USB HDTV Tuners

[SgtZeke]

Does anybody out there have experience with USB HDTV Tuners. I have a co-worker that I am setting up a laptop for and he needs to able to watch HDTV feeds in the field. Internal cards are out so I thought USB might be a better way to go over PCMCIA. What do you all think?

[zelig2]

There are a few people making these now. They were a lot more prevalent for a while in Europe with DVB-T. Here's one that's under a hundred but I have no experience with any of these.

http://www.artec.com.tw/ehtm/be126.htm

[scgalena]

Doug Lung wrote about testing three USB DTV tuners in a recent article for TV Technology.

Signal Testing With USB DTV Tuners
http://www.tvtechnology.com/pages/s.0001/t.659.html

I've had good results with the under $100 Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 950 OTA tuner.
The 950 is compatible with the latest update of the TSReader app. which allows you to record HD to your hard drive, look at PSIP tables, check streaming bit rates and a bunch of other technical stuff.

Another one I've heard works well is the Cat’s Eye USB 3560 by VBox but it is somewhat larger in size.
http://www.vboxcomm.com/product3.htm#2

[Reid]

I had been looking for one of these for quite awhile and settled on the PCTV HD ProStick by Pinnacle Systems. The software it comes with isn't that great, but the tuner works great with XP MCE and the digital reception is downright amazing, even with just its included antenna. It retails for $129.99 so it's a bit more expensive than the Hauppage. The tuner stick itself is tiny (maybe 1 x 3 inches?).

[SgtZeke]

The Autum Wave Stream Sleuth looks like just the thing he is looking for. Thanks.

[jchiso]

The Hauppauge unit is currently on sale for $70 (after $20 rebate) at CompUSA. In most cases you can use the freeware package, "WatchHDTV" for viewing and/or recording.