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Add a TV Tuner To Your Xbox (In Europe)

Posted by timothy on from the americans-don't-watch-tv dept.

jfruh (300774) writes "The Xbox one isn't just a game console: it's also a nifty media set-top box, and it interacts very well with your TV service — as long as you have cable. Cord-cutters will soon be able to attach their Xbox to an antenna — but only in Europe." The peripheral that Microsoft will soon release allows you to integrate over-the-air content into the Xbox One system. From the images Microsoft released it looks like the tuner is a small box with a port for an antenna cable on one end, and the USB cable on the other. Unfortunately for my readers in North America, as of now, the Xbox One Digital TV Tuner is only scheduled to release in Europe. Microsoft says it supports DVB-T, DVB-T2 and DVB-C television channels, which I hope means something to my European readers; Wikipedia tells me these are European over-the-air cable standards. The TV Tuner will be available in late October for 24.99 in the UK, and for €29.99 in France, Italy, Germany and Spain.

21 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. Broadcast standards in Europe by jonfr · · Score: 4, Informative

    Only DVB-T and DVB-T2 are for over the air. DVB-C is for cable service. So Xbox One users in Europe are going to be able to use it with both over the air and cable service. In Europe using cable (DVB-C) is a common form of getting television and often it is part of the rent that people pay.

    1. Re:Broadcast standards in Europe by gl4ss · · Score: 2

      yeah dvb-c cable is usually just what I think is "basic cable" in USA.

      however, it's a bit funny for someone to write over the air cable!

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    2. Re:Broadcast standards in Europe by amorsen · · Score: 2

      There are plenty of places that run HD over cable on plain -C or even -T.

      DRM does not have any connection to which particular DVB version is used.

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    3. Re:Broadcast standards in Europe by Gobelet · · Score: 2

      DVB-T carries many HD channels here, scrambled and unscrambled, in H.264 and Dolby Digital+. DVB-T2 is barely on the roadmap in France.

  2. Re:great idea by jonwil · · Score: 2

    Don't know where you come from but in Australia (and presumably in the various European countries mentioned in the summary as well) there are free-to-air TV channels broadcasting in DVB-T standard that do not require any special cards.

  3. DVB Tuners by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 5, Informative

    USB DVB tuners have been around for a while now and are amazingly cheap. Like $9.99 cheap. Besides receiving compressed DVB signals, most of them also have a general-purpose tuner mode for broadcast, etc. reception, and they make dandy Software-Defined Radios (SDR) that can tune from 50-1000 MHz or more, and translate an entire 3 MHz segment of the RF spectrum for software decoding.

    The cheapest ones are based on the RTL-2832U tuner chip. They are a cable-TV tuner IC coupled to a USB soundcard IC internally. Check out rtl-sdr.com for more info. The PC software to receive radio is free, mostly open source and quite sophisticated, rivaling several-thousand dollar conventional radio packages. Check out sdr-radio.com and sdrsharp.com for a couple of the many software packages out there. Cool stuff!

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    1. Re: DVB Tuners by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 2

      Your point is? The Xbox acts the same as a PC. The host (PC or Xbox) runs software that tunes the device and then decodes the compressed MPEG video when they are in DVB mode so you can watch TV. I was also pointing out that they usually have an additional non-MPEG mode that makes them a generic IQ type SDR, and this device may also have a "hackable" aspect to it.

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  4. Summary lacks basic thinking skills by jareth-0205 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Microsoft says it supports DVB-T, DVB-T2 and DVB-C television channels, which I hope means something to my European readers; Wikipedia tells me these are European over-the-air cable standards.

    ...Christ...

    1. Re:Summary lacks basic thinking skills by PPH · · Score: 4, Funny

      over-the-air cable

      That must be the stuff hanging up on utility poles. Completely different than the under-the-ground cable.

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    2. Re:Summary lacks basic thinking skills by GNious · · Score: 4, Funny

      over-the-air cable

      That must be the stuff hanging up on utility poles. Completely different than the under-the-ground cable.

      No, that would be in-the-air cable - In Europe, Over-The-Air cabling is done at 700km altitude.

  5. I must be missing something by rossdee · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Presumably your XBox is already plugged into a TV, which already has an OTA tuner, and with an antenna you can already get OTA free TV

    Or is it different in the EU ( /me now lives in the US, but formerly lived in NZ, don't know a thing about current european standards)
       

    1. Re:I must be missing something by Gobelet · · Score: 2

      My $79 9" TV (it is a spare one, mind you) can do timeshifting and recording, provided I connect a USB stick or hard drive. I cannot understand why higher-end TVs cannot offer that.

  6. T vs T2 vs S by Mr_Silver · · Score: 4, Informative

    DVB-T is OTA SD television content branded as "Freeview". You get over a 100 channels but, to be honest, only about 30 of them are any good. There are all the major stations (BBC 1 and 2, ITV, Channel 4 and 5), their additional channels (BBC 3, ITV 2 etc), some +1 hour channels and some Freeview only channels. Whilst these are all subscription free, there is a small amount of subscription content and it's not essential to subscribe to these. You don't get many of the Sky channels.

