WinTV Nova-T Stick Review

What a coincidence! I too bought one of these after xmas and I too was about to buy a one-for-all arial as the boxed one just insn't good enough to pick up a usable signal where I live (Near Manchester city centre)

I'll check back to see how you get on. Fingers crossed

Thanks for the comment - I will definitely post back once I have some results. I'm going to have to wait until I get my Mac Book Pro back as the only other laptop in the house doesn't have USB 2 so, although the software and hardware installed without any problems, it doesn't scan properly. It just stops scanning after a couple of seconds.

One thing I will say about the All For One aerial is that it did give a substantially higher signal strength than the other 3 aerials I tried (the included 5-inch wire and 2 old dish-type aerials). The signal strength was about 33% higher than the best dish aerial and about 200% better than the 5-inch wire aerial.

I will also let you know what the signal strengths are like without the amplifier being plugged in too, because plugging the amp in really reduces the portability of the device!

getting zero signal in Burgess Hill, Sussex from both the supplied Aerial and the All-for-one offering.

might have to get a proper roof-mount high gain aerial installed.

I cant believe the signal is still this weak across the entire country - especially considering the government only has 5 years left until its switch-off deadline of 2012

At least London will be one of the last places to lose its lovely strong Analogue signal, according to this regional roll-out map

Thanks for posting! Please post back if you have any success or advice!

I recently got one of these too and my home's roof-mounted aerial is apparently more than good enough to pick up around 64 stations (TV and Radio).
I like the hardware, insofar as it's tiny and simple and may or may not have IR recievers. The bundled EPG is nice enough, though it picks up listings for around 77 channels, not 64 and I'm assuming it's webserver is totally insecure due to it's lack of real config files or tools.

However the lack of bundled remote, unfriendly and very slow software (no teletext, no 'red button', long delays changing channels and a very unfinished feel) lack of documentation for the EPG and the installation of various human interface devices and software that won't be used till we fork out for a remote (which will not add teletext or 'red button' functionality, I've checked) all mean that this nifty gadget is going right back to the shop.

I like the bundled aerial though, it's cute and VERY magnetic.

Mine isn't at all magnetic! In fact, considering how close its going to be to a computer - I'm quite pleased its not magnetic ;-)

I agree - Hauppage really need to employ some new programmers. Their software is slow, non-intuitive and a touch unstable. The channel change time is incredibly slow - however is that a fault with the software or the hardware? No way of telling unless someone writes their own interface.

I really need to get a roof aerial!

I have jut found your page while I was looking for info on the nova-t stick as im thinking of buying one today. It doesnt bother me that the software is very poor as on my PC I will be using it with Vista which has teh fantstic media center software, and on my mac, I can use the very nice EyeTV software. So, I believe they will never make better softare when there is great software built into Windows!

By the way, I have never had a good time with any tv card using the little arial that comes with it, its a complete waste of time. A roof arial is the only way im afraid!

EyeTV you say... I will look into this. I'd absolutely LOVE to get it working on OSX! That would bring me 1 step closes to a complete removal of Windows ;-)

I just installed EyeTV (not free) on my Mac Book Pro and plugged in the roof ariel - i picked up all channels and radio within 30s of scanning and the picture quality is amazing! SO worth the money!!

Well thats one less reason to boot into windows. All I need now is a strong enough indoor signal and I'm laughing :)

i agree, the software is the biggest pile of shite i have ever had the displeasure of using......however, the stick works flawlessly with Windows MCE, so no need for the Hauppage software at all (apart from the drivers). By the way I can pick up 79 channels using my roof top arial and freeview booster and absolutly nada with the supplied bit of wire (their so called high sensitvity aeriel).

I bought this today. Can't get anything using ariel supplied with it.
Having read others posts I am wondering if I have bought the right thing because I was hoping to use this on the move as it were.
Can this be used after attaching to roof ariel and finding channels by disconnecting from roof ariel so you can move around the house with it? (If you see what I mean)
Thanks Jean

I cant get anything from the supplied aerial either. In fact, I cant get anything from a mains powered boosted indoor aerial from the upper floor of my house.

Thing is, when I was at my Gran's house I could pick up dozens of channels with a perfect no-drop signal and this was in South Wales. So the small aerial DOES work.

