USB TV tuner for laptop

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Leo

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I am looking for a TV tuner with good picture quality for use with Toshiba
Satelite with 1.2GHz Celron. I am adding an IOGear USB2/Firewire combo PC
card to it. Thanks for any advice.
 

Jimbo

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Check out Hauppage. They have a USB model. I have the WinTV-PVR-250
which is a PCI device for my desktop. I think the WinTV-PVR-USB is
very similar.

jimbo

leo wrote:
> I am looking for a TV tuner with good picture quality for use with Toshiba
> Satelite with 1.2GHz Celron. I am adding an IOGear USB2/Firewire combo PC
> card to it. Thanks for any advice.
>
>
 
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Hauppage and ATI both make USB TV tuners (actually, I think that the ATI
model is discontinue, but they are available on E-Bay).

The problem with the Hauppage unit is that the USB data stream is video
only. Sound comes out separately through an audio plug that is supposed
to go to the laptop's "line in" jack. The obvious problem here is that
virtually no laptops HAVE "line in" jacks, and a microphone jack won't
work unless you make (on your own) a suitable attenuator.

The ATI product, in contrast, has a complete integrated data stream
coming in through the USB interface.

However, the picture quality of the ATI product is not on a par with
desktop PCI tuner cards. I haven't seen the Hauppage product in use,
but I suspect that it suffers from the same problem. The fact is, a USB
1.0 interface (which the ATI product is, and I think the Hauppage
product also) is just not quite fast enough for a truly good TV image.


jimbo wrote:
> Check out Hauppage. They have a USB model. I have the WinTV-PVR-250
> which is a PCI device for my desktop. I think the WinTV-PVR-USB is very
> similar.
>
> jimbo
>
> leo wrote:
>
>> I am looking for a TV tuner with good picture quality for use with
>> Toshiba Satelite with 1.2GHz Celron. I am adding an IOGear
>> USB2/Firewire combo PC card to it. Thanks for any advice.
>>
 

Jimbo

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The current Hauppage is USB2.0, and it has an audio input port.

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvrusb2.html

jimbo

Barry Watzman wrote:

> Hauppage and ATI both make USB TV tuners (actually, I think that the ATI
> model is discontinue, but they are available on E-Bay).
>
> The problem with the Hauppage unit is that the USB data stream is video
> only. Sound comes out separately through an audio plug that is supposed
> to go to the laptop's "line in" jack. The obvious problem here is that
> virtually no laptops HAVE "line in" jacks, and a microphone jack won't
> work unless you make (on your own) a suitable attenuator.
>
> The ATI product, in contrast, has a complete integrated data stream
> coming in through the USB interface.
>
> However, the picture quality of the ATI product is not on a par with
> desktop PCI tuner cards. I haven't seen the Hauppage product in use,
> but I suspect that it suffers from the same problem. The fact is, a USB
> 1.0 interface (which the ATI product is, and I think the Hauppage
> product also) is just not quite fast enough for a truly good TV image.
>
>
> jimbo wrote:
>
>> Check out Hauppage. They have a USB model. I have the WinTV-PVR-250
>> which is a PCI device for my desktop. I think the WinTV-PVR-USB is
>> very similar.
>>
>> jimbo
>>
>> leo wrote:
>>
>>> I am looking for a TV tuner with good picture quality for use with
>>> Toshiba Satelite with 1.2GHz Celron. I am adding an IOGear
>>> USB2/Firewire combo PC card to it. Thanks for any advice.
>>>
 
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I have the Hauppage WinTV and agree, the quality is not too good and the
audio does not go thru the USB and you need to go to the line in. They have
a driver update that is supposed to work, sometimes does on one laptop and
did not on a desktop I had.

"Barry Watzman" <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote in message
news:415F1E2A.10807@neo.rr.com...
> Hauppage and ATI both make USB TV tuners (actually, I think that the ATI
> model is discontinue, but they are available on E-Bay).
>
> The problem with the Hauppage unit is that the USB data stream is video
> only. Sound comes out separately through an audio plug that is supposed
> to go to the laptop's "line in" jack. The obvious problem here is that
> virtually no laptops HAVE "line in" jacks, and a microphone jack won't
> work unless you make (on your own) a suitable attenuator.
>
> The ATI product, in contrast, has a complete integrated data stream coming
> in through the USB interface.
>
> However, the picture quality of the ATI product is not on a par with
> desktop PCI tuner cards. I haven't seen the Hauppage product in use, but
> I suspect that it suffers from the same problem. The fact is, a USB 1.0
> interface (which the ATI product is, and I think the Hauppage product
> also) is just not quite fast enough for a truly good TV image.
>
>
> jimbo wrote:
>> Check out Hauppage. They have a USB model. I have the WinTV-PVR-250 which
>> is a PCI device for my desktop. I think the WinTV-PVR-USB is very
>> similar.
>>
>> jimbo
>>
>> leo wrote:
>>
>>> I am looking for a TV tuner with good picture quality for use with
>>> Toshiba Satelite with 1.2GHz Celron. I am adding an IOGear USB2/Firewire
>>> combo PC card to it. Thanks for any advice.
>>>
 

