PC TV USB Stick,,,,rubbish
Submitted: Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 21:51
ThreadID:
44520
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3187
Replies:
12
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7
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Bilbo
In preparation for our 6 month bippin' trip, I bought one of those new-fangled TV Receiver USB stick thingys from Dick Smith. This one is
Pinnacle brand and cost $169.00.
It's a H. O. S.
The software took longer to load than a NASA Shuttle Flight and when it was finally loaded so was I! It drank 2 double Bundy 'n Cokes whilst waiting for it!
But after waiting like a kid at Christmas for his new bike, the prog wouldn't work!!
"Application did not initialise correctly, press "OK" to terminate"
Had another 4 attempts and same problem.
The CD even has a "Repair bad installation" prog on it!! How inspirational of consumer iconfidence is that!!
Tried that selection - TWICE. Still NBG.
It goes back to "Tricky Dicky's" in the morning under thier very generous '14 day money back if ya don't like it policy"
I wouldn't mind if it was cheap. It wasn't when compared with the good stuff ya can get for PCs for peanuts these days!
Oh
well, it's back to doing crosswords and looking at the night sky in the evenings. I've given up on strip poker. I felt a bit stupid playing it on my own while the wife was reading a book!
Bilbo
Reply By: Niffty - Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 22:07
Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 22:07
I've got two digital Hd /analogue TV/+fm radio Pc slot thighies by avia media and they work a treat except when raining?Got them off ebay for a lot less!
could not be happier.Next step is mobile sat TV for about $300.
Niffty
GQ HQ
Perth
AnswerID:
234613
Follow Up By: Joondalupgerry - Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 22:33
Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 22:33
Sat TV?..the ebay deal for iTech is $299 and it is the same deal as the $499 over the counter package for caravans.
Site Link
Copy and paste both lines single URL....sorry don't know how to post a clickable link.
We printed off the Ebay page and asked for the same deal...they were happy to oblige.
We put some of the money we saved into a folding arm on the disk and a higher quality LNBF..which is more effective than buying a bigger dish.Cheers
Gerard and Anne
FollowupID:
495557
Follow Up By: Joondalupgerry - Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 22:35
Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 22:35
Obviously this site is smarter than me....ignore the copy and paste bit.
Cheers G
FollowupID:
495558
Follow Up By: Bros 1 - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 22:49
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 22:49
Bilbo,
Got one of the AVER MEDIA ones and works a treat. So have a couple of friends.
Cheers,
Bros.
FollowupID:
495824
Reply By: Member - Duncs - Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 22:31
Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 22:31
Hey Bilbo,
The wife is right to be reading a book. It's coming around to the off season for strip poker, at least in southern cllimes.
Duncs
AnswerID:
234619
Reply By: Richard Kovac - Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 22:31
Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 22:31
Bilbo
I got one of these www.sidewinder.com.au/page97.html
Took some TRYING time to get it loaded on the laptop BUT now it works fine, not sure if they do the same thing, but for the little van it's less stuff we need to carry..
Hope it works out..
Richard
AnswerID:
234620
Follow Up By: Member - Troll 81 (QLD) - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 10:12
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 10:12
Richard
What do you do for a antenna? I have a similar setup in my car but with another type of unit but my reception is really bad
FollowupID:
495619
Follow Up By: Richard Kovac - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 20:59
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 20:59
Troll 81
Sorry haven't got that far,, But did have a look at www.foldawayantenna.com.au/main.htm but still haven't done anything
Couple of mouths... LOL
Regard's
Richard
FollowupID:
495776
Reply By: Bilbo - Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 23:47
Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 at 23:47
Richard,
Less stuff to carry,,,,,,,,,,yes, that's the reason I bought this thing. I'm not a big TV fanatic but I do like my news etc.
A sat dish would be nice, but I'm loaded to the gunwhales with fuel, water, food and prospecting gear as it is. A sat dish is just too bulky. So we went for this just to use when we're in town in a van park - which isn't very often!
Plus, I've had a very bad run with the Cruiser getting stolen and "things PC" lately and lost a lot of gear and data etc, thus I'm getting a bit tired of downloadings, uploadings, re-installing, re-mapping, burning CDs, plugs, cables, re-wirings, refittings etc that this thing just bleep me of when it wouldn't start.
For $169.00 I exepct not to have to be an expert on C++ programming to get it to work!!
Bah!
I may try some of the other makes mentioned on here. Thanks guys.
Bilbo
AnswerID:
234643
Reply By: Pezza (Bris) - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 01:02
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 01:02
Question is...Were you winnng the game of strip poker while Mrs Bilbo was ocupied elsewhere?