    DVB-T2 is the same as T but with the inclusion of 10 or so (I can't remember the exact number) HD channels. It's branded "Freeview HD". Again, subscription free for the majority of the channels. It's nice to watch Top Gear in HD.

    DVB-S is the same as T2 but, I think, has a few more HD channels. It's branded "Freesat" and requires the installation of a satellite dish on the side of the house - which often fails the WAF test. It arrived before Freeview HD and so was the first way to get HD channels, although I'm not sure whether that really is the case any more.

    For those that are wondering, "YouView" is actually a STB with a DVB-T2 tuner and a range of additional catch-up and VOD services bolted on.

    The majority of people will probably get DVB-T2.

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    1. Re:T vs T2 vs S by Mr_Silver · · Score: 2

      Whoops misread the article and thought it said DVB-S not DVB-C.

      DVB-C is television content through a cable. It's popular in a large number of countries and, for the UK, would be how Virgin Media would deliver their content.

      Having said that, I'm not entirely sure whether or not you would be able to use a DVB-C tuner to get Virgin. The majority of people I know use a STB supplied by Virgin (which, in the past couple of years, has been a rebranded TiVo). Someone else with more knowledge than me will probably be able to confirm.

      It'll be interesting to see how many tuners you get. If it's only one then you'll only be able to watch one channel and you'll only be able to record another if it is on the same multiplex. So if BBC1 and BBC2 are on the same multiplex then you can record one and watch the other - but you wouldn't be able to record BBC1 and watch ITV since they are on a different multiplex.

      If they are serious about providing a good STB experience (and they are part the way there because Windows 7 Media Center and a DVT-T2 tuner blows most of the STBs I've ever used out of the water for experience and, sadly, cost) then they really need to be offering a dual tuner.

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  7. TV License by residents_parking · · Score: 2

    In the UK, you'll need a TV license (£145 per year) if you don't already have one - completely dwarfing the tuner purchase cost.

    1. Re:TV License by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Given the high quality of pulic broadcasting in .uk I think the money is at least well spent.

    2. Re:TV License by stephanruby · · Score: 2

      Given the high quality of pulic broadcasting in .uk I think the money is at least well spent.

      If you're into birdwatching and watching open heart surgery at dinner time, then yes, the BBC is the best money can buy.

    3. Re:TV License by KevReedUK · · Score: 2

      By just having a TV tuner in your household you need to pay the license. Regardless of whether you use it or not. So unless you run an Xbox through an HDMI monitor and don't own a single TV then yes, the license fee dwarfs the cost of the tuner.

      WRONG!

      http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/c...

      From the above link:

      The law states that you need to be covered by a TV Licence if you watch or record television programmes, on any device, as they're being shown on TV. This includes TVs, computers, mobile phones, games consoles, digital boxes and Blu-ray/DVD/VHS recorders.

      You don't need a licence if you don't use any of these devices to watch or record television programmes as they're being shown on TV - for example, if you use your TV only to watch DVDs or play video games, or you only watch ‘catch up’ services like BBC iPlayer or 4oD.

      In other words, even if you have a tuner, as long as it is not used, you DO NOT need a TV license to cover it. Should you, however, watch any content online at the same time as it is being broadcast, you DO need a license, even if you do not own a single piece of kit with a tuner in it.

      It should be noted that when you buy any equipment with a tuner in it (TV / STB / PCTV device / whatever) the retailer will normally take your name and address (I believe this is by law) and this information is communicated to the TV Licensing bureau. If, when they receive this notification, they do not have on record any current valid TV license for that property, they will send out a letter asking you to either provide evidence that you have a license, buy one, or make a declaration that neither you, nor anyone in the property, watch or record TV as it is being broadcast, regardless of whether it is via the equipment you bought or some other method (e.g. online). As we keep our license up-to-date (My wife's daughter lives with us. It would seem that not having the capability to watch the latest reality-TV/whatever-other-crap-is-on is almost considered cruelty by many these days!), I have no idea what happens if you fail to respond to such a letter (I only received one of these letters because we bought a new TV the day we moved, and my change of address notification and their letter crossed in the mail).

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  8. All wrong by StripedCow · · Score: 2

    If you need an xbox to watch TV, you're doing it wrong.

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  9. Re:Old tech by bruce_the_loon · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is incorrect. -T can carry HD channels, albeit with heavier compression of the video/audio signals. -T2 increases the channel bandwidth from 24Mb/s to 35Mb/s and allows less compressed HD channels.

    Spain, Italy, France, Taiwan, Panama, Colombia all do HD over -T.

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  10. Potential for modding/injecting video by citizenr · · Score: 2

    You can emulate any USB device with something like Facedancer
    http://goodfet.sourceforge.net...

    USB DVB tuners just output MPEG2 transport stream when they are properly tuned to mux frequency.

    You can use OpenCaster
    http://www.avalpa.com/the-key-...
    to build your own stream.

    This means if will be relatively easy to build small usb dongle device capable of injecting h.264 video into Xbox 180.
    Of course I have no clue about xbone 180, maybe* its already capable of playing h.264 natively, and there is no need for hacks if you want to use one as a media center.

    * just checked, yep, xbone can stream h.264 natively

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