TC

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I have a Hauppauge that does provide sound through the usb 1.1 port. The
picture is so so and the sound is mono. I also have an MSI VOX usb 2 that
requires a separate cord for sound. Picture quality is better, and it comes
with a remote. Unfortunately the remote won't work when the card is powered
by my laptop and the power jack takes so small a barrel, I haven't found an
external supply for it yet.
I recently read on one of the PC Mag sites that ATI has a new usb 2 unit
out.
Terry

"John Poutré" <jfp14news@cox.net> wrote in message
news:HBH7d.32811$7k.147@okepread05...
>I have the Hauppage WinTV and agree, the quality is not too good and the
>audio does not go thru the USB and you need to go to the line in. They
>have a driver update that is supposed to work, sometimes does on one laptop
>and did not on a desktop I had.
>
> "Barry Watzman" <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote in message
> news:415F1E2A.10807@neo.rr.com...
>> Hauppage and ATI both make USB TV tuners (actually, I think that the ATI
>> model is discontinue, but they are available on E-Bay).
>>
>> The problem with the Hauppage unit is that the USB data stream is video
>> only. Sound comes out separately through an audio plug that is supposed
>> to go to the laptop's "line in" jack. The obvious problem here is that
>> virtually no laptops HAVE "line in" jacks, and a microphone jack won't
>> work unless you make (on your own) a suitable attenuator.
>>
>> The ATI product, in contrast, has a complete integrated data stream
>> coming in through the USB interface.
>>
>> However, the picture quality of the ATI product is not on a par with
>> desktop PCI tuner cards. I haven't seen the Hauppage product in use, but
>> I suspect that it suffers from the same problem. The fact is, a USB 1.0
>> interface (which the ATI product is, and I think the Hauppage product
>> also) is just not quite fast enough for a truly good TV image.
>>
>>
>> jimbo wrote:
>>> Check out Hauppage. They have a USB model. I have the WinTV-PVR-250
>>> which is a PCI device for my desktop. I think the WinTV-PVR-USB is very
>>> similar.
>>>
>>> jimbo
>>>
>>> leo wrote:
>>>
>>>> I am looking for a TV tuner with good picture quality for use with
>>>> Toshiba Satelite with 1.2GHz Celron. I am adding an IOGear
>>>> USB2/Firewire combo PC card to it. Thanks for any advice.
>>>>
>
>
>
 

Jimbo

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Everyone that has an unsatisfactory USB unit should check out the
CURRENT Hauppage WinTV-PVR-USB.

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvrusb2.html

It has USB 2.0 and the sound appears to be stereo, if you look at the
image of the unit, there are Left and Right audio ports.

jimbo


jimbo wrote:
> The current Hauppage is USB2.0, and it has an audio input port.
>
> http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvrusb2.html
>
> jimbo
>
> Barry Watzman wrote:
>
>> Hauppage and ATI both make USB TV tuners (actually, I think that the
>> ATI model is discontinue, but they are available on E-Bay).
>>
>> The problem with the Hauppage unit is that the USB data stream is
>> video only. Sound comes out separately through an audio plug that is
>> supposed to go to the laptop's "line in" jack. The obvious problem
>> here is that virtually no laptops HAVE "line in" jacks, and a
>> microphone jack won't work unless you make (on your own) a suitable
>> attenuator.
>>
>> The ATI product, in contrast, has a complete integrated data stream
>> coming in through the USB interface.
>>
>> However, the picture quality of the ATI product is not on a par with
>> desktop PCI tuner cards. I haven't seen the Hauppage product in use,
>> but I suspect that it suffers from the same problem. The fact is, a
>> USB 1.0 interface (which the ATI product is, and I think the Hauppage
>> product also) is just not quite fast enough for a truly good TV image.
>>
>>
>> jimbo wrote:
>>
>>> Check out Hauppage. They have a USB model. I have the WinTV-PVR-250
>>> which is a PCI device for my desktop. I think the WinTV-PVR-USB is
>>> very similar.
>>>
>>> jimbo
>>>
>>> leo wrote:
>>>
>>>> I am looking for a TV tuner with good picture quality for use with
>>>> Toshiba Satelite with 1.2GHz Celron. I am adding an IOGear
>>>> USB2/Firewire combo PC card to it. Thanks for any advice.
>>>>
 
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I have a hauppage USB too and it sux.

