another TV option

[Q]

I always have my laptop along when camping in my teardrop because I use it to store digital photos, use mapping programs, email, etc.. I also take a little TV along to use occationally when within range of a transmitter. The other day I found a PCMCIA TV card that really works well and the price is right at $56 including shipping (with rebate). Now I have one less thing to haul around.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814100015

Q

PS: Rebate is only good until the end of this month (August).

[IraRat]

I've heard of these things, I'm an Apple guy, and I also have laptop.

Reception in South Florida is pretty bad, so is there a way to attach an antenna input there? Like if I wanted to put an external antenna on the tear?

[Q]

Yes, there is an attachment for a regular coax antenna cable. There are also attachments for Svidio and RCA plugs for video and stereo sound input. The thing also works like a VCR recording TV in one of several formats at times you set.

Q

I've heard of these things, I'm an Apple guy, and I also have laptop.

Reception in South Florida is pretty bad, so is there a way to attach an antenna input there? Like if I wanted to put an external antenna on the tear?

[IraRat]

That sounds like a real plan! A lot easier shlepping a laptop than a full-size TV.

[Woody]

IraRat,
Lots of campgrounds have cable TV now, you have to pay extra for it sometimes. I discovered that after I had paid for it the first time, I could have gotten it for free. It was already active when I got here and my neighbor in the next site didnt pay for it he just hooked up and got it. It was only a couple of bucks for the weekend not that big of a deal anyway. So reception can be bad but there is an alternative if the campground provide cable. I don't watch TV camping anyway other than maybe the news, it's more for the kids with the DVD's at night or when it's raining

[IraRat]

IraRat,
Lots of campgrounds have cable TV now, you have to pay extra for it sometimes. I discovered that after I had paid for it the first time, I could have gotten it for free. It was already active when I got here and my neighbor in the next site didnt pay for it he just hooked up and got it. It was only a couple of bucks for the weekend not that big of a deal anyway. So reception can be bad but there is an alternative if the campground provide cable. I don't watch TV camping anyway other than maybe the news, it's more for the kids with the DVD's at night or when it's raining

I forgot all about that. My friend who always goes to the Keys, Koa, Outdoor America, etc., says there's cable. As well as pizza delivery right to to your site!

I'm assuming that if you have the card, you just plug a coax from the site's connection into that? Or maybe this is a whole different animal, and it's a pain in the a** with a laptop as opposed to a TV.

[s4son]

Ira,
From the pictures it looks like there is a cable that plugs into the card and attachs to the cable on the other end. Having a TV enabled laptop sure looks like that would be a good choice. Get one with a DVD drive and you're all set.

Scott F.

[Q]

The card comes with a small cable that hooks between it and a standard cable. All you have to do is connect the cable, turn on the laptop, and double click on the TV icon. You can run the TV window full screen or any other size so you can do other things on the computer at the same time. I'm watching the news in a small window on my screen as I type this.

It also has all the features of a video recorder and records on to your hard drive. You can save recorded programs on CDR, DVDR, etc.. You can schedule future record times, daily times, weekly times. You can record programs as MPEG1, MPEG2, VCD, SVCD, AVI, and other formats at different qualities depending on the file size you want.

It also has a thing where you can pause live video, go grab a beer, then pick up where you left off without missing anything. Using this you can also bypass commercials with a couple clicks.

Q

IraRat,

I'm assuming that if you have the card, you just plug a coax from the site's connection into that? Or maybe this is a whole different animal, and it's a pain in the a** with a laptop as opposed to a TV.

[IraRat]

Cool. I have to find the Apple version of this.

By the way, how many megs do you think a 1-hour program would fill? Tonight, that show is on the Travel Channel.

[Q]

It depends on the format you save it in. In MPEG2, 640X480 size, 30 frames per second, stereo sound, it's about 3.3 gigs per hour. If you don't mind watchind a smaller image it can be much smaller. In VCD mode an hour takes up about 600 megs.

Q

Cool. I have to find the Apple version of this.

By the way, how many megs do you think a 1-hour program would fill? Tonight, that show is on the Travel Channel.