TV Tuner w/HDMI Support? Turn Laptop into Monitor/TV

Just wondering, because I plan to buy a laptop with a HDMI output and a 1080p screen, Just wondering if there was an app or external hardware, like a tv tuner, that turns the laptop into a tv/monitor because I have a ps3 and no hi-def tv, and the lap will be a 17"...thats plenty to play on..for me. and I don't want to have to buy some 32" tv just to Enjoy hi-def gaming.

I heard about USB tv Tuners..I was wondering if there were any that fall under my question....or even if this is possible.

 

A "HDMI" TV tuner is not really what you are looking for. HDMI is just the transmission technolgy that is becoming standard for carrying digital high def video/audio. What you will want is an HD reciever/tuner card so that you can view the HD signal on your computer. If your computer doesn't have HDMI, you won't be able to transmit over HDMI, and if you have HDMI but an SD tuner, you will only be able to watch SD TV, regardless of HDMI.

 

...the "compter" is a laptop with a HDMI output, so yes it does support HDMI.

but My question is is it possible to plug the HDMI cable from my PS3(playstation 3) to my laptop so that i can use the laptop screen as an external display?

I just need to also know what I need to bridge this gap because the HDMI port on the laptop is an OUTPUT...how do make it so it becomes more like an INPUT with something third-party hardware.

 

You don't need a TV card then. Also, it is highly unlikey that you could turn an HDMI output in to an HDMI output. What laptop do you have? What you want is an HDMI input card (not a TV tuner, but some sort of A/V reciever card, if such a thing exists, might be right). I don't know of any, nor was I able to find one on google. It sounds like a niche product, so it will take some real searching if there is one out there.

 

Your output has nothing to do with what kind of input your laptop will support so you can forget that stuff above.

Most every laptop does not have native video inputs only outputs. You have HDMI and thats fine and dany and will come in handy for hooking your laptop up to a HD Monior for VIDEO OUT.

For video in tho you will need some sort of device, a tv tuner, a capture card ect. Most of them work via USB but you can find some for express card slots and stuff like that too.

Here is the thing, I sincerly doubt you will find a a HD or HDMI input card for USB because the interface is not even fast enough to support full HD spec. It would have to be thru another interface. Maybe E-SATA can be used for this in the near future, if somebody takes advantage of that port its your best bet because its plenty fast enough.

The next problem is that if its HDMI its a digital signal and it has to be decoded. To have a piece of equiptment to do this would be VERY expensive and not exactly a laptop part.

Your going to have to settle for analog input probably, component can still be HD.

However now you have another problem, HD stuff means you need a VERY strong computer to decode it and process it. For a movie or something you wont notice that what you see and hear on screen is actully 2 or 3 seconds behind the input. But in a game that means press jump and not until 3 seocnds later will you jump....

Not so good, you can probably find a TV tuner card out there with no lag at higher resolution but I do not know of one and it will be very system Dependant.

So my personal recommendation is that you just use an aptec gamebridge like I have. Its only 640x480 (VGA) quality but its cheap (10$ on ebay) and its effective with no lag. If you have to game on your pc monitor for a short while it works, its also cool because you can record game footage.

 

Dude, a TV TUNER will do him no good. He needs something analogous to an A/V RECIEVER. A tuner seperates the incoming signal from cable/satalite/antenna so you can get multiple channels out of a singal signal. A reciever is what decodes/transcodes/manages incoming audio and video signals.

Also, fully uncompressed video at 1920X1080 60Hz progressive 32 bit color depth is only 474MB/s. Compression or 30Hz would allow plenty of headroom over USB 2.0 for the audio to come along too. If an external device decodes the video, it could come over USB 2.0 and be piped straight to the frame buffer for all intents and purposes.

That said, such a device is going to be hard to find.

 

Most if not all TV tuner cards have a video in it will work, many have done so in the past.

I dunno where you find 1920x1080 to be ONLY 474MB/s and how thats ok with USB, it cant be compressed until after the computer gets a hold of the data via the USB port.

 

1920col*1080row*60Hz*4bytes/1024/1024=474.60935MB/s. That is fully uncompressed 1080p60Hz video at 32 bit (4 byte) color depth. If you calculate base 10 instead of base 2 for MB, it's 497.664MB/s. 30Hz or interlaced means cut that in half. If it's only 24bit color depth, that cuts it by 25%. 720p60Hz also cuts it roughly in half. And USB max datarate is 480MB/s. Yes, I know that is basically only theoretical, but at 720p, interlaced, or 30Hz, it drops down to under 240MB/s, which is well within USB2.0.

 

Yeah so what ever is sending the feed needs to compress it first for your math to work tho thats the only point I was trying to make. Also USB has overhead just like anything else so it doesn't peak at its rated speed.

 

Nothing needs to be compressed to get those speeds. It is straight math. In fact, for the vast majority of HD signals, they are only 24 bit color depth, so it's ~360MB/s for 1080p60Hz. HDMI can handle higher res and color depth than is utilized for HDTV.

 

Ok, I admit mistake on this one. I thought USB 2.0 was 480MB/s, it is actually 480Mb/s. So that puts me off by a factor of 8.

 

Yes but your talking about USB.

Edit: posted right after you, ok glad you finally saw the light lol. I knew there was no way in heck what you were talking about was true when I have had the USB 2.0 Interface bottleneck my flash drive and my external hdd.

 

I could have sworn that I had read USB 2.0 was 480 MB/s. Oh well.

 

so..in conclusion...even if such a device were possible(exists)...I would only get 720p...or are we talking true 1080p (can the PS3 output 1080i?, or is interlaced no use)

Are we saying that the topic is a bit ahead of its time?

 

If it exists, it is going to be expensive. And hard to find.

 

It does exist but its professional stuff and runs for thousands of dollars and its not USB.