Watching TV on Your Laptop…Cure that Travel Boredom

Digital TV is Here Now, Take Advantage

For most of us who travel frequently, the worst part of it is the waiting.  In particular, waiting for your plane to arrive at the airport, waiting to get picked up, waiting…waiting.  For me, catching up on emails, playing with applications on my iPhone,  or polishing that Powerpoint presentation for the umpteenth time only goes so far.  When I learned that there were several companies offering USB TV tuners, I was one of the first in line.  To be able to watch TV on your laptop just seemed like the solution for my travel boredom blues.  The beauty of over the air (OTA) digital TV is that anywhere there is a station broadcasting a TV signal, you can pick it up for free.  No satellite software to buy, no WiFi connection to worry about, just plug it in and you’re ready.  Here’s a short list of tips on what you need to watch free TV on any laptop.

Like Most Things in Life, It’s Not as Easy as it Sounds

I consider myself pretty competent when it comes to technology.  After all, I have designed some pretty complicated electronic stuff in my day, however, sometimes assumptions go awry when our expectations are set to high.  I found this to be true in the case of wanting to come up with the ultimate laptop TV watching experience.  Here’s the skinny:

There are several USB TV tuner ’sticks’ on the market now, more notably the ones made by ATI/Diamond, AverTV, Hauppauge/Pinnacle, and VisionTek.  One important note, is that you must make sure you get one that has and ATSC (US standard for receiving digital broadcast).  They all basically work the same way, they plug into one of your USB slots on your laptop, and you install software that includes an application, driver, and MPEG playback software.  Once a station is tuned, the MPEG transport stream is sent from the tuner stick over USB format to the laptop where the stream is decoded and displayed on your screen.  The units themselves are also pretty much the same, they look like fatter versions of USB flash drives, but have a F type connector on the other end…you know, that coax ’screw on’ connector that is on the back of your TV set.  Everything is powered through the USB, so you don’t need any AC adapters or anything.  Now, some of them come with an infrared remote control, which is not really necessary for me since I change the channels using my keyboard anyway, but you may think it has some value.  Next, is the antenna….oh, BTW, this is the ‘Not So Easy’ part.

One main drawback to this idea of USB TV tuners is that the manufacturers skimp on the most important component of the system, the antenna.  When I first opened I my product box (I bought the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-850), and looked at the antenna that came with it, I though to myself…how is that measly looking antenna going to pick up anything?  What came in the box was a 3″ stubby antenna; granted, these USB TV tuner sticks are meant to be portable, but please.

Well, my fears became a reality when I loaded the software on my laptop, attached the antenna, and did my first channel scan.  The result was 5 pixely channels that were hardly watchable.  Clearly, the antenna is the weakest link in this case.  Reviewing the manual, it suggested using a rooftop ‘wideband’ or ‘high gain antenna’, hmmm, not to practical to take my entire house with me on the road.  I had visions of Al Franken on Saturday Night Live doing the roaming reporter bit, where he would wear that helmet with the satellite dish on his head.  I felt like him, no matter how I turned my head, I couldn’t get a good feed.

A Great TV Antenna is Key

I did a little more research, and bought several different brands of USB TV tuner sticks.  Some had little rubber ‘duckie’ antennas, others had single element telescoping antennas similar to rabbit ears.  In all cases, the antenna was the the main shortcoming in achieving the ultimate user experience.  Surely, the optimal portable TV antenna would be one that is compact, amplified, and powered through the USB port or batteries.

Conclusion - Solutions are Here

Luckily, there are now products on the market that address the USB TV tuner stick antenna issue.  As a substitute for the lackluster antenna solution that companies ship with their USB TV tuner products, these new antennas provide maximum station reception and crystal clear digital picture format, and allow you to watch free broadcast TV wherever you go….and enjoy it

Alex Soo is CEO and co-founder of PowerQ Technologies, a wireless consumer electronics development company based in Irvine, CA. His website at http://www.powerqinc.com is full of useful information and products to help consumers make the switch to free digital TV.

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