Plextor Launches USB HDTV Receiver

[Jeremy Charette]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2109363,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2109363,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Plextor unveiled a new mini digital HDTV receiver on Wednesday that the company says will transform a user's laptop into a wireless personal video recorder. According to the digital media manufacturer, the PX-HDTV500U can be ordered now and will take the form of a stick-sized USB device that customers can use to watch, pause, and record high-definition TV on most Windows-based laptops—all without a subscription fees or recurring charges."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/0,1425,i=170633,00.jpg" /> <br /><br />What most consumers won't realize when they buy this product is that they're going to need an exceptionally powerful laptop to be able to view HD content. <i>"For HD, the receiver will mandate a Pentium 4, 3.0-GHz or equivalent CPU, plus 512-Mbytes of RAM, and a 128 MB VGA card at the minimum."</i> That's a pretty smokin' portable the last time I checked. I'm also curious to find out just how good (or bad) the included flat antenna is at pulling in a signal. Great idea, but I'm not sure how useful this product is really going to be.

[Felix Torres]

You know what I'd like to see?
Software and drivers that would let you use this with an XBOX or PS3. 8)

[Jeremy Charette]

But then how would Microsoft market it as an IPTV/DirecTV box? :wink:

[Felix Torres]

But then how would Microsoft market it as an IPTV/DirecTV box? :wink:

As an IPTV/DirecTV/OTA box, of course!!!
Its all about offering consumers *choice*, doncha know? :wink:

(Ball's in your court, sir.) 8)

[Jeremy Charette]

Cool! Then I can take my government issued $40 OTA box credit and buy another 360. :wink:

[Felix Torres]

Probably not the XBOX, but maybe the Plextor tuner, if the retailer chooses to accept the voucher...
Then again, maybe your neigborhood retailer might be a tad more liberal in its definitions...

[jeffd]

As one who would rather invest money in high res monitors and laptops, id rather get something like this to watch hdtv on my laptop/pc. The small form is pretty slick too.

I wonder though, I think my 1.6g duo/x1300 is fast enough. However the fact that its over the air ony (i think..right?) really limits it. I would want something that also supports the output from hd cable and such.

[Jeremy Charette]

Good luck, that's not going to happen anytime soon. To get HD from your cable provider, you need a device that accepts a CableCard and sends the signal to your PC. As of right now, the CableCard Consortium has no plans to sell CableCard compatible tuners to private individuals. You can only get them as part of a complete Windows Vista Media Center PC.

I don't even know what to say. The cable companies are stuck in a 1980s business model, and are going to be surpassed by online content providers like iTunes and the Xbox Live Video Marketplace. The latter in particular, since they already offer HD television shows, with better video quality than any cable station I've ever seen.

[Felix Torres]

Unlike the telcos, the cablecos still haven't realized that they are now in the bandwidth business whether they like it or not.
Give it a year or two for IPTV services from the Telcos to be broadly deployed and watch the cablecos shed market share like a wilted rose shedding leaves.

And wait until IPTV totally kills regional licensing for content.
Their business model is way past its expiration date.

[jeffd]

jeremy? err..no. Most hd cable providers don't even support cablecards. They use an hdtv digital cable box, then I guess the signal is fed to the tv via rbg cable or maybe vga? (I dont have either so im not positive).

[Jeremy Charette]

I meant if you want HDTV from your cable provider on your PC, you'll need a CableCard tv tuner, which you can't buy yet.

If you're going to use an HD digital cable box to get TV into your laptop, what's the point? The cable box would be bigger than the laptop! Not to mention you'd have pretty limited functionality as far as guide integration, recording, etc.