BlackGold Digital tuner cards for MCE 2005 - a review

["Keith Finnett" <keith@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I just took delivery of 2 BlackGold Digital Freeview tuner cards for=20
Windows Media Centre 2005, so thought i'd post a review of my first 12=20
hours of ownership!

The cards are specifically sold for use with Windows Media Centre=20
2005, by <a href=3D"www.blackgold.tv">BlackGold</a>,
and are a half=20
height PCI board. BlackGold sell them individually (=A359) or as a <a=20
href=3D"http://blackgold.tv/BuyOnline/ManualFulfilment.asp?
sku=3D56">pair</a> (=A3109), and have just dropped the price
from =A379 and=
=20
=A3139 respectively, hence the purchase. I selected these cards based on=20
reading some pretty good reviews and feedback at <a=20
href=3D"www.thegreenbutton.com">The Green Button</a>.

In terms of delivery and service, I ordered yesterday at 3pm and they=20
arrived this morning on a pre-9am delivery. What was more surprising=20
was that I didn't select a carriage type and had no idea when they=20
were to be delivered - they just turned up!!!

OK, on to the installation. For testing they are going into my=20
recently acquired Dell 8400 PC. It's got 1GB RAM, a pair of 160GB hard=20
drives and currently runs Windows Media Centre 2005 (that's lucky!).=20
We've been using it as a media server (music, videos and DVD backups),=20
and up until now have been very impressed with the Media Centre=20
interface and ease of use. The next step was to get the tuners and=20
replace our AHEM *aged and failing* NTL TV service. So, having just=20
installed a brand new aerial (a B&Q Maxview medium signal quality=20
*digital* aerial) I plugged in the cards, and split the aerial signal=20
and connected.

Installation is simple - using the latest WHQL drivers on the=20
BlackGold site, Windows did its thing and the cards were installed.=20
Loading up Windows Media Centre, and entering the TV settings pages=20
couldn't be simpler. A few clicks later with the remote control and=20
the cards were configured and working.

Onto use - after just a few hours playing, all is good. I can record=20
simultaneously off 2 different channels, pause TV, set up season=20
passes, and do all the usual things PVRs do. The Guide is excellent=20
and compares better to the Sky guide in the way it is laid out (than=20
the NTL or general Freeview STB approach). The buttons on the remote=20
make accessing the key areas (live TV, recordings, guide, etc..)=20
really easy and of course you've got all the media components in the=20
same interface (music, videos, weather, etc..). Picture quality is=20
excellent - the NTL signal we had was appalling, showing compression=20
artefacts on most channels. The Freeview picture seems to be a lot=20
better. Recordings are also good quality, in fact no different to live=20
TV. Using 70GB of disk space I could record 50 hours - plenty of space=20
for those Simpsons episodes!!


The only unknowns or typical areas for concern are:

1. Lack of channels - We don't watch enough TV to warrant Sky or full-
blown cable TV, and the Freeview channels are sufficient for us.=20
However I can see how this could be restrictive to some.
2. Stability of Windows - the PC itself has been running MCE 2005 for=20
months, and never needs rebooting (it also runs my web server, so I=20
need it on 24x7). We'll see how the addition of the cards and the=20
increased usage affects it!
3. Use of the PC is now restricted - if you want to watch TV, you=20
can't use the PC. True, but we have 2 laptops and 3 other PCs so i'm=20
not too worried about this.
4. DVDs - I will still play DVDs using my existing AV equipment - the=20
quality of which are far superior to a noisy PC!


What's next? Well I plan to build a dedicated PC for the lounge to=20
house the cards. This will allow an improvement in picture quality as=20
I can plug the PC straight into the HDMI input on the plasma. The PC=20
is currently upstairs, using a composite cable (which is distributed=20
via an whole-house AV system) to the lounge. Even so, the picture is=20
good - at least good enough for TV!!


Any questions or comments, let me know!!

Keith