Digital TV on your Windows Mobile device?

[autopilot]

Seeing as you can get very small USB Digital TV tuners for your laptop, is there anything available for PDA's?

[UltraMagnus]

a compact flash USB hoast adaptor?

[chrestomanci]

The problem will be drivers. For windows the drivers come in on the CD, but those drivers will not be compatible with windows CE or windows mobile. Even if you had the source code then porting the drivers would be not be easy. (Which is why it has not happened)

If you are running Linux on your PDA (eg Sharp Zarus), then the linux drivers would probably compile, then there is the need for a tuner application, media player, enough CPU power to do all of the above in real time, and enough battery life to run 3 CPU hungry apps & a (relatively) power sucking USB tuner for long enough to be useful.

Having said that if there is a market, then such things are possible. The company I used to work for make a prototype portable freeview TV, that they showed around trade shows etc last autumn. Contrary to what I expected, it did have fairly good reception & battery life. Apparently they took it on road trip from London to Brighton and it maintained good reception the whole way.

[UltraMagnus]

i dont suppose this "prototype" has a name chrestomanci?

as for drivers and all the other apps for the usb hoast card option, true, just need somone to program them now, LOL!

[Funkstar]

I'm sure i've seen something about either a DVB-T or DVB-H expansion card for PocketPCs on Engadget a few months ago. Can't find it now. But i'm being a spazz tonight, can't type and keep miss reading things, so i might have just missed it,

(this is the second time i've written this, last time i forgot to post it before moving back to my previous page. really not my night)

[chrestomanci]

i don't suppose this "prototype" has a name chrestomanci?

It was a very early prototype, and when I saw it consisted of a hand made circuit board, small LCD panel, antenna and battery all glued to a bit of perspex. Instead of a keyboard, they used an infrared remote from another project they where working on, and the antenna looked like a bent bit of wire.

I don't remember the project name, but it will have no relation to whatever the product is called if it ever goes on sale.