On Sat, 02 Oct 2004 21:28:49 GMT, Barry Watzman
<WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote:

>Hauppage and ATI both make USB TV tuners (actually, I think that the ATI
>model is discontinue, but they are available on E-Bay).
>
>The problem with the Hauppage unit is that the USB data stream is video
>only. Sound comes out separately through an audio plug that is supposed
>to go to the laptop's "line in" jack. The obvious problem here is that
>virtually no laptops HAVE "line in" jacks, and a microphone jack won't
>work unless you make (on your own) a suitable attenuator.
>
>The ATI product, in contrast, has a complete integrated data stream
>coming in through the USB interface.
>
>However, the picture quality of the ATI product is not on a par with
>desktop PCI tuner cards. I haven't seen the Hauppage product in use,
>but I suspect that it suffers from the same problem. The fact is, a USB
>1.0 interface (which the ATI product is, and I think the Hauppage
>product also) is just not quite fast enough for a truly good TV image.
>
>
>jimbo wrote:
>> Check out Hauppage. They have a USB model. I have the WinTV-PVR-250
>> which is a PCI device for my desktop. I think the WinTV-PVR-USB is very
>> similar.
>>
>> jimbo
>>
>> leo wrote:
>>
>>> I am looking for a TV tuner with good picture quality for use with
>>> Toshiba Satelite with 1.2GHz Celron. I am adding an IOGear
>>> USB2/Firewire combo PC card to it. Thanks for any advice.
>>>
 
G

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leo wrote:
> I am looking for a TV tuner with good picture quality for use with Toshiba
> Satelite with 1.2GHz Celron. I am adding an IOGear USB2/Firewire combo PC
> card to it. Thanks for any advice.

USB is a really poor transport for audio/video. Firewire would be
better, but I don't see much in the way of firewire tuners these days. I
would go with cardbus instead, like Avermedia or Animation Technologies:

http://www.avermedia.com/cgi-bin/products_tvtuner_avertvCardBus.asp

http://www.lifeview.com.tw/html/products/cardbus_tv/flydvbt_duo_cardbus.htm

--
-- Howard Chu
Chief Architect, Symas Corp. Director, Highland Sun
http://www.symas.com http://highlandsun.com/hyc
Symas: Premier OpenSource Development and Support
 
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Howard Chu <xyz.hyc@highlandsun.com> wrote in
news:84WdnUfynrx85__cRVn-tg@comcast.com:

> leo wrote:
>> I am looking for a TV tuner with good picture quality for use with
>> Toshiba Satelite with 1.2GHz Celron. I am adding an IOGear
>> USB2/Firewire combo PC card to it. Thanks for any advice.
>
> USB is a really poor transport for audio/video. Firewire would be
> better, but I don't see much in the way of firewire tuners these days.
> I would go with cardbus instead, like Avermedia or Animation
> Technologies:
>
> http://www.avermedia.com/cgi-bin/products_tvtuner_avertvCardBus.asp
>
> http://www.lifeview.com.tw/html/products/cardbus_tv/flydvbt_duo_cardbus
> .htm
>
The original poster mentioned USB2, not just USB. And USB2 works
fabulous for external TV tuners. I'm running Pinnacle PCTV USB2, albeit
on a builtin USB2 interface of Acer TM8005. But that particular model
may not work for Leo because it is bus-powered, i.e. power is provided by
USB/USB2. As far as I know, in general PC Cards do not provide power to
USB or Firewire connectors they carry. There are exceptions, of course,
where you can plug external power adaptor into PC Card and thus make
USB/Firewire connectors powered. I saw a couple of cards from different
vendors that do this.
The solution is to search for external USB2 tuner that comes with power
adaptor.

