TV USB Stick

[Jarod Wilson]

On Jun 22, 2009, at 2:25 PM, Jerry Feldman wrote:

> Thanks Jarod,
> The question my wife asked was "could we get a portable tv so I wan
> watch tv on the deck".  The deck has AC power, but no cable, but we  
> can
> easily see the Needham antenna farm. So, for about $200 I could buy a
> portable (or small screen) digital TV set, or get a USB tuner. The
> UB435Q seems to fit the bill. The only real question is how would the
> reception be using the built-in antenna, but for $30+shipping, it
> appears to be a good deal and has some good reviews. The Hauppauge
> HVR-850 looks good at $60, but it needs an external antenna.

Neither one has a built-in antenna, they both have coax f-type  
connectors on the ends of 'em. At least so far as I know... I have an  
HVR-950 (pre-Q version, now sold as the 850) and the precursor to the  
UB435Q both here in front of me, they both require an external  
antenna. However, they both get pretty good reception using a ~$30  
amplified antenna out here in Westford, and I believe both sticks come  
with a cheapo mast antenna, which actually works surprisingly well out  
here, and should work even better at your location...


> I'm doing a
> bit more research, but I might bi\uy one of the units before next
> month's meeting.

Don't expect the UB435Q to Just Work under Linux yet though, support  
isn't likely to hit the mainline kernel until probably 2.6.32 at the  
current rate of progress...


> On 06/22/2009 12:15 PM, Jarod Wilson wrote:
>>
>> If you want it to Just Work and want both OTA and cable support (not
>> to mention both analog and digital support), I'd say get the  
>> Hauppauge
>> HVR-950Q. Not the cheapest, but its very well supported. If digital
>> cable really doesn't matter, the Hauppauge HVR-850 would fit the  
>> bill.
>>
>> The only other usb stick I have direct experience with is the KWorld
>> PlusTV 340U, which is no longer shipping, at least, not as the 340U
>> anymore -- its been externally rebadged UB-435Q, but says 340U rev B
>> on the internal PCB... I have the rev A 340U working quite well now
>> under Linux, with my patches for it pending inclusion in the upstream
>> v4l-dvb mercurial tree. The rev B. is identical, save the tuner,  
>> which
>> actually complicates things on the Linux side, since the tuner needs
>> to be set up differently, but we currently have no way to tell which
>> tuner version is present until we configure the tuner... incorrectly,
>> in the case of the rev. B...
>>
>> Not particularly familiar with any other devices.


-- 
Jarod Wilson
jarod-ajLrJawYSntWk0Htik3J/w at public.gmane.org