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Advice for External TV Tuner Boxes?

Posted by Cliff on from the transforming-monitors-into-TVs dept.

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! ~_^"

3 of 27 comments (clear)

  1. Except... by herrvinny · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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

    Even though you say you don't want to have to turn on your computer to watch TV, I would still recommend a TV tuner card for your computer. You can do some really interesting stuff with a computer based TV, record shows, get listings, etc. There are a lot of open source projects, like the the Dave/Dina distro that will add considerable functionality to a multimedia pc. And if you don't like Linux, you can always go with the Windows Media Center OS.

  2. Re:AverMedia TVs by martin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    We use the AverTV Box3's at work to enable switching from video to laptop/dvd etc and trade shows.

    Works wonders and means the plasma screens we hire only have to cope with one input (VGA or TV whichever)..

  3. DMCA gets in the way again by TheSHAD0W · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I doubt you'll see any good HDTV tuner boxes for a while, because the FCC recently mandated that HDTV will be encrypted all the way to the display. Eventually I'm sure you'll see tuners with DVI outputs, but most people don't have monitors with that connection.