External TV Tuners

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » May 1, 2007, 2:48 am

I have a Dell Inspiron 1705. I love the big 17' screen a lot. The tv I have in my room is decent sized but getting old. Its not a flat screen and only has up to composite connectors. Meanwhile my laptop has a nice 1920 1200 res. I know there are plenty of external tv cards out there, however I'de like to use my HD with my laptop. I havent been able to find an external HD tv tuner anywhere. Do they even exist yet?

Waikiki · Post by **Waikiki** » May 1, 2007, 11:03 am

This is what I use for my HD viewing pleasure.

http://www.silicondust.com/

Not only does it support OTA digital but it also supports unencrypted QAM over cable. The best part about this device is that it is a networked tuner. So you just plug it into your network switch, and can tune/record live TV from any computer on the same network. You can watch HD over wireless as well, but it sometimes hiccups with wireless G. Standard def digital programs play flawlessly over wireless G. I have a wireless N router, but my laptop is only wireless G, so I can't comment on how well wireless N works.

I use both tuners for tuning QAM from Comcast cable in SageTV Media Center.

Recently they also added support for Windows Media Center 2005, and even in Vista. This is the only device that supports QAM in Windows Media Center.

Post by **Sylvus** » May 1, 2007, 11:36 am

Okay, I have a question for you then...

If I got what you have there, Waikiki, as well as a laptop and a bigger-screen television, could I use the 3 of those in conjunction to watch OTA HD anywhere I wanted? Assuming electricity isn't an issue? I'm looking for a good solution for watching HD while tailgating. There may be Wi-Fi available.

Currently I was thinking about just getting a tv and satellite, but if it would be cheaper to go the tuner card route, I might be willing to go that route.

Waikiki · Post by **Waikiki** » May 1, 2007, 12:36 pm

I think I understand what you are saying. So you would tailgate with a TV, your laptop driving the display of your TV, and the HDHomeRun unit tuning OTA HD channels? Theoretically this would work. Keep in mind though that you would need an antenna to hookup to the HDHomeRun to pick up the OTA signal. Also, you will need a pretty beefy graphics card in the laptop to be able to display a 1080i signal to an external source. (720p isn't as taxing)

I think you might be better off with some different products though.