watching cable tv on a laptop

ajna_star · September 2nd, 2004, 11:52 PM

is it possible? do they have cable cap cards for laptops?

**RobRich** · September 2nd, 2004, 11:56 PM

USB television tuners have been available for years. The quality is not great with low-end models featuring only USB 1.1 support, but the newest USB 2.0 models work great.

http://www.resellerratings.com/mod/m...keys=WinTV+USB

I use an older WinTV USB with decent results on my 15-inch notebook. Capture quality is pathetic, but it is acceptable for watching television when required.

Robert Richmond

ajna_star · September 3rd, 2004, 12:06 AM

cool, i found this one from MSI... its usb2, cheap, made by msi which is a good comapany.... looks like a winner

thanks man

**RobRich** · September 3rd, 2004, 12:27 AM

The MSI card is a good pick for the price. Most TV tuners have chipsets from either Conextant or Philips, so there is little difference between the various brands.

Robert Richmond

mike_sanfil · September 3rd, 2004, 12:54 AM

Do they have any external turners that run thought firewire? Since I only have usb 1.1 and a 4 pin firewire port on my laptop.

**RobRich** · September 3rd, 2004, 01:08 AM

Elgato builds the Eye TV Firewire series, but only for the Apple Mac platform. It may be time for you to invest in a cheap USB 2.0 PCMCIA expansion card. It adds bulk, but USB 1.1 television tuners produce sub-par image quality (highly compressed) due to strict bandwith limitations.

Robert Richmond