! you could buy a new 160GB hard drive with SATAII and 8MB of cache for that!). I was hoping for it to be a reliable product as I would like to know of a few good TV tuners, but yet again it is one of the dodgy ones. I am surprised these companies even bother to produce such poorly made equipment. But Hollywood continues to make bad films, so i guess things will never change! Cal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ms_old1 Posted June 3, 2006 Share Posted June 3, 2006 My Grandad has one since he bought a 38 inch plasma TV and I plugged his PC into it. I modified the channel list in the setup section of the program and they are in order. It is relatively simple to use and modify. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Edwardo Posted June 4, 2006 Share Posted June 4, 2006 I have one of these, and to be honest I wish I'd spent more money on something a bit better. Yes, it works fine but it took me hours to correctly install the drivers and get it working, and the software is really... well.. rubbish tbh. I guess it's ok if you're looking for a really cheap freeview solution, but if you want quality, go elsewhere. Also, Freecom's support is infamously pants! Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeroday Posted June 4, 2006 Share Posted June 4, 2006 Thnaks for the review, i've been keeping my eye of that product for quite a while, wandering whether to buy it or not. As the for USB bug, that happens to me as well with a USB Modem and Nokia phone suite, so its probably a software bug. Annoying as hell though!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+John Teacake MVC Posted June 4, 2006 MVC Share Posted June 4, 2006 The product is neat, small, sleak and about time an external TV product was cheap and provided Freeview capabilities. However, I have noticed quite a few flaws. I have loads of USB ports on my computer and I find that if I plug it in to a different port it requires me to reinstall the software. Very Annoying! Yeah I get that sometimes I think although Isnt it a Windows XP Bug! I was glad to see subtitles, however, what is extremely annoying is they are poorly out of sync with the actual programme. Even on non live shows. Live shows like the news are worse! Never actually Noticed that myself. When scanning for channels, if you decide to do a rescan, it sometimes duplicates the channels already in your list so that you get 2 or more listings of the same channel. Yeah thats annoying, Although they are on different frequencys I think. On the other hand, if the channels are not broadcasting, it doesn't pick them up at all, and sometimes deletes them from the list! I've had issues with BBC3, BBC4, ITV4 and CITV, CBBC, CBeebies. As these channels don't broadcast at the same time they get deleted from the listings whenever I do a scan depending on the time of day. Yeah Similar Problem with Sky 3. EPG is VERY basic and it would be better if it was viewable during channel surfing, rather than having to be launched as a separate process. Teletext is very basic and takes long to get working. Would be nice if it picked up the proper Freeview channel numbers. The recording feature doesn't allow you to adjust the quality of the capture so that you can control how much space it takes up on your hard drive. Therefore, captured files need to be compressed in a 3rd party program. Also, it uses propriety codecs and can only be viewed with the software provided. I have actually managed to get it playing in Media Player Classic. But video editing software cannot read the MPEG files. The unit needs a very powerful signal for some channels, even more so than some regular Freeview boxes. The remote control doesn't seem to want to work from a distance that it would be useful for. You need to be pretty close to the unit and usually you find that the case is you are close enough to the unit to manually change channels. Yeah I never use thats, Useless Other than the 301 and 302 BBC1 Interactive Options, there is no Red Button feature for any other channels including BBC News 24. It picks up Top Up TV channels but as they are coded there is no way of watching them as you cannot use any form of Top Up card with the unit. I suppose some of these are flaws that can be fixed in later software/firmware updates. However, for a portable unit and at just ?40, it is still one of the best in its range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoom7000 Posted June 4, 2006 Author Share Posted June 4, 2006 However, for a portable unit and at just ?40, it is still one of the best in its range. After using this for a few weeks I should point out that the only redeeming factor is the price. Consider itonly> if you are totally limited to ?40. My main gripe with the product is the total lack of decent support by Freecom and the fact that they will not release BDA Drivers for the product. At the time of writing the review I was none the wiser about BDA and didn't even care what BDA was. However, I regret it now and wish I went for something else! Maybe I should rewrite the review!:p:p Go for something like the Hauppauge WinTV Nova-T USB instead. More reputable company when it comes to TV Tuner cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrk Reviews Posted June 11, 2006 Reviews Share Posted June 11, 2006 For the price you can have the far more superior (hardware/software combo wise) Winfast DTV1000T USB stick instead - same price range but the software is just hands down better than 99% of tv pc options out there, imagine WinDVD/PowerDVD but for viewing TV with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J400uk Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 I think that a lot of the problems described above are due to the rubish freecom software. From what I have heard when you use third party BDA drivers with this on xp mce, it is a lot better. I am hoping to rig up an old celeron pc with one of these and a external hard drive running xp mce to use as a freeview PVR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echilon Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Nice review (Y) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leesmithg Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 I have one of those. I don't like having to remove 'show control panel' to use a third party application to keep the screen on top. There isn't even a click to keep screen on top, if there is I have yet to find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J400uk Posted July 15, 2006 Share