I was just curious, older laptop TV tuner cards (PCMCIA) that I see
selling on ebay seem to have much higher system requirements than their
PCI desktop computer rough-equivalents. The PCI models seem to only
require a Pentium/90 MHz or better while the PCMCIA variants seem to
range from Pentium III/500 MHz to 900 MHz as the minimum required CPU.
I'm curious since the laptop I have is older and is a Pentium II/400
MHz. Any thoughts on why the requirements vary so much would be
appreciated.

J. Trees

The only thing I can think of would be that the laptop tuners are software,
vs. hardware for the desktop counterparts. Maybe the size contraints of
laptops was the cause?

<bumm13******.com> wrote in message
news:1168433145.497273.12100@i39g2000hsf.googlegro ups.com...
>I was just curious, older laptop TV tuner cards (PCMCIA) that I see
> selling on ebay seem to have much higher system requirements than their
> PCI desktop computer rough-equivalents. The PCI models seem to only
> require a Pentium/90 MHz or better while the PCMCIA variants seem to
> range from Pentium III/500 MHz to 900 MHz as the minimum required CPU.
> I'm curious since the laptop I have is older and is a Pentium II/400
> MHz. Any thoughts on why the requirements vary so much would be
> appreciated.
>
> J. Trees
>

<bumm13******.com> wrote in message
news:1168433145.497273.12100@i39g2000hsf.googlegro ups.com
> I was just curious, older laptop TV tuner cards (PCMCIA) that I see
> selling on ebay seem to have much higher system requirements than
> their PCI desktop computer rough-equivalents. The PCI models seem to
> only require a Pentium/90 MHz or better while the PCMCIA variants
> seem to range from Pentium III/500 MHz to 900 MHz as the minimum
> required CPU. I'm curious since the laptop I have is older and is a
> Pentium II/400 MHz. Any thoughts on why the requirements vary so much
> would be appreciated.
>
> J. Trees

Why bother with PCMCIA TV tuner cards at all? As there is a lot of
electronics to cram in such a tiny card. Have you looked into USB TV
tuner cards? I love them. Works on either a desktop or a laptop as well.

--
Bill

BillW50 wrote:
> <bumm13******.com> wrote in message
> news:1168433145.497273.12100@i39g2000hsf.googlegro ups.com
> > I was just curious, older laptop TV tuner cards (PCMCIA) that I see
> > selling on ebay seem to have much higher system requirements than
> > their PCI desktop computer rough-equivalents. The PCI models seem to
> > only require a Pentium/90 MHz or better while the PCMCIA variants
> > seem to range from Pentium III/500 MHz to 900 MHz as the minimum
> > required CPU. I'm curious since the laptop I have is older and is a
> > Pentium II/400 MHz. Any thoughts on why the requirements vary so much
> > would be appreciated.
> >
> > J. Trees
>
> Why bother with PCMCIA TV tuner cards at all? As there is a lot of
> electronics to cram in such a tiny card. Have you looked into USB TV
> tuner cards? I love them. Works on either a desktop or a laptop as well.
>

The laptop I have is older and is a Pentium II/400 MHz. Please read the
post carefully. As this particular laptop is older, it does not have
USB 2.0 capability nor a fast modern CPU. As far as I know, USB TV
tuner devices require USB 2.0 specifically.

Such a laptop would support Cardbus; you could add a USB 2.0 PC card to
the laptop. Not necessarily the best way to go, but definitely a viable
option.


bumm13******.com wrote:
> BillW50 wrote:
>> <bumm13******.com> wrote in message
>> news:1168433145.497273.12100@i39g2000hsf.googlegro ups.com
>>> I was just curious, older laptop TV tuner cards (PCMCIA) that I see
>>> selling on ebay seem to have much higher system requirements than
>>> their PCI desktop computer rough-equivalents. The PCI models seem to
>>> only require a Pentium/90 MHz or better while the PCMCIA variants
>>> seem to range from Pentium III/500 MHz to 900 MHz as the minimum
>>> required CPU. I'm curious since the laptop I have is older and is a
>>> Pentium II/400 MHz. Any thoughts on why the requirements vary so much
>>> would be appreciated.
>>>
>>> J. Trees
>> Why bother with PCMCIA TV tuner cards at all? As there is a lot of
>> electronics to cram in such a tiny card. Have you looked into USB TV
>> tuner cards? I love them. Works on either a desktop or a laptop as well.
>>
>
> The laptop I have is older and is a Pentium II/400 MHz. Please read the
> post carefully. As this particular laptop is older, it does not have
> USB 2.0 capability nor a fast modern CPU. As far as I know, USB TV
> tuner devices require USB 2.0 specifically.
>

<bumm13******.com> wrote in message
news:1168793858.349321.191300@11g2000cwr.googlegro ups.com
> BillW50 wrote:
>> <bumm13******.com> wrote in message
>> news:1168433145.497273.12100@i39g2000hsf.googlegro ups.com
>>> I was just curious, older laptop TV tuner cards (PCMCIA) that I see
>>> selling on ebay seem to have much higher system requirements than
>>> their PCI desktop computer rough-equivalents. The PCI models seem to
>>> only require a Pentium/90 MHz or better while the PCMCIA variants
>>> seem to range from Pentium III/500 MHz to 900 MHz as the minimum
>>> required CPU. I'm curious since the laptop I have is older and is a
>>> Pentium II/400 MHz. Any thoughts on why the requirements vary so
>>> much would be appreciated.
>>>
>>> J. Trees
>>
>> Why bother with PCMCIA TV tuner cards at all? As there is a lot of
>> electronics to cram in such a tiny card. Have you looked into USB TV
>> tuner cards? I love them. Works on either a desktop or a laptop as
>> well.
>
> The laptop I have is older and is a Pentium II/400 MHz. Please read
> the post carefully. As this particular laptop is older, it does not
> have USB 2.0 capability nor a fast modern CPU. As far as I know, USB
> TV tuner devices require USB 2.0 specifically.

Nope, although the newer ones do. But older ones like the KWorld
(KW-TVUSB506RF-PRO) uses USB 1.1 (12mbps). The specs claims at least
700MHZ, but I ran it on an old ('99 era) PIII 533MHZ just fine. And if
you want to try one, they should cost no more than 20 bucks nowadays.
This model also sports a FM radio tuner as well. :)

--
Bill