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    NTSC/ATSC tuner PCMCIA cards?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by DiscoPanda, Feb 20, 2009.

  1. DiscoPanda

    DiscoPanda Notebook Enthusiast

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    Are there any TV cards that do both ATSC and NTSC that don't have that huge plastic lump on the end of the card?

    The only one I've been able to find like that is an ExpressCard (which won't work with the common ExpressCard>PCMCIA adapter because the adapter only handles the USB2.0 part of the spec and the card uses the PCIe part of the spec).

    Features I want:
    • PCMCIA/PC-Card/Cardbus/whatever-it's-called-this-week (duh)
    • ATSC
    • NTSC
    • Some form of composite input
    • No protrusion (other than the removable antenna/input cords of course) - otherwise the door over the card slots won't close without having to remove the card and find a good place to keep it between uses.

    Features that would be nice, but not necessary:
    • FM Radio tuner
    • Might find a use for PAL support?

    Features I'd probably never use, and don't care about:
    • DVR or similar.

    Basically, I'd be using it so I can use my laptop like a TV, generally to watch broadcast TV, watch VCR tapes, or possibly to play video games.

    And I don't mind weird bootleg-looking chinese stuff. (Especially if it's cheap, like my AKE BC168 PCMCIA dual USB2.0 card (that took several weeks to arrive from China after I ordered it off eBay!) - not exactly bootleg, but definitely cheap and chinese.)