• PAL, SECAM, NTSC Analog TV Support
• Intelligent Image Enhancement
• Software MPEG Encoding
• ATSC, DVB-T,Clear-QAM Digital TV Support (unencrypted digital TV)
• 12-bit Resolution Audio and Video Decoder

• Control your content with the full-function media remote control
• Watch and record analog cable TV, hi-definition digital ATSC1 or clear QAM digital TV on your PC
• Watch, pause, and rewind live TV or listen to live FM radio on your notebook
• Quickly see what's on with the easy-to-use electronic program guide
• Record shows at home, then enjoy them on the go

• Watch and record free-to-air HDTV on PC Mini TV Stick for ATSC
• Features include instant recording for recording digitally, TV with time shifting and much more! More than a receiver
• This Mini Digital USB HDTV TV TUNER allows you to use your computer as a TV and digital multimedia center
• Get the ultimate mobile digital TV solution! Receives both, Digital and Analog signal. Specifications

• 32/64-Bit driver support
• High Definition (HDTV) quality support up to 1080i
• Windows 7/Vista MCE/XP MCE. Windows 7 Premium logo Certificated. Windows Media Center is required. Not compatible with Vista Home Basic.
• USB 2.0 Interface Stereo Sound Multi-card support
• Analog TV: (NTSC) Digital TV: (ATSC / ClearQAM)

• Supports NTSC analog cable, over the air TV, ATSC Digital over the air HDTV, and Clear QAM digital cable TV; watch TV in window or full screen
• Compatible with 32 bit and/or 64 bit Windows 7
• USB HDTV Tuner/Video Recorder lets you turn your PC into a virtual television and personal video recorder
• Included remote control controls satellite and TV set top boxes
• On-board MPEG-2 encoder allows PC to run at full speed while recording analog cable TV directly to hard drive

Jan 24, 2007 by Dan C | Posted in Laptops & Notebooks

I have an older laptop, pentium 2 processor, And I want to reconfigure it to be basicly a tv. I would use a usb tv tuner, and make a new case. What is the basic stuff i would need harware wise to do this?

There are you special hardware requirements as such, But make sure that the USB card that you buy is USB 1.1 compatible. If you need a external TV antenna get it. The Tv card wont use up your memory like some others say and also u don't need a good graphics card. Unless of course you want to capture tv shows.
Get yourself the TV card.

Nov 02, 2006 by Puneet G | Posted in TiVO & DVRs

I have TIVO but I don't want to continue paying monthly fees. Does anybody know what is the best external usb TV tuner card? Basically I want to replace my TIVO.

Thanks

Rather than wasting money on a TV Tuner card I would recommend that You check this out

http://tinyurl.com/f5boc

Nov 26, 2008 by Joe | Posted in Laptops & Notebooks

I have windows Vista program for the TV tuner.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/possibilities/tv-on-the-go.aspx

Hey Joe...

Unsure if this will help - but it might give you an idea as to do so.

Look through WINDOWS support and web-site to set this up - Let me know if you get this issue resolved.

O.D.

Dec 11, 2008 by Connie H | Posted in Add-ons

We have cable tv and cable internet and cable boxes. I have called two places in town and they no longer have pc tv tuners in stock. They said the ones they did have would no longer work after the switch over and they don't carry them anymore. They also said they do not know of any on the market that would work. We want a USB type.

I have one and it cost very little and it works great on my laptop. I think it will be ok for HD but at the price I dont mind replacing it. I dont know if HD applies to computer monitors tho.. If its got a big red tick its ok.

May 22, 2008 by iEddie | Posted in Laptops & Notebooks

I'm going up to uni soon and I don't want to take a TV with me. Instead I was thinking of getting one of those TV Tuner USBs that enables you to watch digital TV on my laptop. But a thought has just occured, would I need to buy a TV license to make every all legal?

Yes! See link below about students TV. Mind you, what's the odd's on being caught?

Oct 02, 2008 by joe f | Posted in Add-ons

I do not have cable or satelite. What's a good USB TV tuner that you would recommend for my Vista laptop? I also hear that there's one that allows you to store up to 2 hours of HD programming right on the stick itself. I'm interested in ALL kinds (store pgming or don't store programming).

do the store program

Jan 20, 2007 by bdsport445 | Posted in Add-ons

The TV tuner that I have now will only detect the channels on cable and cannot detect satellite channels, thus I cannot use my computer as a true DVR. Is there a certain kind of TV tuner that I have to get that will recognize the channels on satellite or am I out of luck?
What is a satellite decoder and where can I find a good one?
I would prefer not to use IR blaster because the satellite that I have isn't programmable into IR blaster.

