A little while ago, I installed a TV tuner onto my in Z-PC. I also got an amplified dual antenna. Overall, the quality of the reception is pretty lame even with the antenna. It varies on where I am and the surrounding terrain but it has NEVER been really great. I live about 20 miles from the 3 UHF stations in Youngstown, Ohio. The nearest VHF channels are Pittsburgh and Cleveland and there is NO WAY I'm pulling those it!

The tuner software installed without much difficultly on my PC and the hardware wasn't too tough to install either. I spliced the power into the rear cig. lighter. The antenna is stuck to the black plastic just in front of the rear window. It is 100% stealth. You can't see it at all from the outside and it is hard to see even from the inside.

There are two antennas and you can switch from one to the other with an A/B switch that really doesn't help much so I just buried the second antenna under the mat in the rear. The A/B is behind my PC in the glovebox so it is impractical anyway. The TV tuner is also in the glovebox.

Here are some pics:

Antenna

 

The amp and switch box:

 

Antenna from the inside:

 

Antenna from the outside. I ran the wire under the headliner and down the B pillar and into the glove box. Completely hidden.

 

TV tuner:

 

The picture (small):

 

Full Screen:

 

The reception is a lot better when I drive over to my Ohio office as I am then only about 7-8 miles from the TV stations but even then it isn't great.

Here are the links for the antenna:

Antenna

Here is the link for the Tuner:

TV Tuner

 

Thats a pretty cool idea. I don't think I'd have much better results than you in central jersey. Maybe I'd get one or two more fuzzy channels.

But hey, it's one more option you can brag about and put in your sig, right?

 

You just need a really long cable connection...

 

very neat, I have been waiting for you to post some info on this!

I really want the tv sound more than the picture so you can listen to a game thats on tv while in the car. How does the sound come in, is it clear or is there a lot of static?

I was wondering, if the antenea was put in the window (just to test ride for example) would/did you see a better picture?

I live in San Diego and we have a fairly large local market, and the stations are all close by, do you think the picture would be any better out here? (tough to answer, I know!)


thanks

 

With the two antennae on a larger car (where you could actually use both) it might be better.

The sound was another problem. Since the PC doesn't have a sound card, I couldn't get sound simply using the USB. I get vieo that way, but no audio. I had to instead go from the audio out jack from the tuner into the PC audio in jack. I needed a splitter since this jack was already being used to go to my FM modulator for the PC.

It sounds OK after all that but you hear the static just like you see it unfortunately. You could hear a game or the news or whatever I'm sure though.

In a big city like San Diego, that has VHF stations near by, you'd probably have a lot more luck.

 

I saw a TV signal in my freinds dads ummm highlander I think it was. it was suprisingly good, it was a regular ceiling mount TV, not a PC or anything. the antenna was in the roof rack tho... that probably helped alot, not sure where signals originate from around here tho.

I heard from the guy at a serius booth at a track event that they were going to release a new receiver soon that would include a video feed from major new stations. be pretty cool to get fox new or cnn in the car from serius.

 

There already IS satellite TV for your car.

Look here:

www.tracvision.com

 

yeah but that "antenna" is massive, the guy from serius seemed to indicate that it would be only slightly larger than the one already out, based on a different technology to have a smaller recieiver.

 

When I was in Japan, I kept on seeing these monsterous antennas on the rear of cars, and I guess that was the price that one had to pay to get decent reception.

Those with TV's had antennas like the ones on this March


I have to believe that the black things on the trunk of this S2000 are diversity TV antennas as well. Maybe they are folded down in this pic.

 

Wow, really good looking!

 

I tried the same while back here in Dallas and didn't get crap for signal. Basically the same antenna setup and location that you did Dr Bonz. I have since removed the TV tuner from the PC since it was useless for me. Plus I have since built my auto pc into the mailbox slot to have my glove box back again, so the TV tuner card would have had to go anyway.

Next project might be the USB PC XM unit with a car XM antenna. Has anyone used that yet with their auto pc?

 

I have this option on my nav conversion kit, which basically gives me 3 options: 1. backup camera (which I have and use), 2. seperate video source (a Playstation2 unit, which I use for games and DVDs), 3. TV tuner (hooked up, but no antenna).

The nav conversion kit uses a Pioneer TV tuner module which has all of the inputs for video and controls the tv tuner portion, providing you supply the antenna. The tuner is hooked to a black box device that converts the output from the tv tuner module into a common voideo signal that the nav system can understand. All of the switching of video sources occurs through a wireless remote and infrared sensor which is mounted on the right side of the console where the console meets the carpet. The whole system is seamless in that when you turn the car on and open the nav door, it automatically defaults to nav. When you throw the car in reverse, the system defaults to the backup camera. I use the remote to change the video source when I want to use the PS2, and the audio plays through my stereo system.

I never bothered to buy the $99 diversity antenna, b/c I figured the signal would be crappy in my area. I live about 15 miles from a decent VHF source, but the terrain is not very level, and at alot of points in my drive, I would be blocked by mountains or hills. The whole concept is a good idea, providing you can acquire a decent signal, and the Pioneer antenna looks similar to the one Dr Bonz used...with 4 seperate poles. The Pioneer antenna can be hidden in the A pillars and roof liner, according to what I have read, which seems to be the only difference from the one shown here. If I didn't want to have a dvd source though, the whole conversion would have been expensive if my only option was to have a fuzzy tv image. I am happy with the rest of the nav conversion and it has done everything I wanted it for.

 

May I ask what kind of back-up camera you are using (brand, site, etc.)?