You MIGHT be able to get something if you use a roof aerial to pick up the channels and then try the mini aerial for when you're on the move.

Please let us know if this works! I might have to try mine again, who knows - they might have boosted the power from Crystal Palace!

I picked up this one so I could watch TV on my laptop when I first moved into my new flat. It was something temporary until I get my proper telly out of storage. I live around Balham, and Crystal Palace is probably my nearest transmitter. So, I installed it and it managed to pick up the 4 channels: BBC 1, 2, News 24 and 3. But after the scan, I switched into TV, nothing. Gutted, I brought it to a friend's house where we have previously installed the Freecom DVB thingy, which works perfectly okay. This is connected to an All-for-One aerial booster, by the way. I thought that I'd try installing it here to see if was just indeed the signal. It worked. So now, what I'll do is to install the Freecom back at my place and see if it really is the signal.

Please post back with your findings.

Hi Nick,

Did you manage to get the Nova running on your MacBook?
I got one this Xmas and the drivers install in XP running in Parallels but the WinTV app won't scan any channels. Did you have to use Boot Camp?

I use it a LOT on my MacBook Pro by using the EyeTV Software - its much better than the Hauppauge software and you dont need Parallels or BootCamp.

Hope that helps!

This device is imho very neat as i am a mobile user.
I purchased from a local store for €30 including the small antenna.
With the antenna included, this device has an unsaid reception. Even sitting almost near the transmitter it still misses some stations. And if it finds a station worth viewing i get glitches over glitches. No fun watching.
Oh and of course: To switch between 2 locations, u have to reinstall the software or new stations can not be found!
Actually this really sucks, but has greatly improved with a software update from Hauppauge.
Still this device works better with GXine and Kaffeine on Linux, than it does with the included software on Windows XP. With Linux i can zap through two stations within one second, while it takes the Windows software about 20 seconds to tune in even one station, awesome ;o)

Hi, got it a few days ago for uni. Loved it. It came with a remote that is configed for WMC and it picked up 75ch with an old all for one indoor thingy and no signal booster. It is much better by the window than on my desk tho.

Love it, great buy!!

I have a stick and with an old crappy one for all aeriel it picks up bout 10 stations from my desk... i intend to get a new aeriel tomorrow BUT at the moment the programs are very blocky, like the audio keeps cutting out every less than a second, and the pictures keep freezing

Is this because the aeriel wasnt designed for digital or a signal problem or a graphics problem?

Sounds like signal. The problem with Digital is that its... err.. Digital. Its on or off - one or zero. You either get a signal or you don't.

If you don't get a signal then there is none of this fuzzy picture or ghosting malarkey that you used to get with Analogue... No... You simply get NOTHING.

I have a similar issue with my main TV. When the weather gets bad my freeview box cant pickup a strong enough signal on some channels even though I have a roof areal now.

So - digital is great when you have a signal, but poops when you don't ;-)

The win TV stick is a great peace of equipment but I made a terrible mistake buying it as I now have a computer with windows vista. Apparently there is no driver that will work this TV stick with windows vista. So if you thinking of upgrading to vista don’t buy it.

I bought this, stupidly on impulse without reading a review ( lesson 1) Although I did check on the box that it would operate under Vista, it won't. Worse it just crashes the system. Company helpline is appalling. The good news, its cheap and I guess you get what you pay for. Overall, 0/10. that is really bad and a complete waste of money

No, i bought the WinTV Nova Stick just last week and it works perfectly on WIndows Vista, the only problem is that when you try to record anything the signal becomes very bad and then when you try to play it back afterwords it skips lots of parts! :( But other than that its a good peace of equipment.

Hi all, I can confirm it works great with Mac and EyeTV even though it does not display any Mac compatibility pics on the box (I guess that's because there's no OSX software incl. in the box)

Just a question, has any other mac user found a solution for the included remote control to work? Are there plugins for Eye TV or something similar?

Hi can anyone tell me if it can decode Cable signal ie Virgin Media!
I want to attach my cable to my PC via a cable to aerial adapter!

hope you can help
Thanks

I doubt very much this stick will decode Virgin Media data.

This stick will only decode DVB-T signals (ie Freeview). Virgin (and Sky for that matter) will use their own proprietary systems. Besides that, the cable that you plug into your Virgin box is likely to be very different to the one you plug into the T-Stick...