Yes. The Hauppauge 150 lets me control my satellite & cable box ... both.

It must be said, though, that the programing of the tuner to learn the cable & satellite box codes was done via the Windows Media Center operating system. I use the Media Center remote (made by Hauppauge) to control all boxes.

Even if the boxes are not recognized it allows you to program the Hauppauge 150 to learn the codes ... works perfecly for all my scheduled recordings.

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvr150.html

regards,
Philip T

Jun 23, 2007 by silentdeliriumx | Posted in Home Theater

I want to use my analog USB TV Tuner, Kworld 300U http://www.provantage.com/kworld-kw-pvr-tv300u~7KWRD00N.htm , to watch Comcast digital cable tv.

I think I should be able to connect the digital converter via RCA audio + composite video or S-video to the tuner and it should work.. am I right?

Yep, but you will still need to change channels with your cable box.

Aug 08, 2007 by popisunga | Posted in Add-ons

It's connected to a TV but for some reason, the audio signal from the antenna doesn't work. The internal speakers are working though because it works when we play games and watch DVDs on the PS 3.

You'd need drivers for something like that, most likely you'll need to install Linux on your ps3 for that to work.

Aug 19, 2008 by dittonick | Posted in Add-ons

I have windows xp pro and i have the correct drivers but no tv viewer will recognize it. If anyone knows of one that will work please let me know.

Tough luck mate. MCE is nothing more than a fancy word for just media players added to windows. All the drivers that work with XP PRO, work with MCE.
I worked with HP for some time & MCE was the one thing that gave us nightmares..

31.12.09

This was no trouble to set up on a Mac mini connected to an older HDTV, with the only wait being the brief delay for its setup assistant to finish detecting over-the-air channels. The EyeTV's tuner picked up about as many channels as the hardware in the TV, but somehow each found one or two stations that the other missed in its first scan (22 and 54 for the EyeTV, 1 and 30 for the TV).

The EyeTV's best feature, however, isn't its hardware but its software. Its program guide offers the same kind of point-and-click simplicity that TiVo owners have grown accustomed to, but in an iTunes-esque interface that allows find-as-you-type searching for programs. Oh, and you can use a real keyboard to type your searches too.

A remote-control onscreen applet lets you change channels, adjust the volume and start and stop recordings, but it has no resemblance to the arrangement of buttons on the physical remote included in the box. (Then again, that remote may not work at all on desktop Macs that reserve their USB ports for the back of the computer.)

You can schedule recordings or pause TV as you want. But here's where Elgato's otherwise terrific software falls down a bit: Although it provides numerous, simple options for exporting a program to an iPod, iPhone or Apple TV, among others, it doesn't offer an equally simple way to burn a DVD of a recording. The "Toast" button in its toolbar works only if you already have a copy of Roxio's $100 disc-burning program ; otherwise, you need to select an export-to-iDVD option, wait for the program to spit out a copy of the file, and then switch over to Apple's program to finish the job.

Still, the EyeTV is one of only a few options that I've seen for simple, over-the-air recording of HDTV -- and even its unnecessarily complicated exporting routines beat the lack of any such options in another contender, Dish Network's DTVPal DVR .

The EyeTV is also far simpler and more reliable than a competing, computer-based digital-TV tuner, PCTV Systems' PCTV HD mini stick . This thumb-sized gadget, now under $100 at many stores, tuned in local channels about as well as the EyeTV, but its Windows-only TVCenter Pro software -- which can work with an EyeTV too -- was almost unimaginably worse.

This aggravating bundle of ineptitude and sloppiness, developed by Pinnacle Systems , required prolonged installations before throwing up a steady diet of error messages and crashes on multiple computers. Sometimes just trying to change a channel could generate a "Failed to switch channel!" dialog; trying to start a recording could crash the entire program with a verbose "Unhandled exception!!!" error. (No, I didn't add any exclamation points to the original message.)

When TVCenter Pro -- which would have been more accurately named TVCenter Amateur -- wasn't crashing, it was exhibiting one of the most boneheaded interfaces I've ever seen. Pinnacle's program doesn't use standard Windows icons or buttons, ensuring everything in it looks a little off; its toolbar changes position every time you change from a widescreen program to a standard-definition show; the down- and up-arrow buttons next to the current channel feature tooltip labels describing them, respectively, as "Channel up" and "Channel down"; its program guide can you show what's airing now on every channel or what's airing later today on a single channel, but not both. It's difficult to believe that any professional software company allowed this mess to escape from beta testing, much less slapped its name across the program's splash screen.

