External USB TV tuner

[kartvines]

We are considering getting a external USB TV tuner for our laptop, so we can enjoy our regular programs at night while traveling, can anyone make recommendation. We have a HP Pavilion entertainment laptop running Vista.

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kartvines We have a HP Pavilion entertainment laptop running Vista.

kartvines, 1st item of business would be to upgrade your operating system to Windows 7 and add RAM if you are able to do so. I'd go for 4GB if I could make it work.

According to PC World try to find a tuner that is powered through the USB cable. That will keep some of the clutter down. I'm sure that if you are running Vista there's a good chance that you PC supports USB 2.0 and that's a good thing.

[SSteve]

kartvines,

Which Pavillion model do you have?

I have model dv-1135nr and it runs a USB tuner just fine with Vista. The tuner is a Pinnacle 80e.

We don't use it much anymore since we discovered Silicon Dust HDTV. It connects to an ethernet port, sports two independent tuners and can be run flawlessly by Windows Media Center (which is probably part of the version of Vista you have). Another upside to Silicon Dust is the tuner can be stored remotely, just need a network cable long enough to connect to your laptop.

Steve

[Theberrys]

Here is a link to a selection of Silicon Dust HDTV devices. Three levels of function and of course pricing.

I don't agree with Driver that you need to replace VISTA, it's isn't Microsoft's best effort but if you carefully pick what you buy you can get buy nicely.
One thing I will say about VISTA, , is it has kept support going for my XP systems for at least two years longer than otherwise would have been.

More memory doesn't ever hurt, but if your machine runs reasonably fast now then it may not be needed. TV isn't a particularly demanding application if it runs alone and mostly it's the only thing running so more memory probably isn't required but always helps.

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,SiliconDust,TV Tuners & Video Devices

[kartvines]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DriVer kartvines, 1st item of business would be to upgrade your operating system to Windows 7 and add RAM if you are able to do so. I'd go for 4GB if I could make it work. According to PC World try to find a tuner that is powered through the USB cable. That will keep some of the clutter down. I'm sure that if you are running Vista there's a good chance that you PC supports USB 2.0 and that's a good thing.

Well I did install Windows 7 on it, but unfortunately HP refused to support it with the needed drivers so I had to restore it to the original operating system, which really burned me, and I at that time decided I would never buy another HP computer. I will have to verify the RAM, and then determine if additional is needed, I thought with stand alone USB product some came with the RAM needed to run this program smoothly

[kartvines]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SSteve kartvines, Which Pavillion model do you have? I have model dv-1135nr and it runs a USB tuner just fine with Vista. The tuner is aPinnacle 80e . We don't use it much anymore since we discovered Silicon Dust HDTV. It connects to an ethernet port, sports two independent tuners and can be run flawlessly by Windows Media Center (which is probably part of the version of Vista you have). Another upside to Silicon Dust is the tuner can be stored remotely, just need a network cable long enough to connect to your laptop. Steve

I would have to verify but I think it is a dv9400us or somewhere in that range

[DriVer]

We have 2 Pavilions. Mine is a DV6-1355 and it came OE with W7 & 4GB RAM and lots of other stuff.

My DW has a DV2910us and it came with Vista. I upgraded that machine to W7 quite a few months ago and although I had some software application issues the drivers setup quite nicely and those that were missing were readily available on the HP website under W7 support for the machine type. Of course the 2910 is running the 32 bit mode with 3 GB of installed RAM. I upgraded my son's older Compaq Presario desktop and gave it a little more RAM and although 32 bit W7 can not address all the installed memory (<4GB) it has definitely sped up every operation of the PC.

I beat the heck out of my keyboard and I think that its going to be the first thing that I have to replace on this laptop. Just about everyone that I speak with about Windows, endorses a W7 migration if at all possible on Vista machines. If there are driver issues that are unsupported by W7 that would only speak to the age of the machine that is running V and you may have to stay with that OS for the life of the machine. Good luck.

[Wayne M]

I love my Toshiba.

I have never tried the USB TV module. I have, however, used HULU.com and I have kept up with some of the tv episodes we have missed.

So far so good, but after this post everyone will be trying HULU and I'll probably suffer from bandwidth problems.

[TXiceman]

My HP Pavillion with 2 gb ram and Vista does fine with my USB tuner. Don't run anything els and clean up your stat up files.

Ken

[wa8yxm]

There are a fair number of brands out there.. some of the Hauppauge Win-TV cards come with REPLAY TV software. Now, that is about the best DVR software I have ever used... Of course mine came with Replay TV hardware (And the two are not compatible) but hey... I still use the hardware (And it's built in software) with my ATSC converters so record shows.. In fact. 2 of them right now.

[dc8cappie]

I use the ATI TV Wonder 600 USB tunner on my Dell E1505 laptop with both Vista and now W7. The software that came with it allows DVR programing. I had no problem installing and using this device.

If I were to replace it, I'd try the HD650. ATI TV Wonder

Wish you the best with what ever one you chose.