BlackGold Technology BGT3630 Review

With a powerful machine set up but without any time to play games on it, I’d rather be entertained whilst doing work and that could involve music, videos online, or Television. Not a lot of people have a TV in the same room as their Desktop PC and if you are like me, you’d choose a Desktop PC to have in your bedroom over a TV any day of the week. The good thing about a PC is that you can do practically anything with it. I have decided to magically put TV into it with a PCI-E BGT3630 card by BlackGold Technology.

BlackGold Technology BGT3630
BlackGold Technology BGT3630*

With my house going under refurbishment, the key things a technology geek needs are a fully Ethernet connected household (need 2 connections in your room if you are like me), an Aerial for Television in every room and a Satellite connection in every room. Thankfully, I had “specced” this out and this is what I got. With the BGT3630, I can make use of this and I must say, it handles it beautifully! Here is what is so cool about it:

  • You can watch Digital Terrestrial (DVB-T/DVB-T2) and Digital Satellite (DVB-S/DVB-S2) all in one at the same time! And you can watch Cable (DVB-C)! I haven’t tested DVB-C and I believe it uses the same port as the DVB-T.
  • The beauty about it is that you have access to all the free-to-air channels both on Freesat and Freeview including the HD channels which essentially makes it a Freesat HD and Freeview HD box. (Speaking from UK)
  • If you have Windows Media Center (preferably the Windows 7 version) then you can utilise the amazing Media Center driver to take full advantage of what I would say is a redundant feature on most Windows machines. BlackGold also provide Linux drivers.
  • It’s got low profile fittings for thin cases for those creating a Media Center machine.
  • It also acts as a capture card for Composite RGB and Component connections so you can put your old school set top boxes should you feel the need to.
  • It also has a remote control input should you wish to extend your experience of watching TV.
  • The packaging is tiny like a brand new mobile phone. But like a brand new mobile phone, it brings a lot of goodness.
Blackgold BGT3630 Packaging

The only negative thing which I could say, but it isn’t really a major issue is that you have to go online to acquire the correct drivers for the BGT3630.

Would I recommend the BGT3630? If you have the set up ready in terms of Aerial and Satellite connections & a pretty powerful PC, then yes! In terms of price, it is around £105 which is a nice price for such an advanced piece of hardware.

*Image is Copyright & Trademark BlackGold Technology


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8 responses to “BlackGold Technology BGT3630 Review”

  1. Georgie Casey avatar

    Nice review, I’m building a HTPC for home now and was looking for the Blackgold BGT3600 which has dual DVB-S/DVB-T but I can’t find it in stock anywhere. Gonna go for the BGT3630, only £90 now.

    1. Raj Chevli avatar

      Thanks buddy. I hope it goes to plan!

  2. PeterH avatar
    PeterH

    Hey there I’ve just got the BGT3600, basically the dual tuner version of your card. Previously I just had the Hauppauge TD500 card in my HTPC. I’m having trouble getting the freesat channels in WMC7. I’m in the UK (London). So probably need the same settings as you, any chance you could give me some advice as to setting up the satalite tuner side of things.

    1. Raj Chevli avatar

      Hi Peter,

      On the basis you have got all drivers correctly installed and that your windows media center recognises that you have both Freesat and Freeview cards installed you will have to do two different scans for both of them. For freeview you’ve probably already set up TV signal in WMC. Similar to that there will be a Transponder scanning option in WMC (Settings->TV->TV Signal->Satellite Transponder Scan-> Full Satellite scan on Astra- 2A-B-D (28.2E), Eurobird (28.2E)). And if your satellite is properly plugged in and pointing in the right direction, you should get channels.

      I hope that helps.

  3. mark avatar
    mark

    Hi Raj,
    Could you tell me if you are able to record shows, and then watch them from another device over your home network using DNLA/Smart TV?
    Cheers
    Mark

    1. Raj Chevli avatar

      Hi Mark,

      The manufacturers provide downloadable drivers for use with windows media center which you can record shows with. The format which it records with is not globally compatible over DLNA however you can convert the video to a compatible format using conversion tools such as MCEBuddy. This is how I watch using DLNA however conversion is very time consuming.

      Another approach would be to use a different DVB viewer software which has better flexibility such as DVB Dream however I haven’t tested this.

      I hope that helps.

  4. XORROR avatar
    XORROR

    Good evening! Tell please, and whether there are photos of a full complete set? Whether there is to it a remote control? Or only a payment and conductings?

    1. Raj Chevli avatar

      Good evening. Yeah that is pretty much the full set with a business card of some sort. No remote control supplied. I don’t understand your last question.

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