Posted July 15, 2006 I now have one of these little USB DVB-T sticks. I got the latest version and it came with a cd containing BDA drivers for all versions of the device to use with mce ( like I did) and arcsoft totalmedia which is worth $80 on its own. When I use it with my mce computer is works really super and I can "Pause and rewind live TV", much like on sky+. It picked up all the channels availble in my region (crystal palace) with good signal using my roof arial. I loaded up the arcsoft to my laptop and it is similar to mce but not as good however it is acceptable to use occsaionly like when on holiday. All in all I would strongly reccomend this product as Freecom have fixed the crappy software they used to bundle which the OP is complaining about with bda drivers and arcsoft totalmedia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cragdoo Posted July 24, 2006 Share Posted July 24, 2006 I now have one of these little USB DVB-T sticks. I got the latest version and it came with a cd containing BDA drivers for all versions of the device to use with mce ( like I did) and arcsoft totalmedia which is worth $80 on its own. When I use it with my mce computer is works really super and I can "Pause and rewind live TV", much like on sky+. It picked up all the channels availble in my region (crystal palace) with good signal using my roof arial. I loaded up the arcsoft to my laptop and it is similar to mce but not as good however it is acceptable to use occsaionly like when on holiday. All in all I would strongly reccomend this product as Freecom have fixed the crappy software they used to bundle which the OP is complaining about with bda drivers and arcsoft totalmedia. any chance you could zip up the BDA drivers and post them some where. I have one of these USB sticks and have been searching high and f*cking low for the BDA drivers. I read on a forum somewhere that Freecom were just about to release the BDA drivers and ship them on the CDs with the newer sticks . I have MCE at home but cant use this stick without some serious fafing about with drivers , please please please can you help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonNuttNTL Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 (edited) any chance you could zip up the BDA drivers and post them some where. I have one of these USB sticks and have been searching high and f*cking low for the BDA drivers. I read on a forum somewhere that Freecom were just about to release the BDA drivers and ship them on the CDs with the newer sticks . I have MCE at home but cant use this stick without some serious fafing about with drivers , please please please can you help Hi, Freecom have today posted BDA drivers on their site..... Freecom Driver Downloads Have got them installed now :laugh: however can't get any software to work with them :no: Jon. Edited July 26, 2006 by JonNuttNTL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cragdoo Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 :whistle: niiiice one geezer !!! has anyone managed to get this to work with MCE sucessfully yet ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonNuttNTL Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 :whistle: niiiice one geezer !!! has anyone managed to get this to work with MCE sucessfully yet ? I have tried GB-PVR, Media Portal and Power Cinema and have only got it working in the latter. That said I don't have MCE on my PC so can't verify if it works there too. Jon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoom7000 Posted August 4, 2006 Author Share Posted August 4, 2006 Hello Jon, nice to see you here! I've managed to get the software working only with MediaPortal. It works, but still has a few bugs though. However, there seems to be plenty of help on the forums there. So maybe soon they can get it fully working with the device. I've tried everything with GB-PVR, can't get anywhere, and PowerCinema just won't recognise my device. So, looks like I'm stuck with the crappy Freecom software! has anyone managed to get this to work with MCE sucessfully yet ? From what I have heard, it seems to be running fine with MCE, again, I haven't tested this personally but it does seem to work from what I have heard from other sources. Zoom7000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J400uk Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 Hey, sorry for not replying to people who wanted me to send them the drivers I have been away abroad. I managed to get the BDA drivers to work fine with windows media center edition and I could Pause and rewind etc...., Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+John Teacake MVC Posted August 7, 2006 MVC Share Posted August 7, 2006 Please can someone do me a huge favour I have had to re install the original Freecom software I have the CD but no wallet hence no CD Key. Could someone PM me one. Thank you :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inertia Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 I believe there is a third party driver for this now, which makes it work in MCE 2005 :-D ile soon be digging mine out when i get chance to play with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+John Teacake MVC Posted August 30, 2006 MVC Share Posted August 30, 2006 I just snapped the arial connector on myn last night :( Im looking for a PCI TV Card now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6785077276 Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Does anyone here live in London and get all the freeview channels just by using the included aerial? I'm thinking about getting one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoom7000 Posted September 3, 2006 Author Share Posted September 3, 2006 The internal aerial will hardly pick up anything! Unless you live right next door in Crystal Palace. Like I said, don't bother with this and go for a more reputable product like the Hauppauge WinTV Nova-T USB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J400uk Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 Freecom stick is a piece of crap. This time I am using it with a 2.8a p4 windows xp mce htpc paired with 512 ddr ram, so its not my computer power. Connected to roof arial with 2 signal boosters yet it still does not pick up all channels. The ones it does pick up half of them break up and are poor quality. I am now getting a pci dvb t card instead, hopefully will work better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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