question:TV tuner

I have zv5000...does anyone know if I am able to watch tv on it? I know I have to purchase a tv tuner, once I purchse it, how do you wtch tv on it.

 

I am not sure what exactly you are asking. But anyways, this is how you can use.
You can buy a PCMCIA TV Tuner card and plug it into PCMCIA slot and connect cable/Antenna. The TV tuner card comes with software you need to View/Tune/record all available channel on you laptop.

Something like this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815100137

Another one is using USB 2.0 TV tuners, but most of those really hangs around laptop, but can also be used with desktop if needed.

 

Thanks...for your help...I want to be able to watch in school...between classes of course...so all I have to do is buy the card and I will set?

 

I'd go with a USB 2.0 tuner. You're going to need to plug into an antenna or cable TV anyhow. This way you can easily plug and unplug the whole contraption. I have a USB 2.0 HDTV tuner which is REALLY nice (if you have decent antenna reception), though a bit finicky. Otherwise just get a cheap standard def tuner.

 

USB 2.0 HDTV Tuner? Cool, which one? Where did you get it and how much? I am tempted!

 

On the surface, this seem absurd to me. Am I missing something? If you have access to cable TV to plug into the USB 2.0 tuner, isn't there likely a TV around already? Like, why would there be a cable available if there wasn't a TV plugged into it? I certainly would not be making a frequent habit of using my laptop as a TV. I could see an off-the-air tuner with an antenna built in....? Maybe I just don't get it.....

 

With one, I can get rid of my 13" TV that takes up space.

 

A new 13" color TV costs about $60-70 tops. Your notebook computer costs probably $1000 or even more. You want to put hours of wear and tear on your computer's screen watching TV shows just to pitch a $60 TV? How much space can a 13" TV take up, really?

 

Good point.

 

The one I have is this one:
http://www.copperbox.com/lite/sasem.php
which I don't think you can buy in America anymore (Sasem is Korean, Korea uses the same TV standards as North America). Copperbox is marketing another one:
http://www.copperbox.com/lite/popinfo.php?lc_code=USB-A-3560
It doesn't do standard def but it's quite a bit cheaper. You can always get a standard def USB TV tuner to go with it.

Note that if you want to use your HDTV tuner box as a PVR that HDTV is up to 9GB/hour (20Mbps). I'm not certain the standard 4200RPM HDs can keep up with that reliably; even with my 7200RPM Hitachi I had to disable virtual memory. I suspect that a 5400RPM drive with virtual memory disabled would be OK. The results are seriously impressive though, both on my zv5000z's 1680x1050 res widescreen and especially my Samsung 204T 20" LCD 1600x1200 res screen.

 

That is cool. Since it is MPEG stream we do not need to connect audio line in cable, is that right?

What about this DIVCO one.
http://www.copperbox.com/lite/popinfo.php?lc_code=Fusion-HDTV-USB&uneek=278491915

This one has Digital and Analog tuner with QAM support, small and has remote too!

 

Cool, I didn't see the DIVCO.

None of these boxes need anything other than an antenna or cable TV coax and a USB port. Since all they're doing is dumping the raw HDTV bitstream to your notebook the quality is perfect whether you're watching live or recorded.