Freeview box as a source?

am i missing something here?
as i only listen to R2 then R1 in the evenings but would like the option of hearing some of the six music stuff i have considered getting a freeview box as a source.
i have a spare aerial socket next to my hifi and i figured that once set up using a portable telly (which i would then remove) i would have moderately good access to stations that i would have to get a DAB/FM tuner for.
set top boxes are £50!
i must be missing something, please advise

 

How would you see which station you are currently listening to? It would work, but with varying quality. Many of the stations available are heavily compressed which reduces the overally quality available.

Depends how important you view the Radio as a source. I have my Freeview box routed through my hi-fi for this purpose, but then I only listen to the radio on a few occasions so it's fine for my purpose. Obviously you would need a box with Phono sockets to provide the necessary connection to your amp.

 

http://www.comet.co.uk/comet/html/cache/172_140740.html, this has digital.

I may be buying one this afternoon.

 

Don't forget the bit rates via freeview are generally better than DAB, so I don't think there is much of a compression issue here? The limitation is probably the DAC in the set-top box, but if you have a DAC as part of your HiFi you can use, this problem can be avoided by getting one with a digital output.

Channel selection may of course be a problem without a TV, you'd have to see quite how the ones you're looking at operate...

 

My set top box seemed to be doing 48k on my Lexicon, get one with a digital out if you can (assuming you've got a dac).

 

My Pioneer freeview box has really poor sound quality. It sounds hollow and nowhere near as good as the roof aerial for sound. It's a couple of years old so maybe the newer ones are better.

 

Why not consider one of these -

http://www.netgem.com/

They are complete with a powerful IBM processor
Sony demodulator
The excellent Siel Tuner for HQ picture and sound.

There's also an active forum if you need any advice.

http://forum.netgem.com/

Best of All if you can beg steal or borrow a Makro card you can buy one for £40 plus vat. or down to £43 all in as reported on the forum,don't forget to pickup your keyboard and seek out P/No's ending with -0050 the later models with more powerfull processor.

http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/freeview_netgem.html#cli

http://www.mattcollinge.co.uk

With a suitable CAM the i-player can receive TopupTv but not the BT version.

 

I use a Nokia MediaMaster feeding a DAC. With 192kbps (Radio 1,2,3 and 4) it beats the DAB radio (that I had; now sold).
It sounds just as good with FM analogue also.

But unfortunately, one of the stations I like, the Jazz FM is only 128 kbps.
No Classic FM either

I live in a poor reception area so had to fit a good aerial.
Now get all 32 TV and 21 Radio channels.
I get better TV quality and TV sound than with analogue broadcasts.