Going digital

By Adam Turner
April 7, 2005



Price: $300

Rating: * * * *

HauppaugeTV NOVA-t

Price: $230

Rating: * * * ½

Recording digital television has always been difficult in Australia, especially if you want to share your recordings with friends.

Those concerned about piracy have stalled the introduction of digital television recorders for more than five years. The few exceptions are digital set-top boxes with hard-drive recorders - but with no way of burning your recording to disc or transferring it to another device.

Until such recorders find their way to Australia, the best way to record digital television is by computer.

The launch of Microsoft's Media Centre operating system last year spawned an array of off-the-shelf home theatre PCs. There are a few others about, but you can easily add a digital television tuner to your computer.

Digital television tuners come in two forms: a PCI card that fits into your computer, such as HauppaugeTV NOVA-t; or an external box connected to your computer via USB2.0, such as DVICO's FusionHDTV DVB-T USB. Neither allows you to output a signal directly to a television and stereo, but other products from the same manufacturers do.

The DVICO is easier to install than the Hauppauge because it doesn't require popping the bonnet on your computer, but once the hardware is in place and connected to your aerial both are simple to configure. After you install the software and scan for channels, you can sit back with the remote control and flick through both standard and high-definition digital channels. Both produced an excellent picture when tested on a Windows XP box with an AMD Athlon 2100+ processor and 512MB of DDR RAM under the bonnet.

Both devices let you record standard and HD broadcasts to the hard drive, along with digital radio, and schedule recordings similar to a VCR. Both can also wake the computer from hibernation to record a program.

Lack of access to an electronic program guide has been another big stumbling block for Australian digital television. EPGs allow recorders to check when favourite shows are on, but are of little use in this country because the commercial networks fail to start programs on time or even stick to their advertised schedules.

Both the DVICO and the Hauppauge promise access to an electronic program guide, but all they're referring to is the information embedded in digital broadcasts telling you the name of the program. You can't use this to trigger a recording, which is just as well because it's sometimes wrong.

The HauppaugeTV NOVA-t.

The HauppaugeTV NOVA-t.

The Hauppauge records broadcasts in MPEG2 format, which can be burned to disc and played using the supplied software, most other video software, and some DVD players. It can also access teletext.

The DVICO records in MPEG2 or transport stream format (which cannot be viewed using standard playback software) so it can simultaneously record all sub-channels broadcast by a network, such as multiple camera angles during the cricket. The DVICO software can extract a sub-channel and convert it to MPEG2, DVD or DivX if you want to share it.

Multi-angle broadcasting was spruiked as one of the key benefits of digital television, but networks rarely bother to use it. Even so it will be a nice feature to have when commercial broadcasters decide to take digital television seriously.

Another of the DVICO's strengths is its large, clear on-screen menu and a remote control pre-configured to work with Windows Media Player, WinAmp and PowerDVD. The remote also has access to advanced settings, such as screen ratio, making it a one-stop multimedia controller, with the DVICO sitting at the heart of a dedicated home theatre PC.

The DVICO's infra-red receiver is built into the box, while the Hauppauge's is a tiny dot on the end of a 1.5 metre cable.

Both devices allow you to time-shift live broadcasts, which means you can pause a live program while you make a coffee and resume where you left off, fast-forwarding through the ads until you catch up with the live broadcast. The DVICO can be set to always keep between one and 120 minutes in the buffer, so you can rewind live television for an instant replay.

The DVICO has more advanced features with a smoother user experience, but at a price - it requires Windows ME, 2000 or XP with DirectX9 running on at least a 800MHz processor but, realistically, well over 1GHz.

The Hauppauge will run on Windows 98SE with DirectX8.1 on a 600MHz. but obviously the higher the specs the better. Regardless of which device you use, you'll get best results from a 7200rpm or higher hard drive.

If you're looking to transform an old computer into a digital television recorder the Hauppauge is the better option, but the DVICO's advanced features make it the best choice if you want to build a fully fledged home-theatre PC.

At a glance


Specs: USB2.0 standard and HD television recorder.

Likes: Easy installation; remote works with any software; records multiple sub-channels.

Dislike: Requires modern computer; no teletext.


Specs: PCI card standard and HD television recorder with teletext.

Likes: Cheap; runs on older computers; comes with WinDVD4.0 software.

Dislikes: Clunky menus; basic remote.


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