Frugal HDTV (Pocket LCD 1" BW?)

With only 1" TV's you have already foregone television. You are merely listening to TV stations with a postage stamp to keep you busy.

Perhaps there would be a reasonably priced digital radio that would pick up the signal and provide the TV channels as well as some other things like the music you prefer.

OK, first, let's define terms. After February, you want to watch ATSC television programming. If it's really HDTV you want to watch (High Definition), then it doesn't make much sense to be looking for a cheap television, as no cheap television is going to display HD resolution.

You can get a cheap TV with a digital tuner (ATSC) to watch TV after February. But the cheapest you will find one is a 13" CRT set for about $120 plus shipping.

If your budget is maxed at $50 though? Take a look at your computer. If it's relatively recent (not ancient) and has an open PCI expansion slot, you can get something like the following, plus ~$6 rabbit ears from wally world (the antenna does NOT need to be "special" for digital programming...heck, a coat hanger might work too) to turn your computer monitor and computer speakers into a pretty decent HDTV!!!

If that link doesn't work just search froogle for ATSC PCI tuner then sort by lowest price

Note the quality won't be great, but it will beat the heck out of a 1" BW portable!!! And, it could possibly display real HD resolution digital programming, depending on the quality of your computer monitor and video card. -Dave

I believe I've seen USB HD tuners for around $50. It was just a few days ago, but I don't remember where.

$50 converter - $40 federal check ~= $10.

There are no TV sound radios that will do digital.

Probably the closest thing would be one of the coupon-eligible converter boxes feeding the audio output to a set of computer speakers. Not portable though.

As for the original question, yes, one should be able to get one of the coupon-eligible converter boxes for well under $50 after redeeming one of the NTIA coupons. The ability to use it depends on the 1" TV having either an external antenna input or external audio & video inputs. I suppose in a pinch one could stuff a few inches of wire into the RF output jack & wrap it around the TV's antenna.

You don't need HDTV after February. You are confusing HDTV with digital TV. Just google for "digital TV conversion" and you'll find tons of information on it.

Even if you could find one, it wouldn't be a good idea. USB will be slow and quirky, if used for a HD TV tuner. -Dave

I don't think that's a good solution. The converter will be about FOUR TIMES the size of the TV. Plus, I've never seen a portable onverter. -Dave

Dave wrote

Wrong, they work fine.

How about a 1.8" color TV for $24?

Not HDTV, also need converter box.

They work fine, if you have a computer to plug them into. But there is no computer here on the OPs 1".

Note that you can shop around and get these for a song, so perhaps an ATSC usb stub is what the OP needs since he probably has a computer. You'll have some computational and OS conditions you'll need to satisfy with the USB ATSC tuners that will vary depending on just what you are using.

Jeff

I have a Hauppauge HVR 950 HD to PC USB device which works just fine, under Linux even.

However, the amount of disk space to store the shows, and the CPU required to play them, stretches my 160GB drive and Athlon XP 1900+ to the very limit. It takes a lot of tricks even to downsample them to

720x480 and replay them on my TV in real time.

As a result I use a digital converter box bought for about $12 after the coupon (which downconverts to NTSC in hardware) followed by a hardware encoder (PVR 150) which works well.

Yeah, and "portable" and "DTV" and "antenna" are an oxymoron. :)

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I figure if he has a 1" TV that he wants to carry it around. He may not want to also carry a converter box and a long cord and an added antenna. I just put a converter box on my TV. It needed an antenna booster to pull in the channels. The picture is great, but the sound is reduced. I suspect his 1" TV is going in the trash. PS. The first set of coupons I sent in for were expired when received. The government site seems to be scamming folks. So I mailed a request for two in my brother's name from Detroit. Those were sent out immediately. They have to show some coupons redeemed. I think they want to show they helped the inner city people.

I can't seem to find "portable dtv"

THe closest thing is combo protable DVD and DTV

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Portable was not one of the original poster's requirements. A battery- operable, fairly small, coupon-eligible converter is here:

(External battery pack needed; comes with a 120 vac --> 12 vdc xformer)

Coupons available here: >

Try "dtv portable" to narrow your search a bit.

Try:

or:

I dont see anything wrong with a combo DTV/DTV player; you just have a bit more flexibility.

Gary

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