TV card for a laptop

[timbo04]

Hi,

Just a quick question - I have a motorhome and would like to use my laptop as a television when I am away - never used a tv card before and would value any comments on quality (assuming reasonable signal strength). My laptop is a Acer Travelmate 290 with centrino.

Thanks

Tim

[amanoffewwords]

I've had a PCI card made by Hauppage for quite a few years now - no probs - there is a USB version suitable for laptops - see http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/pages/pro...a_pvrusb2.html

If you going to connect to an external aerial I'd suggest connecting the aerial cable via a surge protector to avoid potential problems should your aerial be hit by thunder.

[Hamrah]

or even that other thing...whats it called...

oh yeah....

Lightning......

[amanoffewwords]

oops! Meteorology's never been my forte...

[Lost_luggage34]

Or you could even go for a PCMCIA TV card -

http://www.averm.co.uk/avermedia/pro...V_Cardbus.html

Personally I'd go USB. The above is very new so likely to be a tad 'under development' and I've heard mixed reviews.

[timbo04]

Thanks guys

Lost_luggage34 - I had a look at the card you mentioned and it seems really good but have always found PCMCIA cards (wifi) draw a lot of battery power. As I will be using it when I am wild camping on battery, does anybody know if in general USB uses more power or less than PCMIA?

[amanoffewwords]

The USB thingy I mentioned earlier on comes with its own power supply so I'd guess your laptop would be drained less quickly than the PCMCIA version. But the graphics that would be generated are likely to keep your laptop's processor busy thus you may have an endurance issue if the footie goes in extra time while you're ambling through the countryside.


nb: is it me or have the timestamps in the post headers turned red overnight?