2005-09-01, 08:38 AM
:p As there are at least three GBPVR users in Hong Kong I'd like to start a special thread for us to discuss the issues affecting us due to our location. Some of this comes from my searches around, and some from JKSmurf's posts elsewhere on this board.
Hardware : I bought a Hauppage PVR 150MCE card at DV Club shop, 1st floor Wanchai computer Centre. It had no remote control and cost HK$880. They also had the PVR 500 for about HK$1,500. That seems expensive, but I wish now I had bought the two channel 500 model so that I can watch a different channel when recording.
Weather : The Weather plugin on GBPVR.com has a setting for HK and seems to work well enough. You can change it to show deg C instead of farenheit by selecting "SI units" in the properties. I would prefer to get the data from http://www.underground.org.hk, particularly wind predictions and speed histories. Has anyone done that?
TV schedules : The best software to do this seems to be TVxb, which has the local broadcast stations, Star and Now broadband. JKSmurf has done some work customising these as the standard settings are not quite perfect. See http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=8339. Some of the program descriptions downloaded from the channel websites seem quite long, and often have the Chinese version before the English, so it doesn't display well on the standard schedule screen.
Now Broadband : It ought to be possible to use an irBlaster pointing at your Now Broadband to get GBPVR to change it to the right channel. I haven't tried this yet but intend to. I have successfully connected the Now broadband to the Hauppage card via an S-video cable, with broadcast TV coming in to the aerial socket.
NTSC / PAL : In my apartment block (in Discovery Bay) we get the terrestrial channels and several STAR TV channels mixed together in the analogue signal coming from the "aerial" socket in the wall. Most of these are in PAL, but BBC World is in NTSC. The Pal version of the hauppage card can't decode that so the choice is either to get another (NTSC version) card just for that channel, or (if you have NOW broadband) subscribe to it on that for an extra HK$12 a month. I'll go for the latter I think.
Does anyone know of a local shop selling good looking, small computer cases suitable for living room use?
Has anyone tried any local brand of remote control, or is it worth getting the more expensive hauppage one?
Hardware : I bought a Hauppage PVR 150MCE card at DV Club shop, 1st floor Wanchai computer Centre. It had no remote control and cost HK$880. They also had the PVR 500 for about HK$1,500. That seems expensive, but I wish now I had bought the two channel 500 model so that I can watch a different channel when recording.
Weather : The Weather plugin on GBPVR.com has a setting for HK and seems to work well enough. You can change it to show deg C instead of farenheit by selecting "SI units" in the properties. I would prefer to get the data from http://www.underground.org.hk, particularly wind predictions and speed histories. Has anyone done that?
TV schedules : The best software to do this seems to be TVxb, which has the local broadcast stations, Star and Now broadband. JKSmurf has done some work customising these as the standard settings are not quite perfect. See http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=8339. Some of the program descriptions downloaded from the channel websites seem quite long, and often have the Chinese version before the English, so it doesn't display well on the standard schedule screen.
Now Broadband : It ought to be possible to use an irBlaster pointing at your Now Broadband to get GBPVR to change it to the right channel. I haven't tried this yet but intend to. I have successfully connected the Now broadband to the Hauppage card via an S-video cable, with broadcast TV coming in to the aerial socket.
NTSC / PAL : In my apartment block (in Discovery Bay) we get the terrestrial channels and several STAR TV channels mixed together in the analogue signal coming from the "aerial" socket in the wall. Most of these are in PAL, but BBC World is in NTSC. The Pal version of the hauppage card can't decode that so the choice is either to get another (NTSC version) card just for that channel, or (if you have NOW broadband) subscribe to it on that for an extra HK$12 a month. I'll go for the latter I think.
Does anyone know of a local shop selling good looking, small computer cases suitable for living room use?
Has anyone tried any local brand of remote control, or is it worth getting the more expensive hauppage one?