Alexei
 
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Alexei Boukirev wrote:
> Howard Chu <xyz.hyc@highlandsun.com> wrote in
> news:84WdnUfynrx85__cRVn-tg@comcast.com:
>
>> leo wrote:
>>> I am looking for a TV tuner with good picture quality for use with
>>> Toshiba Satelite with 1.2GHz Celron. I am adding an IOGear
>>> USB2/Firewire combo PC card to it. Thanks for any advice.
>>
>> USB is a really poor transport for audio/video. Firewire would be
>> better, but I don't see much in the way of firewire tuners these
>> days. I would go with cardbus instead, like Avermedia or Animation
>> Technologies:
>>
>> http://www.avermedia.com/cgi-bin/products_tvtuner_avertvCardBus.asp
>>
>> http://www.lifeview.com.tw/html/products/cardbus_tv/flydvbt_duo_cardbus
>> .htm
>>
> The original poster mentioned USB2, not just USB. And USB2 works
> fabulous for external TV tuners. I'm running Pinnacle PCTV USB2,
> albeit on a builtin USB2 interface of Acer TM8005. But that
> particular model may not work for Leo because it is bus-powered, i.e.
> power is provided by USB/USB2. As far as I know, in general PC Cards
> do not provide power to USB or Firewire connectors they carry. There
> are exceptions, of course, where you can plug external power adaptor
> into PC Card and thus make USB/Firewire connectors powered. I saw a
> couple of cards from different vendors that do this.
> The solution is to search for external USB2 tuner that comes with
> power adaptor.
>
That sounds kludgy...as is this solution: a powered USB hub. Plug the hub
into the PC card USB port, then plug the tuner into that. OTOH, why don't
PCMCIA cards carry power? It's available on the PC port....

jak

> Alexei
 
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Howard Chu <xyz.hyc@highlandsun.com> wrote in message news:<84WdnUfynrx85__cRVn-tg@comcast.com>...
> leo wrote:
> > I am looking for a TV tuner with good picture quality for use with Toshiba
> > Satelite with 1.2GHz Celron. I am adding an IOGear USB2/Firewire combo PC
> > card to it. Thanks for any advice.
>
> USB is a really poor transport for audio/video. Firewire would be
> better, but I don't see much in the way of firewire tuners these days. I
> would go with cardbus instead, like Avermedia or Animation Technologies:
>
> http://www.avermedia.com/cgi-bin/products_tvtuner_avertvCardBus.asp
>
> http://www.lifeview.com.tw/html/products/cardbus_tv/flydvbt_duo_cardbus.htm

Anyone know of HTDV cardbus tuners? Seems kind of pointless to buy an
NTSC analog tuner card at this point (considering how much better
performance you'll get with a digital signal and the same antenna). I
did see that one of the two you mentioned had a digital tuner, but
since it didn't say "ATSC" I have to assume it doesn't work with US
terrestrial OTA HD broadcasts.

Cheers
S. Austin
 
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Greetings,

I've been looking for a PCMCIA TV solution for a little while. I saw
the AverTV, and this LifeView looks nice. The problem is, I can't
find anywhere to buy them in the US. Does anyone know where in the US
either of these cards are sold?

Cheers,

Keirmeister


On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 17:57:50 -0500, "jakdedert" <jdedert@bellsouth.net>
wrote:

>Alexei Boukirev wrote:
>> Howard Chu <xyz.hyc@highlandsun.com> wrote in
>> news:84WdnUfynrx85__cRVn-tg@comcast.com:
>>
>>> leo wrote:
>>>> I am looking for a TV tuner with good picture quality for use with
>>>> Toshiba Satelite with 1.2GHz Celron. I am adding an IOGear
>>>> USB2/Firewire combo PC card to it. Thanks for any advice.
>>>
>>> USB is a really poor transport for audio/video. Firewire would be
>>> better, but I don't see much in the way of firewire tuners these
>>> days. I would go with cardbus instead, like Avermedia or Animation
>>> Technologies:
>>>
>>> http://www.avermedia.com/cgi-bin/products_tvtuner_avertvCardBus.asp
>>>
>>> http://www.lifeview.com.tw/html/products/cardbus_tv/flydvbt_duo_cardbus
>>> .htm
>>>
>> The original poster mentioned USB2, not just USB. And USB2 works
>> fabulous for external TV tuners. I'm running Pinnacle PCTV USB2,
>> albeit on a builtin USB2 interface of Acer TM8005. But that
>> particular model may not work for Leo because it is bus-powered, i.e.
>> power is provided by USB/USB2. As far as I know, in general PC Cards
>> do not provide power to USB or Firewire connectors they carry. There
>> are exceptions, of course, where you can plug external power adaptor
>> into PC Card and thus make USB/Firewire connectors powered. I saw a
>> couple of cards from different vendors that do this.
>> The solution is to search for external USB2 tuner that comes with
>> power adaptor.
>>
>That sounds kludgy...as is this solution: a powered USB hub. Plug the hub
>into the PC card USB port, then plug the tuner into that. OTOH, why don't
>PCMCIA cards carry power? It's available on the PC port....
>
>jak
>
>> Alexei
>
 
