Help me find a TV Tuner

I don't have a TV, let alone cable, but I'd like to get the news and maybe CBS, ABC, PBS, etc. I guess what I need is an over-the-air antenna that I can plug into my laptop, right? But there are too many options and, based on the Amazon reviews, the cheap ones suck but the expensive ones are overkill for me. I'd like a clear image but I don't need HD (would be great though) or the most state-of-the-art tuner.

Can I get some specific pointers on what exactly it is that I need (brands, models, stores)? (I'm in the US)

 

try these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...001409&Description=expresscard&name=AVerMedia

 

Check this one out http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=327241

Check out http://antennaweb.org regarding antennas and signals

 

if you need any help with TV Tuner, post here and i'll try to get back to you (stupid college stressful lifestyle means i don't visit here as often as before)

the main thing is to look at http://antennaweb.org to see where the broadcast towers are... if you're less than 10 miles in a relatively no-high rise, the default small antenna should work... otherwise, i'd highly recommend the Terk HDTVa indoor antenna for up to 45miles, or an outdoor antenna...

in US, the Big-4 networks and others are broadcast in ATSC... there are some small low-power NTSC broadcast towers, but it's usually not worth finding them....

therefore, you need to find a TV Tuner with ATSC...

I personally have the Aver Volar Max that flipfire pointed to(my review), others have recommended the Hauppauge 950Q (with remote)... amazon right now has a $54 version of the Volar Max that doesn't have NTSC...

 

Thanks! It seems that I'm less than 10 miles from the signals.

Is there any difference, in terms of quality, between USB sticks and laptop cards? Also, I'm in the north side of Chicago, lots of buildings but not that tall (10 stories in average) and I'm in a 5th floor, will ATSC be enough?

 

USB sticks mean they stick out, laptop cards may stick out, or may have a dongle to convert between the fat coax cable to another cable... it depends...

for ATSC, my Volar Max doesn't run hot, which is good if it's a laptop card since laptop card is in the chassis, and more heat in the chassis = bad... i had a (crappy) Pinnacle PCTV Ultimate USB stick that ran quite hot in ATSC

AverMedia and Hauppauge seem to be the top choices...

if you are on the 5th floor facing a window, and facing opposite side of the broadcast tower, chances are you'll need a better antenna than the one included...

I'm currently 2 miles from the broadcast tower, top floor of 7 floor building surrounded with buildings with similar height in a downtown area, have a window opposite side of the broadcast tower, had to tape the included small antenna up near the ceiling to get a clear constant picture(it's pretty good, no pixelation lag. If i didn't tape it near the ceiling, i'd get pixelation problems and no clear signal)...

i would recommend you to get a better Indoor antenna (terk hdtva would be my recommendation... you can find it for around 30 on amazon)... what does http://antennaweb.org recommend for an antenna?

 

Not sure what you use in US but in Europe we use DVB-T. I just ordered a USB Tuner for $15 at Dealextreme.com (including ww shipping).

 

The tuner in my sig works fine except channel 7.1 which is abc, it runs into interference sometimes, ever since they changed it in June/July. I'm from N Chicago at a lower floor. I noticed that HD video recording and playback uses less CPU without the use of DX9/10. I just want to let you know your HD reception will probably be fine but the graphic chip inside your laptop will limit the recording/playback framerate, it's not fast enough without proper settings.

 

the thing about ATSC is that it's encoded it MPEG2 and broadcasted in MPEG2... the TV Tuner should only 'pull' the stream out of the frequencies in the air and dump it into the RAM or HDD... (at most 4MB/s)

then your CPU (and GPU acceleration) will decode the MPEG2 video...

you could test how your many CPU cycles you need to decode MPEG2 by trying this file http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6BCJXTF7 (uncompressed, exactly what you'll get from any ATSC tuner)

most likely if you have a > Pentium 4 processor, you should do fine without a GPU...

 

I have this, helps me use my Acer as my college dorm tv. Works great here in Pittsburgh.

 

Thanks everyone (specially paper wastage) for your input. I think I narrowed it down to two options in Newegg: KWORLD ATSC TV Stick UB435-Q USB 2.0 and AVerTVHD Volar MAX USB TV Tuner for PC and Mac, and the other AverTVHD.

The KWORLD is only 29.99 and it has great reviews. Since I'll be buying the indoor antenna, I think it would be enough.

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with the video, it looks amazing in my computer, no lag or anything.

About AntennaWeb, I don't know what's the recommendation. I took a screenshot of my results, but I don't know what they mean: http://easycaptures.com/fs/uploaded/369/0880794605.png

 

The video would be what you'll be getting if you get a good signal for any major network during primetime, when they broadcast in 720p/1080i... no lag is good, meaning that your computer can handle decoding ATSC(which most laptops can)

between AverMedia and KWorld, I shift more towards AverMedia because i use it and like it, but it's up to you... generally KWorld is cheaper... the antenna that KWorld has looks similar to the one that I got with the Pinnacle package(which sucks compared to AverMedia's one)

Amazon has the Volar Max(ATSC only) for $54 with free shipping

reviews for AverMedia Volar Max(ATSC/QAM only, and ATSC/QAM/NTSC) on amazon are low, but the review for AverMedia Volar(ATSC only) is good... surprisingly seeing that the internals are similar... my best guess is that people don't know how to use QAM

for antennaweb.org 's FAQ

Code:

 Small Multi-directional
DESCRIPTION		The smallest of TV antennas, they receive equally well from all directions.
APPEARANCE		Good looking designs including novel shaped disk and patch antennas, and antennas that attach to satellite systems.
USE		In yellow color code areas where signal strength is highest and away from reflecting structures or low areas.

you could hold on the order for the bigger indoor antenna and see if the small included is just fine... one caveat is that Amazon doesn't list an antenna to be included with Volar Max, but I think it does... up to you if you want to risk it...

 

$15 it's a steal :| tkx for the tip. I'm gonna buy one! :|
but be carefull not all european countries use DVB-T. most of them are still adopting the technology.

 

Yes I know, here in the Netherlands we only have the national channels that are free to air.

I hope mine is arriving this week.

 

Today I received the KWORLD ATSC TV Stick UB435-Q USB 2.0. I really don't know what to compare it against, but it looks pretty good. The quality is alright, the HD channels are very very clear, there's some lagging in some channels but not that often, probably some pixelation every 2 or 3 minutes or more. I got 30 (I think I got 34 at one point) channels right out of the box and after a 2-minute scan--all the basic channels except CBS (I'll try again in the morning). I tried the antenna in several positions and orientations but it's stuck at only 30 channels.

I don't know if I still should get the indoor antenna and if that would get me more channels or not.

 

Hmm yeah try a different antenna, it should get rid of the pixelation and lagging.

Buy an antenna with a refund policy at your local electronics store. Thats what i did.

 

Either that or you could move closer to civilization

 

^ What is that suppose to mean?

 

Humor-->

 

I've been doing some research and apparently CBS is problematic in all North Chicago, so I'll get the Terk HDTVa and see how it goes. Thanks!

 

sure no problem... great to see that you're enjoying the tv tuner

 

I got the Terk HDTVa on the mail today and it does make a huge difference. I went from 30 to 39 channels, including CBS, 2 PBS channels, a couple of TV series and some Spanish channels. So I'll keep it. Thanks again paper_wastage.