TV on MBP with minimal clutter and maximal portability

Once Apple decides to ship my i7 MBP, I hope to be able to create a setup so I can watch TV on it, but ideally with minimal clutter and easy portability.

After considerable research and initial excitement over USB TV tuners, like the EyeTV, I ultimately learned that those USB TV tuner sticks need to be attached to an antenna, conspicuously absent in all marketing photos. And in the case of the EyeTV tuners, the antenna's sold separately. I've seen pictures of this setup with a variety of the USB TV tuners, and they all involve the tuner stick plugged into a USB slot, a cable connecting the stick to an antenna and finally the antenna. That takes up desk space and minimizes portability--I'd feel silly and inconvenienced setting up an antenna at a coffee shop or any public setting that isn't Comic-Con.

So my first question:
1) Are there any TV tuners that can be plugged into an MBP that eliminates that extra cabling and antenna (perhaps integrating the antenna into the TV tuner stick)?

There's only one option I'm aware of that can possibly provide what I'm looking for: SlingBox PRO-HD and SiliconDust's HDHomeRun. Both use the internet to stream TV, the former streams anywhere and the latter streams within the local network. However, I have couple questions bout these two products since I can't definitely figure it out:

2) I have digital cable TV at home. The set-top box is downstairs and I wish to watch TV on my MBP upstairs where this is no set-up box. Can the SlingBox PRO-HD and HDHomeRun be connected directly to the coaxial cable running from the wall or can it only connect to the cable set-top box directly? Seems like the SlingBox can, if I am correct in believing that the coaxial cable from the wall is the same thing as the "Digital Cable (clear QAM)" indicated here: Slingbox.com - Connections However, according to the TigerDirect site, "Streaming in HD-resolutions is only available for Windows."
3) You can get HD streaming if you connect either products to a cable box, but would you still get HD streaming if they're connected to the coaxial cable running through the wall? In other words, is it the set-top box that enables HD content or is it already running through the coaxial cable?

After an illogical amount of time reading around, I'm still pretty lost. Thanks for any guidance on this. And if there are other options, I'd love to learn about it.

 

the higher end Slingbox HD unit has its own TV tuner in it and can plug in directly to a cable connection and control everything... low end ones need to hook up to a tuner or cable box or whatever....

while its nice the high end has a tuner, there is no programming information, just straight channel numbers.. with no guide... kinda crappy. I haven't used channel numbers in years. And HD streaming isn't part of the Mac client yet, they claim to be adding that soon.

i mainly use an EyeTV... the 250. its a tiny little box you hook the cabel to, and its fantastic... it hooks in USB into a computer, and you can get great programming through TVGuide... and it works as a full DVR and recording editing and export etc... much nicer than a Slingbox. It can even stream video to iphones and ipads, or other computers. The bad thing about the EyeTV is it has to have a computer to plug into to run... so if you don't have a Mac at home that stays there to plug it into, its kinda useless.

overall, the EyeTV stuff is super awesome, as long as you have a Mac at home to leave it hooked up to all the time.

 

Thanks! That's what I thought but wasn't sure.

Can you tell me what the reception is like if you don't connect an antenna (or coaxial cable)? I assume it's mostly fuzzy.

 

I should correct myself. The Slingbox PRO-HD can stream HD on Mac if you use their website: Sling Media Support - Mac Software

 

Not sure I understand...

You aren't going to find any portable device to carry around and get good reception of antenna TV without a large antenna... it would be total junk. I only run mine through my Cable company.

 

Ok. I only asked cause with all the photos marketing these USB TV tuner sticks, they never show the antenna. So I thought maybe you could still get some reception, however measly, with just the USB stick alone.