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S Austin wrote:
> Howard Chu <xyz.hyc@highlandsun.com> wrote in message news:<84WdnUfynrx85__cRVn-tg@comcast.com>...

>>http://www.lifeview.com.tw/html/products/cardbus_tv/flydvbt_duo_cardbus.htm

> Anyone know of HTDV cardbus tuners? Seems kind of pointless to buy an
> NTSC analog tuner card at this point (considering how much better
> performance you'll get with a digital signal and the same antenna). I
> did see that one of the two you mentioned had a digital tuner, but
> since it didn't say "ATSC" I have to assume it doesn't work with US
> terrestrial OTA HD broadcasts.

I emailed the Lifeview folks at their US office (www.lifeview.com) and
got this answer:

Thanks for your interest in our products. The cardbus product will be
avail in Nov. You may check our Web store in Nov. The ATSC will be
available in the next year.

So, nothing for the US for now, but it sounds like it will be available
pretty soon.
--
-- Howard Chu
Chief Architect, Symas Corp. Director, Highland Sun
http://www.symas.com http://highlandsun.com/hyc
Symas: Premier OpenSource Development and Support
 
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Howard Chu wrote:

> S Austin wrote:
>> Howard Chu <xyz.hyc@highlandsun.com> wrote in message
>> news:<84WdnUfynrx85__cRVn-tg@comcast.com>...
>
>>>http://www.lifeview.com.tw/html/products/cardbus_tv/flydvbt_duo_cardbus.htm
>
>> Anyone know of HTDV cardbus tuners? Seems kind of pointless to buy an
>> NTSC analog tuner card at this point (considering how much better
>> performance you'll get with a digital signal and the same antenna). I
>> did see that one of the two you mentioned had a digital tuner, but
>> since it didn't say "ATSC" I have to assume it doesn't work with US
>> terrestrial OTA HD broadcasts.
>
> I emailed the Lifeview folks at their US office (www.lifeview.com) and
> got this answer:
>
> Thanks for your interest in our products. The cardbus product will be
> avail in Nov. You may check our Web store in Nov. The ATSC will be
> available in the next year.
>
> So, nothing for the US for now, but it sounds like it will be available
> pretty soon.

Coming late to the thread, take a look at the SASEM OnAir USB. USB 2 may
not be the ideal transport but it works adequately.

But don't count on that "how much better performance you'll get with a
digital signal and the same antenna". If the broadcasters transmitted
digital at the same power levels as analog and if digital degraded
gracefully then it would be a slam-dunk but they're typically transmitting
digital at a tenth or less the power of their analog signal and ATSC
Digital seems to be horribly susceptible to multipath interference, with
the result being that in many localities a quite elaborate antenna system
is required to receive digital where simple rabbit ears work for analog.

--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
 

roma_04

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I made the mistake of buying and Acer Aspire 5253 with Win7_64 which has only a 1.gHz processor (C50) speed .The low processor speed is the problem with USB TV Tuners ,
I was convinced of this after live chat with the ACER support team.
I tried four brand names including all mentioned above without success. ( at some $ lost) to find out READ THE SPECS before you buy .
All the USB TV Tuner makers recommend a minimum processor speed of 2.gHz + .

All these lower cost processors cannot decode the video graphic fast enough and sync the audio.
Perhaps an external TV Tuner box would be required .

roma
 

roma_04

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Pyree

Believe I tried everything I could find including the latest drivers.
I already have a Hauppage card in my desktop Dell Inspiron with Windows XP ( Vista originally) and it works very nicely.
Too bad I lost the Windows Media Center when I downgraded I am looking around for a free one

roma
 
2.g GHz plus, for P4 right? CPU with lower clock can beat that old CPU in performance. CPU is not just about Ghz.

I just really don't see why a modern cpu capable of handling 1080p .264 video cannot handle tv stream,
 
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