On Your PC – Getting TV and Radio

Depending on the model you select, some boxes are powered from the USB socket, and some require external power (from a supplied external mains adapter). Some of the older units require you to connect a supplied lead into your sound card.

Pros: Easy to install and connect
Cons: More clutter – may need a separate power supply

Pros: Less boxes to have plugged into your USB ports
Cons: You’ll need to open up your desktop PC and fit it into a PCI slot (not for beginners). No use for laptop users.

From around £50 at Dabs.com , Play.com , PC World and Amazon

A USB version is available, the Hauppauge HVR900

• DEC3000-S – use your PC to record TV and radio. Comes with remot e control
• WinTV-NEXUS-S – PCI card with for digital satellite TV, satellite radio and videotext
• WinTV-NOVA-S – PCI and USB versions are available (more)

As these are slightly more specialist, they’re harder to find. It’s worth trying Amazon , Dabs.com , Maplin.co.uk , but failing that, try searching at the following online shopping searcher: Kelkoo

• The AverMedia range– See the range at Misco and www.maplin.co.uk (under the ‘Computers’, ‘Build your own’ section).
• Xpert V-Stream VS-DVBT. Available from Maplin.co.uk – Cat No A75BZ (PCI version) and A78BZ (USB version)

• You could buy a digital TV tuner USB stick, plus it into a spare port on your PC, and connect it to a TV aerial. This is possibly the more elegant solution, and results in less cable clutter. A PCI card is also available.
• If you already own a Freeview box, it may be possible to connect it to your PC’s analogue TV card (or USB TV box). You need to connect via the Freeview box’s aerial output socket. How you connect depends on whether your Freeview box has a built-in modulator or not. A modulator allows a box to ‘rebroadcast’ it’s output on a standard TV channel – so that equipment without a SCART can tune in. Check your manual or our box page to find out if your Freeview box has a modulator.
  Here are the options for connecting an existing Freeview box:
  • If the box has a modulated output – it should be a case of connecting the co-ax cable from the Freeview box into the co-ax aerial socket on your TV card, and then using the PC to perform a channel search to find the output of your Freeview box.
  • If your box doesn’t have a modulator and your TV card only has an RF socket, you could connect via a video recorder using the SCART socket, and then use the video recorder’s modulator to feed the TV card aerial. If that’s not an option, you can buy an RF modulator box, which will convert your Freeview’s SCART output to a modulated UHF feed that can be connected to the TV card. It may be cheaper simply to buy a TV card that supports Freeview.
  • If your TV card has a composite-video or S-Video socket, you could get a suitable adaptor to connect the Freeview box’s SCART output directly to this instead.

• Connecting via your Sky Digibox – This is the easiest and cheapest – you need to run an aerial lead (coax) from the RF output socket of your Sky Digibox, to the input aerial socket on a standard analogue or hybrid PC TV card or USB TV adapter. This will allow you to watch and record whatever channel the Digibox is tuned into. See our Satellite TV on a PC page for more.
• A direct connection to your dish – We know of a couple of PC TV receivers that allow you to connect directly to a satellite dish‘s connector. You can plug one end into a PC, and the other end to your dish, and use the supplied software to access the Sky Digital channels. You’ll only be able to get the free-to-air channels though, and not the subscription channels, as you won’t be able to plug in a Sky subscription card. See our Satellite TV on a PC page for more.
• Over the Internet: With Sky’s Sky Player – Sky offers some of its programming content over the Internet – more on our Sky Go page.

See our Satellite TV on a PC page for more help

• If the cable TV box has a modulated output (check the manual, or on-screen menu for RF output settings) – it should be a case of connecting the co-ax cable from the box into the co-ax aerial socket on your TV card, and then using the PC to perform a channel search to find the output of the cable box.
• If your box doesn’t have a modulator and your TV card only has an RF socket, you could connect via a video recorder using the SCART socket, and then use the video recorder’s modulator to feed the TV card aerial. If that’s not an option, get an RF modulator box will convert a SCART output to a modulated UHF feed that can be connected to the TV card.

The grey versions of BT Vision box sends out a modulated signal on UHF channel 36, which an analogue receiver will be able to tune into. You can change the BT Vision+ box output channel from Settings > General Settings > RF Output Channel. The black version of the BT Vision box does not have an RF modulator, so you may need an external RF modulator.