Fortunately, you can use the HD mini stick with Microsoft's Windows Media Center software, built into Windows Vista and 7. But on a Dell laptop, that software seemed to have a lot more trouble tuning in channels than TVCenter Pro -- NBC affiliate WRC's usually strong signal stuttered and flickered in Windows Media Center but came in fine in Pinnacle's otherwise miserable program. But if you can get WMC to work on your own computer, use it -- not only does it offer a remarkably clean, simple and remote-control friendly interface, it can even burn a recording to DVD without any extra software.

Have you used either of these gadgets on a computer, or some other company's digital-TV tuner? Tell me how that's been working out for you in the comments -- and share any tips you've picked up along the way.

By Rob Pegoraro  |  December 31, 2009; 2:10 AM ET
Categories:  TV , Video

Source:

29.12.09

The TVBox is bigger than your average USB-based TV tuner card; it’s closer in size to a paperback book. But it’s sleek design is attractive, and the device will fit in nicely next to a flat-panel TV. It works with any monitor that has a DVI, HDMI or VGA connector. (A $99 version, called the SA290-Q LE, offers many of the same features, but lacks the HDMI connection.)

All of the cables and adapters you’ll need are in the box — and then some. That’s why opening the box can be a bit overwhelming. The meager user guide doesn’t provide a whole lot of actual guidance, so the setup was more confusing than it should have been. I first tried connecting the TVBox to my Windows Vista PC, where it should, conceivably, act as both a TV tuner and a switch that allows me to move back and forth between viewing TV content and content on my computer. (A button on the remote allows you to switch back and forth between both views.) But I was left fumbling with cords and adapters, and wasted the better part of an hour trying to get it to work.

I had much better, and faster, results when I used the TVBox as a standalone HD tuner for an extra LCD monitor I had at home. I connected to the monitor using the included DVI to HDMI cord, plugged it in, and turned it on. I used the included over-the-air antenna, which found about two-dozen stations. The channel scan completed quickly, and within minutes I was watching TV — and enjoying a surprisingly excellent picture. Picture quality was as good as the HD picture I regularly see when using my Verizon FiOS set-top tuner box. I watched TV for a couple of hours (hey, it’s my job!) and noticed only occasional pixilation and blockiness. Overall, image quality was superb.

The TVBox also supports ClearQAM channels , so you can connect a cable line-in (you’ll find the necessary port on the back of the TVBox) to gain access to unencrypted digital cable channels without a cable box — but you’ll need cable service. I was able to gain access to almost 200 channels this way, but found many of them confusingly named and some weren’t actually available for viewing. Picture quality on the stations I could see, though, was as good as when using the antenna.

The image quality alone is reason enough to buy the TVBox. Sadly, though, the dinky remote control is almost enough to warrant leaving this product on a store shelf. It feels flimsier than I’d like, but that’s not as problematic as its poorly labeled buttons. The TVBox’s on-screen menu kept telling me to press an “OK” button. Too bad the remote doesn’t actually have a button labeled “OK.” What it does have, though, is an oddly designed set of rockers for moving up and down through the channels and adjusting the volume. The remote also failed to work unless I aimed it squarely at the TVBox.

If you’re looking for a PC-based external HDTV tuner, KWorld’s External TVBox isn’t the best fit. It’s harder to use than any USB-based TV tuner I’ve tested ; one of those devices offers a much simpler way to get HDTV content on your computer. And most USB-based TV tuners come with some sort of software that allows you to turn your PC into a DVR ; the KWorld device does not. But, if you’re looking for a way to turn an LCD monitor into an HDTV on the cheap, the TVBox is the way to go. For this task, it’s easy to use and delivers excellent image quality.

Source:

31.12.09

Earlier this week we reported that LG would be debuting two new DTV devices at CES 2010. At that time the only details we had of those two gadgets was that one was a smartphone and the other was a portable DVD player/monitor. Now, thanks to Electronista we know exactly what to expect out of one of these devices. The portable monitor/DTV/DVD player will be named the DP570MH. It has a 7", 480x234 screen and a DTV tuner that allows it to pick up live TV, even when travelling at high speeds.

Source:

digg_url = 'http://www.scottmoore.is-a-geek.com/blog/index.php/tech/2009/02/13/dell-usb-tv-tuner'; digg_url = digg_url.replace(/amp;/g, ''); digg_bgcolor = '#FFFFFF'; digg_title = 'Dell USB TV Tuner'; digg_bodytext = 'Dell has introduced a Digital USB TV Tuner designed specifically for their Inspiron Mini family of notebooks. It allows for OTA signals in HD. Price: $50 ';

Dell has introduced a Digital USB TV Tuner designed specifically for their Inspiron Mini family of notebooks. It allows for OTA signals in HD.

Price: $50

Original post blogged on Scott M's Latest Tech Review.

Source: Dell USB TV Tuner