Chers
Pezza
AnswerID:
234658
Follow Up By: Keith_A (Qld) - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 08:04
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 08:04
Pezza - Damn you have upset my entire week - what a horrible picture comes to mind - Bilbo losing at strip poker - ARRRRGGGGGGG.!!!!!!
For a family friendly site - that thought is just too obscene.
Give up the poker and stick to prospecting, Bilbo. It will save the entire
forum from having nightmares.....Keith:-) (TTIC)
FollowupID:
495603
Reply By: Ozboc - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 08:41
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 08:41
HI there , Not sure on your particular program but i have i can be of some help. Do you have a firewall installed, or anti virus ? If so that may be some of the reason you can not install the prog.
I have Zone alarm pro and if you don't disable it during instalation of certain programs it will just not install - you wont get a message from the firewall at all - but you do get the error you talk of
so try disable your virus scanner - firewall Install - then reboot
hope this is of some help to you or others in the
forum that may have this problem
Boc
AnswerID:
234688
Reply By: DIO - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 10:25
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 10:25
Problems with computers, hardware and software aren't always the fault of the product. If you want something the performs reliably, excellent quality output (obviously subject to your location),
well packaged, easy to use software, have a look at the Dvico Nano USB DTV. It's a beauty link
AnswerID:
234706
Reply By: Member - mikeyandmary (NSW) - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 11:58
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 11:58
Hi Bilbo,
I have had a DVICO USB TV receiver for about 2 years. It did take a while to install but once in it runs
well. Here's a couple of things I learned...
***Make sure you get the LATEST drivers/software from the manufacturers website. This software is almost always much faster and easier to load
***Make sure your computer is up to the task. These TV devices use HEAPS of PC power. I have a Celeron 2800 that runs it ok but I can't run many other things at the same time. The latest series of PCs (Core Duo/Core 2 Duo) will run them no problems.
My two cents on the tv and camping thing... We go camping to escape life, including tv. If you need the news then we have always found the ABC really useful. You can pick it up basically anywhere and it works on even the crappiest 2 cent radios :-). You can get their frequencies on a little card at ABC shops or online at ABC Reception
Have fun...
Michael
Hope this is helpful.
Michael
AnswerID:
234722
Reply By: Bilbo - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 12:02
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 12:02
Thanks for the advice. I had a look at
Pinnacles website in the US and they have a
forum on there. Others have had install probs with this stick. The fix is go into the registry and start moving software around to get it out of the way of this
Pinnacle programme,,,,,,,,,,,,,,er no thanks.
I'm not good enough to start messing about in the backblocks of a laptop's programming. What's more - I shouldn't have to.
Besides, I'm leaving in a week or so and I haven't got time to completely stuff up my mapping laptop after fitting this thing and then spend a week fixing the mess. After my desktop went "mammaries vertical" just before Christmas, I'm still fixing the remains of that mess up. I couldn't handle another few months like that!
It's going back. I can live without TV. I can get my news from the radio.
Solitaire strip poker is more appealing, though some may say "appalling", than the junk on TV.
Bilbo - "the naked hobbit"
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Member - Brian (WA) - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 12:26
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 12:26
Bilbo. Can the laptop play DVD,s. We take some to sit and watch when fed up
looking at the sky. Do you know a Foxy Bob, met him out there. Is he still around?
I think he was quite sick. Just wondering. cheers Brian
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Bilbo - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 15:42
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 15:42
Mike 'n Mary,
Whilst I agree with you about "escaping" and listening to the radio for news, I don't go camping. I go prospecting - for months at a time. This trip will be around 6 months. I've been prospecting for 20 years off 'n on. I reckoned it was about time I had a bit of luxury.
The laptop will play DVDs but I'm not a great fan of films and prolly watch only 3 a year - and they'd have to be more documentary that human interest etc. So I'm taking a heap of Adobe PDF docs with me - mainly articles from the 'net that I've always meant to read, some e-books (some from David Irving's site) and a heap of old mining reports.
That should get me to sleep. Mind you after swiniging a bipper 'n a pick all day, it doesen't take much for me to go "bo-bos"
Brian, I don't know this character. Where did you meet him? Where's he from??
Bilbo
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Ray - Sunday, Apr 22, 2007 at 10:00
Sunday, Apr 22, 2007 at 10:00
Must be the luck of the draw mate. I got one of the same ,loaded the software,plugged it in and have had no problems apart from it taking a bit of time to find the local channels when we are at a new location.some nights there seems to be about 10 or more channels available.
FollowupID:
496073
Reply By: kingswoodwagon - Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 16:20
Friday, Apr 20, 2007 at 16:20
Bilbo,
my USB digital TV stick goes well. wasnt hard to install. ive used it on a couple of laptops.
its a $69 Videomate U500 Compro
cheers
roopaw@westnet.com.au
AnswerID:
234779