New Definition For Frustration

I've found a new definition for frustration. Try buying a Leadtek Winfast DTV Dongle Gold. It's a USB 2.0 TV tuner. The frustation began from the moment I purchased it. In fact, prior to making my purchase. I found another Leadtek product that would have included analogue signals in addition to the HDTV compatibility but it's been recently discontinued. I thought that there would be a few places I'm likely to travel where an analogue signal might be stronger than HD so the best of both worlds would have been preferable.

I found a local supplier, Austin Computers, and paid a few dollars more but that would have still provided a saving when taking into account postage and handling charges from a cheaper supplier miles away. Apparently it was in stock in Osborne Park and would take 2-3 days to become available in Cannington. After two weeks and several phone calls it was finally in stock. Less than half an hour round trip on the bike to pick it up.

I waited until after tea before installing the hardware/software. Then I spent the better part of two and a half hours trying to set it up. Somehow the drivers and codecs didn't install properly. Info on a forum from someone called Buddhika saved my bacon - mate, you have my thanks. Finding the site for latest driver and application I had to go through a bit of a process to uninstall and reinstall before this thing finally worked.

And the picture is pretty good. We'll see if it burns directly to CD and the like. Even the remote control works. Not bad for under A$50.