Dreamstime

Friday 25 January 2013

Where Are The Free FM Radio Tuners For Windows?

Winamp Playlist - List Of FM Radio Stations

I find it odd that there are not many free FM Radio tuner software for the Windows platform. FM Tuners for Linux, yes - and with the source code too. But for Windows there is none. The best that I could find is just a plug-in for Winamp called Winamp TV version 1.9Beta8 - the page on this link says version 1.9lite10 but upon installation the Winamp TV documentation says version 1.9Beta8.

FM Radio Channel Settings In Winamp

Setting up Winamp TV is wicked. It causes Winamp to crash a lot when an inappropriate value is selected. Winamp crashed too when scanning the local FM airwaves. But once I have got the setup right, it works perfectly without any problems with my KWorld PCI Analog TV Card Lite (PVR-TV 7134SE). FM radio audio output is in stereo (where and when available), although the file information dialog box for the "Stereo Mode" drop down box shows Mono (see picture above). I do not think I have any problems with my ears.

I did manage to find Winamp TV version 1.9Beta14, but Windows just stop responding every time when I attempted to start Winamp TV. In fact, Windows crashed so badly that the whole PC just freezes up and the only option left for me is to do a hard reset.

Note:
In case if you are wondering, I am not using TivMe anymore (the TV and FM radio software from KWorld). I have uninstalled TivMe since I was having problems preventing the TivMe's scheduler from starting up even though there were no tasked scheduled. The only software left that I have from KWorld is just the "KWorld TV713X BDA drivers". Besides, I do not use TivMe much. For TV viewing and captures I use VirtualDub. For tuning in to FM radio stations, I use Winamp TV. FM radio recordings are done via HarddiskOgg and scheduled via V2CRS - not perfect but it meets my needs.

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