Traveling with a Lap-Top Computer and a USB Digital Tuner
 

I recently purchase ($49) a USB Digital Tuner, which turns a computer into a digital HD television. I will be in England, Scotland, Spain and France this summer. I've heard that Europe uses the DVB standard and not the ATSC standard as in the U.S. The digital tuner was manufactured in Germany and came with software so I do have that option when I scan for channels.

Has anyone tried this? Any comments? The USB Digital Tuner is very small so it isn't a problem for traveling. It would be nice to catch a weather report.

I have one but it needs a proper antenna, the one you get with it will be too small except in very strong signal areas.

Yes, I have 5 of those things, they can be bought super cheap from Hong Kong via ebay. I usually pay 11€ for a stick.
HD terestrial is under development. There is one HD test channel in Munich. 32 ordinary digital TV channels are available for a long time. (One is in french and german) The standard is called DVB-T, not DVB-S (Satellite) or DVB-S2 (HD Satellite) or DVB-C (cable).

Software alone for DVB-T isn't enough, the tuner must be DVB-T capable. Most of Europe still uses VHF too for DVB-T, some of the units sold in the U.K only have UHF available, so they can't recieve all channels. However, never seen a stick that couldn't do VHF. With the new sticks the tiny antenna works great!

Why the heck did you overpay for such a cheap gadget. ;-) I'd order a DVB-T stick via from Hong Kong now.

via ebay

Very stong signal areas incude upper Bavaria (10cm antenna), you should change your plans, but then you need to understand German or French :D

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I should add that the software came with recording options. You can tell the computer to record your favorite show for example once a week/day and it does it automatically. It wakes the computer out of sleep mode--just make sure the computer is turned on. This is great if you miss your favorite show and you don't have a DVR. Also I have DirecTV and they don't carry a few local channels in HD like the CW and PBS networks.

You can also hook your computer to your HD television for a bigger picture.

I was told that Europe had gotten rid of their analog signals and everything was digital already. Is that not true?

For quite some time now it's been digital. VHF, UHF does not imply analog transmissions. This is only a different range of frequencies for digital TV. The UK has ended use of VHF frequencies, so digital tuners for the UK sometimes lack a few channels when used on the continent.

The UK slingbox comes with a digital tuner that has VHF and UHF channels.

mark

Check you USB stick for the DVB compliance sticker or similar in the handbook, as logos said. If it is not DVB compliant, your USB stick is completely useless in Europe. You cannot use a software update to make an ATSC stick compatible with DVB. It's in the hardware.

France has several regular HD services via DTT, but in MPEG4 compression, not MPEG2. But you will also get many channels in SD/MPEG2.
UK and Spain do not have any regular HD services on air, to my knowledge, but a lot of SD channels.

"Europe" has not gotten rid of analogue transmissions, only a few countries like Germany or Sweden. The "rest" is due to switch off in the 2010s (though digital services are already available).

Germany is using a high-power/high-tower system for DVB-T transmissions, making it possible to use small indoor antennas. In other countries, transmissions are aimed for rooftop antenna, using lower power and less bandwith for error correction, thus leading to reception problems with poor equipment like the tiny antennas for notebooks/ sticks in areas outside the main coverage area.

Interesting reading. It appears that the United States is ahead in HDTV. I know in many areas of the country, one can pick up as many as 20 HDTV stations with an antenna, but when you add in their digital subchannels, the number can get up to 70.

Yeah, the US is backward in many things, including TV.