What about Top Up TV? Top-Up TV used to offer a subscription service that allowed you to get extra channels. On a PC, you could use a USB Digital TV smartcard reader from Nebula Electronics to get extra channels, but Top Up TV no longer let you buy viewing cards. This means that, to watch TopUp on a PC, you’ll need to connect a Freeview box with a suitable Top-Up TV card slot – see our advice on connecting a Freeview box to your PC

1. Make sure your set-top box is broadcasting a modulated output (on a channel number between 21 and 68)
2. You’ve not performed a channel scan since connecting the set-top box – the output of the box is assigned a channel number, and your PC software needs to be tuned into this channel. Get the PC TV software to perform a channel scan, or tune the box in manually to the modulated output of the box. If it can’t find the modulated output, you may have a channel clash – try setting the modulator to a different channel number.
3. If the PC TV software can see the output of the Freeview box on-screen, but not any channels (e.g. you can see the onscreen menu, but no TV shows), then it’s likely to be a signal issue – see our Reception advice
4. Your PC TV receiver needs to have an analogue tuner. Digital-only receivers can’t tune in to a modulated output of a set-top box.
5. If your PC software can’t tune into the output of the box to display the menu, even after a channel scan, then it’s probably a connection issue. Could it be that your box doesn’t have a modulated output? (see our other FAQ).

• Minimum Processor: Pentium II 333 MHz
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
• Hardware: Sound card, spare USB slot, CD-ROM (for installation)

If you’re looking for a low-price, high-spec PC capable of running a TV card, take a look at Dell , who provide a custom-build desktop PC service.

• Probably the easiest, is to burn the video onto a DVD using a PC DVD writer. This can then be watched via a DVD player connected to your TV. You can buy a DVD writer for your PC from PC World or Maplin. For DVD writing software, we recommend Nero.
• Make a direct connection to the TV from your PC. This obviously assumes that your PC is close to your TV, and you don’t mind running the cables. To watch PC output on a TV, you’ll need to equip your PC with a PC video graphics card that has a TV Output, then cable your PC out to a Line In feed on your TV. Many of the newer graphics cards come with a TV-Out socket, normally in the form of an S-Video socket, or a yellow video phono socket. As well as connecting a video-out from your PC to the TV, you’ll also need to connect the audio output from your soundcard into an audio Line In on your TV. You’ll then need to configure software on your PC to support output to a TV. You can buy PC Video Graphics cards from PC World or Maplin – Maplin can also help with the cables and connectors that you’ll need
• If you have an MP3 player that supports video (such as an iPod Video, or our favourite, the Creative Zen Vision:M), then you can buy an adapter that connects the output of the player to your TV Line In, then, copy the video file, onto your player, and watch on a TV. Try AdvancedMP3players.co.uk or Amazon for an adapter for your portable video player

• Media Portal – A freeware alternative to your PC TV card’s application
• ProgDVB – Another freeware TV / radio software application for selected TV cards

• Connecting to a DAB receiver – DAB radios normally have some kind of output socket – this will either be a headphone socket, or two stereo line-level phono sockets, depending on the type of DAB radio you have. To connect your radio to your PC, your PC will need a sound card (most PCs have these already), and you’ll need to run a cable from the output socket of your radio into the “Line in” socket of your PC’s soundcard. You can then use the Windows Sound Mixer to adjust the volume as required.
  If you don’t have the right connection lead, try Maplin.co.uk.
  For PC soundcards, visit Dabs.com.
  For a list of DAB radios, see our DAB Receivers page.
• The Freeview option – OK, so Freeview isn’t true DAB digital radio, but many of the radio channels you’ll expect to find on DAB are also available on Freeview – Freeview solutions for your PC are more common, and as they make use of your rooftop TV aerial, the reception is often better than on a DAB receiver, and you get TV thrown in too! Many also come with software to support audio recording of radio channels.
  See our question above for information on how to get Freeview on your PC.
• A DAB PC card / USB Stick / adapter – A small number of DAB PC cards and adapters have been released over the years – these allow you to connect an aerial to your PC, and to use the PC’s speakers and supplied software to tune in, listen to, and record DAB. For a list of USB and PC DAB receivers, see our DAB section.

• External 5.1 Audiobox – £25 from Maplin (cat number A18FW)
• Sitecom USB 5.1 Audio adapter CN-126 – £27 from Amazon

Note that you will need the appropriate lead to connect from your hi-fi/radio to the input on your soundcard. Check out Maplin for leads and adapters.