HP TV Tuner question

I just got off chat with an HP rep, and she told me their tuners were analog. (after having to research it)

What's confusing to me, is why do they call them "HP Integrated HDTV Hybrid Tuner?" Wouldn't HDTV mean it's digital? I have DirecTV, and I don't know if this is going to work with it or not. And come February, if it's just pulling signals from the air, then what?

 

I think she gave you the incorrect information.

I have an HP ExpressCard Hybrid TV Tuner that I purchased and from what I read, Hybrid meant it was both Digital and Analog.

 

I talked to a different rep this morning, and this one said it is both digital and analog. (like you said)

How do you connect your cable/satellite to the pc? Since it's an "integrated" tuner, will there be a connector in the back/side of the laptop? Or are they going to put it into an express card slot?

I'm sorry for all the questions. I'm trying to understand if this will work before spending the money on it.

Thanks.

 

In Chaz's review there is a picture that shows a blank spot on the right side of the laptop where the antennae? is. I don't think it has anything to do with the express card slot. I also ordered the hdtv tuner and hope its worth it.

 

Thanks for pointing that out. I had read Chaz's review, but completely missed that part. (and didn't enlarge each pic) It looks like an antenna would fit there. Looks a little small for a coax cable, though.

 

There's a converter that you plug into that little hole. It allows you to connect a coaxial cable. Once everything is plugged in, you hop on Media Center and configure the type of connection. All of the channels and info will be downloaded.

The integrated Tuner should work fine, except a few did say the quality is what you would expect from an integrated Tuner.

I should be getting my notebook my new notebook in like a week or so. I'll take additional pictures of the Tuner and how it works.

 

I will be ordering a HP TV Tuner in the upcoming week, cann't wait to see how it'll with my computer.

 

Dont worry, its a digital tuner. I have it in my dv5 and it works great. I get free HD channels with the little antenna thats included. Or you can use an adapter that comes with it to hook it up to a cable. Its very cool

 

Hey, I didn't have any option to buy the tuner when I configured my dv5z. When did you order that, what model of dv5? (The web page listed "TV tuner" but there was no input field to select it.)

 

I'm selling a brand new tv tuner:

See the link for pics! Hit me up a pm if interested.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=202585

 

It was the DV5t. Sorry for not clarifying.

 

I have a HP Integrated HDTV Hybrid Tuner built into a HP dv5t laptop. It can receive analog cable, clear QAM and ATSC. Clear QAM is HDTV over cable. ATSC is HDTV over an antenna.

The HP Integrated HDTV Hybrid Tuner comes with both a female coaxial connector and a small ATSC antenna. They cannot be used at the same time: you either connect to cable (using the coaxial connector) or to the ATSC antenna. The connection to the laptop itself is a proprietary connector.

It works, too. You can see both analog and HDTV through HP QuickPlay and it works great. In Vista Media Center, however, you can only see analog and, even so, it's jerky.

 

i dont see the digital clear qam option in quickplay, only the analog and atsc.. any ideas?

 

When I ordered the rep told me it's digital and analog also. There are two different connections on the laptop and 2 ways to connect. One is with coaxial cable like you have screwed into back of tv from cable or sat and the other is from a "over the air"(OTA) antenna connector. You can only use one at a time. Hope this helps....

 

I spend more time tinkering around the setting rather than watching TV in my HP card which is essentially a HP branded HVR1500 card "Details". You can install driver from hauppauge which enables ClearQAM in the card, but for me, I had to use WinTV6 software to watch the ClearQAM channels. The work around does not quite work in X64 Vista, but works fine X32 XP pro.

 

So my DV7t did not come with the tuner card. I have a slot for two cards. What would I need to get this laptop setup with the internal tuner?

Why two slots?

Since the computer did not come factory setup for the tuner am I missing a connector for the source or is it some kind of USB adapter?

Would the antenna be internal and either already installed in my laptop or is it part of the card?

 

HP only offers a usb style external tuner on their website. It looks like only one connector. here is the link http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/computer/categories/tv_accessories/1/accessories/KS523AA%23ABA

 

The internal tv tuner is an Avermedia A317 mini-pcie card. The second slot is for the HSDPA modem option. You can't buy these cards aftermarket from HP. The part numbers are marked not for sale by the parts department, so the only way to get them is to order it from the begining. On top of that, it just isn't very good. The quickplay media player for the TV tuner just sucks. Clear quam is only supported by that instead of Windows Media Center. However, Media Center has much better resolution and picture, so it's a toss up. Without the external antenna, you get no reception at all. It's not worth the $100, just get an expresscard or USB tuner.

