Wireless TV tuner

Hi there,

anybody has an idea about there are wireless TV tuners/recievers that can be plugged on a notebook for occasional TV watching? I know there are notebooks with TV tuners built-in, but you pay the price ($2500+) and they are not wireless. Also would the quality of TV viewing on the notebook (with a nice bright screen) be acceptable?

Thanks for the advice, it would solve quite a few problems and save us a few bucks...


Pinco_Pallino[ ]

 

Happauge makes such a thing and is a common for solution for what you ask, here's a link to review and pricing from cnet

http://notebookreview-cnet.com.com/Hauppauge_Hauppauge_WinTV_USB/4505-3133_7-774721.html

 

Thank you abaxter,

sounds good and is definitely less expensive than a Sony A190 with TV tuner incorporated. However, it is not yet wireless: I went to the manufacturer's web site and did not find any reference to wireless TV tuners. So maybe there is nothing acceptable out there?

Any hint?

Best

Pinco_Pallino

 

I don't think there's currently anything that will allow you to watch TV wirelessly. You can get transmitters that send the signal from one room to another, but it doesn't have its own tuner, must be used in conjunction with your TV or VCR. You can possibly stream video to your notebook wirelessly, but you need another system on the other end to compress the source and then send to your notebook via wireless. There's another user on this site that is possibly looking for a similar device, but I don't think it currently exists.

-Vb-

 

Thanks Venombite,

I agree solving this seems pretty tough and it looks like it is even impossible for now.

I found a card and antenna, TV-to-Go by Margi Systems that has been discontinued.

In the non-wireless department, besides the Hauppauge system that was mentioned by abaxter, I also found one by Pinnacle that fits into a USB2 http://www.pinnaclesys.com/ProductPage_n.asp?Product_ID=2123&Langue_ID=7

I also found a system that could be used for streaming TV to a computer but still needs a TV set and a Video to VGA Scan converter. The info is here: http://store.ambery.com/24ghzwitvtua.html.

Also, some of these systems may work with the 2,4Mhz band: what could that have some interference with the 802.11B/G WiFi Network?

I guess I may end up with an add-on TV Tuner and a cable.

Pinco_Pallino

 

Hi again,

here goes the answer from Ambery a manufacturer of these devices who very kindly answered my request for information:

"You will need to get one of our usb 2.0 tv tuner first
to be installed into your laptop so you can have your
laptop work with our Wireless TV tuner package
together.

The wireless video quality depends on the environment
just like the wireless networking. Yes, your existing
wireless 802.11b/g network will interfere with the
wireless video transfer more or less since both will
be using about the same frequency.

Sincerely,

Support/Ambery.com"

End of story... I will have to connect via cable, unless somebodu comes out with a packaged solution with WiFi plus TV signal transmission.

Pinco_Pallino

 

I have an old Margi TV to Go PCMCIA card. If you mean wireless in that pulling off the tv signal over the air this is probably your most compact choice. You could buy something like the Hauppauge WinTV USB2 which I have that has an attenna connector but the box is quite big and needs it's own AC powersupply. On top of that you need an external attenna. The Margi card is relatively the most elegant. Just a PCMCIA card and an external box about the size of a small paperback for the attenna.

I don't think it is compatible with newer computers. The drivers were for win98 and requires a zoom cardbus enabled port which I don't think most manufactures make anymore. I might try to load it up in my new Toshiba Tecra M2. If you have an older computer, I could sell to you.

To get it over Wi Fi you probably would need a desktop computer with tv tuner connected to the cable/attenna and streaming software like beyondtv or snapstream.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by sng8888

 

Yes D-Link make a wireless TV tuner..(No not the D-Link MediaLounge Wireless Media Player (DSM-320)).. its a different one just for TV.
Check out there website sorry dont know model.[ ]

 

I know exactly what you're looking for. The closest thing that comes to it is the Sony LocationFree TVs, which are portable LCD TVs that have a base that has a built-in tv tuner which allows you to flip channels wirelessy via 802.11g connection. Unfortuneatly, you have to buy the whole TV to harness the technology. I didn't see anything that D-Link made? Although they should. They put wireless cameras and streaming video up on Wi-Fi networks, why not make a TV-Tuner unit? I have one of those analog A/V signal senders hooked up to a VCR, and you have to have the unit placed just right to get a perfect signal, but because its analog the interference is horrible, especially when you run your microwave.

 

Here's a PCMCIA tv tuner. Anyone have any experience with it?

http://www.aver.com/products/tvtuner_avertv_cardbus.shtml

-David

 

Here's another PC card offering:

http://www.lifeview.com.tw/html/cardbus.htm

Personally I am more interested web surfing anywhere than watching TV anywhere, that's why I have the Verizon wireless BroadbandAccess PC card for my little Vaio T250. I get the local TV news as well as stations around the world:

http://mediahopper.com/portal.htm

http://nbc6.feedroom.com/iframeset.jsp?ord=766433

Depending on the signal I can watch them at broadband speeds full screen, many with no buffering delay, depending on the wireless signal, and I am not bound to a router or base station.
So for my needs the Verizon card is all I feel I need.

17" Powerbook 1.5 Ghz, Vaio T250 1.2 Ghz

 

If you have a desktop pc, this would work for you. Get a cheap PCI TV Tuner card like the ATI TV Wonder. Install Windows Media Encoder, and choose the ATI as your source. Get on your laptop and open Windows Media Player and type in the URL for your PC. I did this at home and it works great. I think there is also a way to change channels from your laptop, but don't remember how. Hope this helps.

 

The best in term of size is the MSI VOX USB 2.0 Tv tunner...I have it and it kicks ass (even the hauppage)...I was an owner of the hauppage but it's kinda bulky

 

I stream TV from my desktop to my laptop. I have a Hauppage 150PVR ($100) in my desktop and use SageTV software. They have a client version of the software that you can use on your laptop and will work over a network, including wireless G. It works very well, with a great PVR interface and functionality. It's pretty neat watching TV on my laptop without wires and the quality is perfect.