HP TV Tuner Card (US)

Well I'm in college now and I need something to watch TV on. I made a mistake of not buying the card and all the stuff for around $75 with the customized laptop that I bought from HP. Now it says I have to pay $170.00 for one if I wanna buy it separately.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/store/product/product_detail/RM436AA%23ABA?

My question is because I can't afford that right now, is there anyway to get this one for cheaper price and where? I can only spend about $100. Also if you know any other brands and which ones are good, if you have any experience with these.. feel free to comment.

Also my school doesn't provide me with anything except a male pin on the wall to insert a coax cable into (I think that's what its called). Sorry for my lack of knowledge about these terms but I need either the item in the link or something similar.
Thanks

 

You can get much cheaper USB TV tuners.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7;201148510222 1148410234&bop=And&Order=PRICE

 

Don't even think you are missing anything, hkapoor. I have the HP tuner card, and it's not even close to the best thing out there. Hauppauge and Pinnacle have great USB tuners which come with good software.

windowsrookie has set you up with a page that has a variety of options.

In addition to the HP card, I also have the Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick USB. It's a good one, with a good remote too. I also have a couple Hauppauge WinTV USB units. Not as compact & does not come with an antenna, but good also.

 

Pinnacle USB HD Pro Stick is on sale at Best Buy. Great TV tuner but kind of difficult to use with Vista x64, it's fine with x32 Vista.

 

I bought the HP $170 set for $76 with shipping off of Ebay. It is a nice little setup that comes complete with all the cords, CDs, antenna, etc. I don't know if it is any better or any worse than other items out there. So far, I have not seen a reputable comparison.

As far as software goes, I just use the Media Center that is integrated into Vista Home Premium and it is fine. I don't really know what else you would want. Maybe the interface for other software is better or something, don't know.

With a cable connection, reception should not be an issue. If you get a complete kit, it comes with the cable you would need.

The over the air reception is good with digital. Analog was not so hot. You really need a strong signal.

One thing is that the tuner card gets very hot while working. That adds heat to the right side of an HP laptop.

 

does the tv kit offered when customizing the notebook come with an antena? is it both anaglog and digital or analog only?

Alex

 

If you're looking to just watch TV on your Laptop, why not buy a SlingBox? With a Slingbox you can stream the TV over the internet.

It's very convenient if you go somewhere without cable TV.

 

You can get it from ebay or newegg much cheaper

 

I also got the HP tuner card and it works better in Quickplay than Media Center. I also have Slingbox and it's great. I can watch home TV stations while I'm away from home but the only downside is you have to have a high-speed access to use it. If you have wireless access in college/dorms then Slingbox is fine but if something goes wrong with the box you have to adjust it from home unless you know someone that can do it for you.

 

>>If you're looking to just watch TV on your Laptop, why not buy a SlingBox<<

The tuner card doesn't require internet access or cable access. You can watch TV pretty much anywhere with the included antenna.

 

>>I also got the HP tuner card and it works better in Quickplay than Media Center.<<

Haven't tried it in QuickPlay. Just out of curiosity, what do you like better about QuickPlay?

Does your card get hot when it is in use?

 

My card does get hot in use....not ridiculously so, but very noticeably so.

 

The HP tuner card detects more TV stations in Quickplay setup than in Media Center (go figure). You can load Quickplay faster than Media Center. The card does get "hot" but you'll only notice it when you take it out.

 

Normally you insert things into female adapters

Yeah, that just a regular coax connector.

 

Hmm. I tried to set up my a TV tuner with the HP media center and recieved no signals. I can't figure out what is wrong/missing and my local cable company doesn't know anything about laptop/CPU TV tuners. My cable router box/linksys "g" network works fine with my laptop: I am wireless around the house.
I have to have a digital cable setup box to watch cable TV in the living room. Do I really need another one to watch TV on the laptop? What good is it if I have to be hard connected to a cable again? Here it was stated you don't need anything except the antenna, express TV tuner card and the remote to watch TV. I planned on using this to watch TV around the house and maybe in the backyard.

Any connection advice is good! If the cable/internet guys don't know, who does?

 

The wireless/network has nothing to do with the TV tuner.

You will need to connect either the cable TV cable or a TV antenna to the tuner card before you will be able to get anywhere. I think it came with an antenna, so start with that. You should be able to get a few "over the air" TV channels just like that. If you have them in your area, you should also be able to get some digital hi definition stations.

Once you have connected one or the other of the antenna or cable, follow the setup instructions that came with it.

 

DViCO Fusion7 HDTV USB hands down. The best quality on the market for $100.

 

Check the Avermedia HC80 out. Does FM, NTSC, and ATSC. Hauppauge has a similar model that instead of FM does QAM. The Avermedia has a hardware encoder whereas the Hauppauge is software based.

 

Yeah, I know the wirelss has nothing to do with it, I wanted to watch wireless TV though; if the HP antenna worked I could of. Since all the ITs (local and HP) I spoke to and the cable company was equally stumped about TV tuners in general, I continued on to make a connection of any type: this time I got a new coax and hooked it up from the splitter (other side goes to router) to the HP TV tuner card adaptor-Bingo! basic digital cable works fine. Antenna provided with the the TV tuner card is worthless, at least here. At least HP provides more adaptors with the Tuner card, including RCA for recording. Anyway, where I live it has to be hard connection, and if I want expanded/tier cable I would have to get another cable ste up box from the cable company. I am surprised to find few that are actually watching TV of any type on their computer around here; this is Silicon Valley. Guess TV is a nice-to-have feature, not required. Me, I'm not paying for another subscription to watch TV (Slingbox). I already LOVE having this feature- I can work and have TV on in the background, and can watch it now by simply switching windows. Thanks for your help, all. Hope this hook-up scenario helps someone too.

 

If you are in Silicon Valley, I find it hard to believe that there are no OTA digital channels available. I think either you didn't get one of the parameters set up right or you have some defective hardware. No big deal if you don't need to use it "mobile." I am leaning more toward a setup problem though since the tuner seems to be working OK with cable.

 

I'm using a Hauppauge WinTV HVR 950 with my Pavilion dv6000z. Works pretty decently, plus I can pick up OTA digital HD with it.

 

xvvz: Yes, it is wierd. The hard connection still works fine. The plan was to watch wirelessly though. Maybe HP just sent a bad antenna; Maybe there are better antenna kits:

beanboy89: " I'm using a Hauppauge WinTV HVR 950 with my Pavilion dv6000z. Works pretty decently, plus I can pick up OTA digital HD with it

I didn't catch your set up issue though?

 

Setup issue?

 

I didn't catch your set up issue though?(Confused posts, disregard question please!
Thanks again for the Hauppauge WinTV HVR 950 info though!