 

thanks for the info SMAN

I wonder how a SSD card would do with vista. I know IBM has some speed boost setup but from the sound of it its not very good.

I also wonder if I could put a GPS card in... problem would again be the antenna. I just hate express cards since I use one for work and its always in the way.

 

Problem is that HP has a whitelist for all internal cards. So you can only use ones approved by HP (ones they sell). Goodluck with trying to find something to fill those to card slots.

 

So this whitelist sounds a bit fishy. any way to find out how they enable only their cards?

How about using the SSD as the operating system drive? I dont know if the BIOS would recognize the drive as a boot device.

 

The whitelist is embedded into the bios, when you plug in a pci device that doesn't match the list, you get the dreaded "104" error. SSDs will work fine when plugged into the sata port, but not in the mini pci port.

 

i have still not had luck finding the clear qam tuner in quickplay with my integrated tv tuner for my dv4t.

please someone help for the love of god!!! PLEASE!!!

 

yeah sometimes it doesn't show up. i've had times where the whole digital tuner just disapears from it. Only thing i can say is wipe out the drivers and quick play and reinstall it and see if it shows up again.

 

ah.. it was the stupid quickplay program. i had 3.6.. updating to 3.7 fixed it. weird that 3.6 didnt let it work, but with the hp expresscard tuner the qam did work.

well everything is working now so yay

 

i dont supposed you could post some pics of your DV4's tv tuner card in it and the connector for the antenna could you?

 

I have a Pavillion DV7 model which I got at circuit city as they were closing the doors. Ite a fantastic laptop. Unfortunately it did not come with a TV tuner. I wish it did. Upon opening the cover on the bottom, there is a "Hole" where Im assuming the optional TV tuner goes since it has a little TV picture on it.

If I go to HP and "Order" this exact laptop, one of the options is a integrated TV tuner for $79.00. So this model obiously can handle it and it is available.

When I call HP, (service, parts, tech support, and other departments i dont even know what they did), They all talked to me like I handed them a three doller bill. Nobody knows what Im talking about. All I want is the TV tuner card that plugs into the "Hole" under the back cover.

I did find HP sells a USB tuner and a "Expresscard" tuner, but thats not what I want. I dont want a USB stick poking out of the side of the computer, As far as the express slot, Im using that for my Wireless internet card. So the internal (or integrated as HP calls it) is my only option.

Can somebody please help me find this card? Or at least a part number HP will acknowledge? If somebody has one can you look at the part and get me a part number off of it?

This is very fustrateing.

greg

 

It's not jsut a "card" persay. The service manual has the part numbers, you need to internal PCI-E Mini card, and then the internal wire that runs from that car to the "hole" on the side. These are different part numbers. Then you need the external antenna adapter aswell. Also you'll need to take apart the whole laptop to route the wire properly, it's a bit of a PITA.

 

Greghig. Yeah I mistakenly ordered my HDX16 without it and HP won't let me change the order. Yeah I found the tv tuner you were talking about sman, the internal one, Avermedia A317, mini PCI-e. However, you can't just buy it as its sold to manufacturers only, unless you want to buy 1000 min order. I found a similar one but it does require some work as sman described.

I found similar ones on ebay. They look as if they fit, but I don't want to risk taking apart my 3K new laptop.

http://shop.ebay.com/items/?_nkw=av...id=p3286.m270.l1313&_odkw=avermedia&_osacat=0

Sighsssssssssssss

 

The other issue there is that HP has been known to put whitelists in the bios that only allow cards with certain hardware IDs. This is part of an FCC compliance for anything wireless. So there is a good chance if it's not the OEM one, it might not allow your system to boot.

 

it sux that the tv tuner feature cant work where i live

 

Does anybody know where you can get the adapter to connect the tv tuner to a normal antenna cable. I've lost mine and can't seem to find any places selling it. What kind of plug is it anyway on the tv tuner. Looks very small.

