Advice for External TV Tuner Boxes?

MsGeek asks: "It's time to replace my TV. My current TV is old, ugly and it has a Coax input and an input for the -really- old-school flat two-wire TV antenna cable. I have been looking at tuner boxes like the ViewSonic NextVision series. These are different from external USB tuners in that you don't need to use it with a computer to make it work...you just plug the monitor into the box and away you go. Aver makes a series of these boxes too, as do a few other manufacturers. I was wondering...does anyone in the Slashdot audience actually *use* one of these devices? Do you have good luck with them? How is the computer pass-through input? Does running VGA signals through the box before they hit the monitor degrade them in any way?"

"The reason why I'm looking at this rather than a computer based solution is simple: I don't want to have to rely on whether or not my computer boots or not to be able to watch TV or a DVD. These devices are not dependent in any way shape or form on a computer: you can plug a computer into them through a VGA pass-through port, but it does not need the computer to be able to display TV signals, DVD, videotape or game console input.

Another nice thing is that you can swap out the monitor for a newer, bigger, more improved one at any time, and that when HDTV versions of these boxes come out, it will be a simple matter to just disconnect the old standard analog TV box and install the brand-spanking-new HDTV version. Most 17" CRT monitors are capable of displaying all the HDTV formats, from 1028i to 768p to whatever. Of course, there are bigger CRT and LCD monitors out there, but the 17" is what I have on hand right now to use with it. Besides, the old hunk-o'-junk isn't too much bigger of a screen than a 17" monitor anyway.

Oh yeah, and because these boxes don't rely on computer hardware or software, they can be used with any computer running any kind of OS. Linux? No problem! *BSD? No problem! MacOS 7.5.3 'Unity Release'? No problem! ~_^"

Comments

DigiVision box

[Tiersten]

I've got a InnoVISION DigiVision box and it works quite nicely. It maxs out at 1024x768 and can handle NTSC, PAL and SECAM (alledgely, I've not got anything that outputs SECAM). I can only speak for the UK spec but it's got a broadcast tuner, S-Video input, composite input and a VGA bypass.

The TV picture quality is quite good but still not up to a real TV. There's no noticeable delay so it's usable with a console. I've plugged my PS2 and XBox into it without any problems at all.

I've not noticed any signal degradation but I've not had a close look. I'm running it with a LCD and the picture looks fine to me.

AverMedia TVs

[saden1]

I have an Aver Media external TV turner and that sucker works wonders. Here is a link to their TV Tuner Product Page

Why not ask the experts

[_LORAX_]

There is a whole site dedicated to video equipment, part of which covers the viewsonic style of devices.

http://www.avsforum.com/

Here's some links

[justanyone]

The above article references some products.
Here's the links:
1. Aver.com (product link is HERE has a closed unit (no fan noise, solid state it seems) that is advertised to turn a VGA monitor into a TV. Price: $130.

2. InnoVision (product link is HERE same features. Price: Unknown, pricegrabber.com doesn't have any prices nor does the manufacturer site.

3. ViewSonic (product link is HERE
same features. Price: $163

4. WalMart (buy a Micron SuSE PC model "Microtel SYSMAR746 PC With 1.4 GHz Duron" for $199.98, install a Video Card like the "ATI TV Wonder Pro that does this kind of stuff for $65 at Amazon.com figure out how to control it easily and eliminate fan noise) and you've spent about $275 including shipping. It may be more versatile, but you may not need it to be versatile.

Just some links, hope this is helpful.

Viewsonic VB50HRTV

[afay]

I have the older VB50HRTV from Viewsonic. It works great for my purposes and combined with my 19" Viewsonic monitor makes a wonderful small T.V.

One thing that I would recommend is getting a monitor that has a "super bright" mode. Basically, on my monitor, if i push the button the pictures blur a little bit but the monitor becomes as bright as a normal T.V. so that it doesn't look dim from a distance.

I don't really use the vga pass-through. Instead when I use my computer I simply turn off the tuner box (which makes it into a dumb vga pass-through apparently).

One final thing, I don't really know about reliability on these things. My remote control (which was surprising good on such a cheap box) recently died. Although the picture and inputs work fine, I guess i'll have to fork over the money for a replacement because a lot of the features cannot be controlled through the buttons on the front.

Re:Viewsonic VB50HRTV

[hab136]

I also have a VB50HRTV, have had it for like two years. The remote works fine on mine.

I've used it with regular CRTs and with a 17" LCD. The pass-through works fine (I can't tell it's there), even up to 1280x1024. I have my computer, an S-Video switch box (connected to a PlayStation, Dreamcast, ReplayTV, and DVD player), and my stereo all hooked up to it.

It works as advertised, the picture is perfect, and I'm happy with it.

I bought mine for like $99 I think, some sort of deal back then. I think they're around $120 now.

Samsung SIR-T165

[presearch]

The Samsung SIR-T165 is very nice.

VDI, S-video, composite, component, VGA out.
Firewire (sadly only to D-VHS devices).

Also has some switchable inputs as well.

Gets OTA SD and HD. Some cable too I think (no cable here).

You can control it from it's RS232 port.

av toolbox

[GigsVT]

The best place to get things like this is avtoolbox.com

Upconverters

I use the $69 model (what has become the green box, the one with the IR remote) for hooking a game system, a satellite box, and a computer to a monitor all at the same time. Computer video is not degraded at all when you use quality VGA cables. Not the thin kind, the shielded kind.

Basically you get svideo input, Coax input to an internal tuner if you want to use direct cable or antenna (or channel 3 for another device input), VGA computer passthrough when the box is off... It's got plenty of inputs.

If you want simpler, you can get the cheesebox. If you want more expensive, you can get video scalers, the lower end ones are just line doublers, they just double each scan line to get 640X480 from NTSC. Line doubled video looks pretty good though on a monitor, especially a larger one. It's not perfect though, it won't look quite as good as a high quality TV, especially up close.

Re:av toolbox

[GigsVT]

Actually now that I look again, my model is more similar to the $89 or $129 model... it has a tuner.

They've redone the product line since I bought mine, my particular model's features have been absorbed into others.