No Freeview
I finally bought the system I mentioned before, with dual DVB-T cards, installed Gentoo, configured it and sat back to watch some high-quality TV. But, of course, it wasn’t as simple as that.
The Gentoo installation went smoothly (and slowly, it goes without saying) and I installed MythTV from the portage repository without problems. I also installed Kaffeine, just in case it was any good. With the boring bits out of the way, I scanned for channels… Nothing.
I checked the aerial cables, of which there are three in my flat, and went out and bought a signal amplifier. Still nothing.
Thinking that the easy Linux install might be hiding some sort of error or misconfiguration, I installed Windows. Ugh. But, of course, Windows is too old and doesn’t ship with drivers for the nForce 430, so I had to use the Gentoo LiveCD to wget the drivers… Oh, the irony. Finally, with all the drivers installed and the DVB-T software loaded, I scanned for channels again. Nothing.
Looking at how the antenna points on my roof, I think its aimed at the Montpelier transmitter, which is analogue only. So this means, if I don’t want to throw away by DVB-T only cards, I have to get the roof antenna re-targetted… I have no idea how much this is going to cost and, indeed, whether its even possible (the other transmitters may be hidden – Bristol is pretty hilly).
Anyway. My advice: Before buying DVB-T only cards, borrow someone’s Freeview box to check you can actually get a signal! Alternatively, spend the extra £10 to get a dual card, so at least you’ll get some sort of signal.
Add comment August 11th, 2006