 

Alienware sold me the A317 for $40.00 and the adapter for $2.00.

 

Is the one you have the one that fits into the laptop, an internal? If so you have the link?

 

Guys,
Quick question: I have an integrated tuner on my DV6T which is made by AverMedia.... this thing encrypt using MPEG2.....

The problem is... since it's MPEG2 it takes up to 8GB per hour of HD recording....I don't see any option to change the encryption.

Is there a way to use a better encryption...can we load any of Avermedia software to do this? *GB per hour is a quite a bit much.

 

Hi: Thanks found the cable on ebay for a couple of bucks.
However just found out that my internal tv tuner is only a dvb-t tuner. I would like a tv tuner which also supports analog signals.
Can anyone tell me which kind of dvb-t/analog tv tuner that will fit the HP HDX-16? What interface does the internal tv tuner use?

 

Sorry found out that the answer was given earlier in the thread.
The tv tuner is a mini pci-e card. I just opened op the notebook and the card is an Avermedia A309. I'm now looking to either get the Avermedia A301 or A306.
Looks pretty simple to exchange the cards.

 

I didn't get the TV tuner but I regretted it and I was thinking of installing it. I found out that I need that tv tuner cable module thing that runs from the tv card to the outlet on the side of the laptop. Since that cable is inside the laptop, I found out that you have to TAKE APART most of the computer to get to it. Thats what it says in the repair manual I found online. I think its better I just return and rebuy.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01612461.pdf

 

Yeah, I have read the manual as well. Pretty simple to replace the tv tuner, but looks very complicated to install the tv tuner module cable. I wouldn't try to do it either.

 

Just ordered a dv7t for my dad with the integrated hdtv tuner. I've been reading people say they can only get the qam to work with HP's quickplay app, not with Vista Media Center. What if you are using the antenna to pull in ATSC, does that also just work in Quickplay and not VMC?

What about other programs? Has anyone tried SageTV?

Can you record TV with this tuner?

 

Quick question...I haven't bothered trying mine...

Do these still all work fine after the DTV conversion?

 

The internal tv tuner supports DTV with both quickplay and MediaCenter & DigiCable (CQ) in quickplay. DTV still broadcasts on the same frequency space as the older tv signal, so a new antenna isn't needed. So you should be all set.

 

Thanks..

Obviously I use it so often..LoL but just wanted to know if and when I do use it

 

Hi! I need youre help, please. I have an hp dv7 1130el with tv tuner, and it seems everything instaled and ok, but when I search for the programs everything is black, I have no signal. I tried with the little antenna and with the included adaptor and my cable and nothing. In my device manager apears to be HP DBV-T TV TUNER, but on hp site I have to choose between HP Integrated Hybrid TV Tuner Driver , HP DVB-T TV Tuner External Expresscard Driver and HP Integrated Digital TV Tuner Driver or if I try with windows update it's trying to find the driver for (avermedia maybe) A 309. I even tryied to install the driver and aplications from avermedia sites, but I have the same problem.
My questions are: how to know for sure what type of tuner do I have and what drivers and aplications I need to install for my tv tuner to work?
My notebook came with two remotes, Windows Vista Home Edition, and I have a small golden jack in the upper left corner of my laptop.
Thank you in advance and sorry for my english.

 

Fanyyy..... you need to uninstall hp tv tuner entry from add/remove and install ONLY the HP Integrated Hybrid TV Tuner Driver (cuz you have the at golden port besides the power adaptor...... you will need to plug in the HP antenna, or use the adaptor to plug in the house antenna...to get any channel, DVB/otherwise)

PS...the 2nd problem you might face is the Quickplay utility...try to update or get the ver 3.2 of quickplay...... if all else fails...install Win7, the tuner works perfectly in Media center there.

 

Hi Faannyyy,

I too have the exact problem as yours. Im having HDX 16 1355ee model from UAE region. When i contacted HP Tech Support, I was told that A309 is a DVB-T Tuner which can detect only digital signals and since there is no digital signal in UAE region, i cant receive any signal using the TV Tuner. Really strange! why they have to put such a card when they very well know that its of no use in this region!

But i still couldn't figure out the reason for shipping the coaxial converter cable!

Question to others: is there any way to use my DVB-T Tuner to receive analog signals?

Regards,
Elang