Mighty Gadget Blog: The latest technology news & reviews in the UK

I never found TV tuner cards for your PC that appealing and never heard any that were really outstanding from anyone i knew, but this little number caught my attention and seems to do away with the need for a card in your PC at all. Basically a networked Tuner card. Plug your external or i guess internal aerial (if you’ve got one of those good ones) into the back and it can send out the Freeview love to any PC or Mac on your network.

“Well what else does it do?” you might ask. Once connected to your aerial, connect it to your router whether it be a standard ethernet router or wireless (Elgato recommend a standard N Router for efficient usage) then the TV signal can be picked up on any computer hooked up to it. Then like Sky+, you can pause it as you watch or record onto the computers HDD and watched at a later date all whilst someone else can watch a different channel in a different location on the network.

Available this week in the UK it’s priced at £229.95

Toshiba have announced two new model additions to its REGZA line of TVs and also we have a bit more info on the anticipated “Cell” TV we spoke about a few months back.

Firstly Toshiba are unleashing 2 new Freeview HD/LED Backlit series to its REGZA TV lines, the WL and SL series. The lower end SL will feature LED backlit screens for that increased contrast ratio/picture quality, built in Freeview HD receiver, built in DLNA(stream video from a DLNA enabled PC) and a 100Hz refresh rate. It will come in 32”, 40” and 46” and should be available around April. The WL is the more classy affair. Again LED backlit screens, built in Freeview HD(also upscales standard definition pictures using Toshiba’s Resolution+). The DLNA feature with this one isn’t built in but comes with a DLNA wireless dongle. What else makes this better, well it comes in the bigger 40”, 46” and 55” but also has a better 200Hz refresh rate.

Now for the Cell TV. Toshiba Europe has said that we should be seeing the multichannel masterpiece later this year in the Autumn. It will also include Net Resolution+ to improve internet video quality, will also include video calling capabilities. The main new addition which will make this TV truly spectacular is that it will have 3D support.

Again we have a new set top box here for you, that when released we can all bask in the glory of HD without the need for a Sky or cable subscription. Obviously Freesat is available and quite tempting with thinks like BBC iPlayer and ITV player but unless you’ve got the know how to install the dish, you’re stumping up the cash for that and either your integrated tv or box aswell.

3View have come with this great little box that with dual tuners will be able to snap up that HD signal and also with a built in 320GB HDD you’ll be able to record all your favourite shows. Not only that the 3View box can connect to the internet, use BBC iPlayer, Twitter, Facebook etc and any other web page. The big thing it will do that most wont is have access to HULU when it gets released in the UK giving you more access to web based TV. If you think this might be hard on a remote, no worries a keyboard and mouse will be available.

No price details as of yet but 3View are looking at a release of March.

Ok so we said before about Freeview HD, when it was coming etc. Now Some masts are pumping out the signal, why aren’t there any set top boxes out there to pick this free HD signal up. Well I can’t personally explain that but what I can say is that the first set top boxes are outed and will be released next year.

Humax HD-FOX T2 should be out in Q1  next year. Firstly it’ll tune its self with its auto-tune facility, it’ll quite gladly receive the 720p yes that’s right 720p signal(not too futuristic yet) but this box will upscale to 1080p at 50Hz. It will play media from a USB drive or HDD. We don’t have the full details on file format support but one clever thing is you can record onto a USB drive to save buying the full PVR.

If you’re after a PVR version then the DVB-T2 HD has a 500GB HDD inside to store your favourite shows in HD and SD. It also keeps the 1080p upscaling, wireless network capability via UPnP and again the USB connectivity.

No prices are available yet or exact release dates but its believed the lower end HD-FOX T2 will retail at around £170

After announcing it earlier this year, from the middle of October, Sky will be coming to your Xbox 360. Inside the Sky Magazine an article from Rupert Murdoch’s men confirmed the date and gave some info on this upcoming feature.

Already up is sky.com/xbox360, now it hasn’t got anything on the site as of yet but the article in the magazine gave us plenty of info. Basically if you have an Xbox Live Gold Account, you can receive basic access to the “Sky Player” If you are a Sky customer to boot you will be granted access to “premium content” probably live streams of the football and Sky’s exclusive programmes and movies.

We have no details on the pricing as of yet and overall this could cause the service to stumble but once again Microsoft are pushing the boat out with the content supplied through your xbox and obviously teaming up with a media giant like Sky it surely can’t disappoint.

For all of those waiting for free HD TV, Freeview HD is set to be launched before the end of the year. The service will start first in the North of England and then will then unfortunately roll out to the rest of the country across the next 2 or 3 years.

Graham Plumb, Head of Distribution Technology at BBC Operations that transmission will start at Granada’s Winter Hill transmitter from 2nd December 2009, not long after the Granada region’s digital switchover.  “The plan has always been to roll Freeview HD out around the country following switchover and Winter Hill was selected as the first achievable transmitter. There will need to be a retrospective upgrade of regions that have already switched.”

For those in London, the Crystal Palace transmitter is due to be updated in December, then four other transmitters covering urban areas by spring 2010. However it hasn’t been made clear if these upgrades mean immediate switch on to the service and it’s said that London as a whole won’t get complete service till 2012 (just in time for those Olympics)

It has also been said that most people wanting to take up the service will more than likely have to buy a new set top box or TV to take the service which when it starts will only have 4 channels, BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. The service will also only broadcast in 720p(still good in my opinion)

Freesat has been around for a few months now, and while it may of arrived to a  slightly lukewarm reception it does appear to be gaining momentum. One of the major downfalls of it was that it lacked the recording functions of Sky+ or DVB solutions such as the Humax and Topfield.

I am glad to see Humax has fitted the device with a heft 320GB hard disk so there is plenty of room to record all your favourite shows.

I was personally a bit anti Freesat when it released, however I have just ditched Sky in favour of a Humax PVR9150T (DVB recorder) as I just don't watch any of the exclusive sky channels. One of the reasons I didn’t try out Freesat was the lack of recording so I think I could be swayed to trying out one of these new boxes in the near future.

Full specification continued.

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Amazon have revealed that the PlayTV add-on for the PS3 will arrive in the UK on July 31st.

For those not in the know the PlayTV is a small box packing dual tuners with a seven day EPG allowing you to record shows onto your PS3 hard drive.

Granted if you have a 40 Gb PS3 it is not the most space for a PVR but it is more than enough to store a few episodes of your favourite show, and you can always upgrade your HD.

Pricing is not to bad at a reasonable £60.