Looking to start a thread on portable LCD TVs with ATSC tuners

[AVSnooby]

Now that there are a few battery powered portable LCD displays available with built-in ATSC tuners, I'd like to get some feedback about them.

So far, here are a few of the ones I've found:

Supersonic 7-inch Portable DVD Player/ TV - Supersonic
* 7-inch portable DVD player features matrix TFT LCD
* Portable audio/ video unit includes a portable television with ATSC digital tuner
* Driving active matrix color TFT LCD display projects clear picture in sharp detail
* Includes optional digital output for DTS & Dolby Digital AC-3 video
* Plays CD, VCD, DVD, MP3, Inter-dynamic full motion video DVD or CD and Music DVD
* ESP (Electronic Shock-Proof) for CD, VCD, DVD and MP3
* 96 kHz/24-Bit audio D/A converter for enhanced system flexibility digital audio out
* PAL/ NTSC compatible
* V.S.S. headphones provide great sound
* Features Lithium-ion rechargeable battery
* Standard Audio and Video Line Outputs connect to TV or any audio amplifier
* Includes full function remote control

Accurian™ 7" Portable Handheld TV - Accurian
# Large 7" widescreen LCD with 16:9 aspect ratio delivers crisp, clear TV images
# Built in NTSC/ATSC tuner so you can receive both anaolog and digital over-the-air TV signals
# A/V input let's you connect other external audio and video sources

Insignia® - 5" 480i Portable Analog/Digital LCD TV - Insignia
* 5-5/7" measured diagonally
* 320 x 234 pixel resolution
* 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio
* High brightness (250 cd/m²) and 350:1 contrast ratio for crisp, sharp images
* Two 0.5-watt speakers
* Ultraslim (1-1/4" deep) and lightweight (2.1 lbs.) for easy portability
* E-port for external game pad (not included)
* Headphone jack for private listening
* Composite video input makes it easy to hook up a game console for on-the-go fun
* Inputs: composite video, A/V and RF
* Built-in rechargeable NiMH battery with up to 100 minutes of running time

If anyone has any experience with these, or knows of any other battery powered portable LCD TVs w/ATSC tuners, please let us know.

[Jim1348]

Thank you for the post. I had posted this a while back http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=948435 but I don't think there was much interest. There is also posts here http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=813288 and here http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=821312

[Suntan]

Originally Posted by AVSnooby

If anyone has any experience with these, or knows of any other battery powered portable LCD TVs w/ATSC tuners, please let us know.

If you count a laptop with a usb/network tuner. Then you can have TV viewing and recording at the same time.

Personally, I have experience with the Vbox 3560 USB tuners (have 4 of them) and they work well.

-Suntan

[Jim1348]

Something like this has a 7 inch screen. With the USB TV tuner you would be all set! http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1...07&modelmenu=1

[Suntan]

Possibly, but I highly doubt it would have the hp to playback 1080i ATSC streams.

-Suntan

[DanHuff]

Another portable LCD Insignia model w/ a digital tuner is the 7" NS-7HTV.

Not available anymore in Best Buy but going for around $100 on FleaBay.

[Clint S.]

Wow, what happened to this thread, it's really old. A year later and I'm looking for one now, but so far all that had reviews say they all have the same problem with reception.

So has anyone bought one of these that will pick up your local stations?

[billcushman]

The Accurian 7" portable TV works well with only a few quirks. The pole type antenna won't receive very well, so you need to hook it up another antenna. This is easy with the supplied adapter, and the Radio Shack 15-1868 indoor antenna works well on VHF and UHF. It is supplied with an F-connector on the antenna and a cable for hookup.

The Accurian has an internal lithium polymer battery that will run it for about two hours. It is also supplied with a 12 volt car cord, which works fine. It has an AC adapter to both power the unit and charge the internal battery. The unit is supplied with a remote control and an A/V cable for the A/V input.

There are a few minor software quirks, but basically the unit works very well, and will receive all Houston ATSC stations with the indoor antenna.

I have owned it for over six months, and find it very handy. I bought it shortly after hurricane Ike.

I am a Contributing Editor at Widescreen Review magazine who usually reviews high end home theater projectors.

Other units will hopefully be available in the future, but at the present, this is the best unit I know of that is readily available.

[Clint S.]

Originally Posted by billcushman

The Accurian 7" portable TV works well with only a few quirks. The pole type antenna won't receive very well, so you need to hook it up another antenna.

Yeah that seems to be the problem with all of them. Kind of jeopardizes their name "portable".

I am a Contributing Editor at Widescreen Review magazine who usually reviews high end home theater projectors.

Do you guys ever review these types of DTV's?

Thanks for the info.

[Clint S.]

Has anyone heard anything about the Stellar Labs 9" AT-90T? Apparently they only put their name on it because when searching for that model # along with the brand, the only website is MCM. But the model # alone only returns hits from Chinese websites (Lilliput, distributors) and I can't find out who makes it, nor any reviews on it. The specs are also different at every website, MCM even sent me a manual and that doesn't even match what's at their own website! So the specs are unknown.

Another odd thing is the remote has no decimal/period key, so I don't understand how one is supposed to enter digital channels.

[Inundated]

OK, a 7" "Digital Prism" LCD ATSC portable is on sale at CVS for $99 (!!) if you have a CVS card, which I do. Here's a picture from their ad:



Anyone ever hear of this brand? From the picture, it looks nearly identical in appearance to the Haier model you can find on Amazon and other places.

$99 is too low to pass up, because I really, really need a portable ATSC set I can use in the car (it includes a car charger) when I visit nearby markets...

[juda]

I agree $99 is too good to pass up..I'm in for 1..at least! [IMG]http://***************/9/P/i.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://***************/9/R/i.jpg[/IMG]

[Inundated]

I've read good things about the Haier, and if this is just a rebranded Haier, it's $10 less than the lowest Amazon price I can find...and if CVS has it in stock, I'll have it tonight.

Fortunately, we are pretty much infested in CVS locations, so I should be able to find one...

[JamesJoe]

I found some great cheap once at amazon,[IMG]http://www.***************/stubby/097e26b2ffb0339458b55da17425a71f.gif[/IMG] Just have a search there, I'm sure you would find what you are looking for at the right price tag! :-)

[dattier]

Originally Posted by Inundated

OK, a 7" "Digital Prism" LCD ATSC portable is on sale at CVS for $99 (!!) if you have a CVS card, which I do.

Office Depot has it on sale this week at $89.99.

My trouble is that I bought one last night at CVS for $99.99 (Inundated rounded the price down) and opened it to look at it, but not yet to try it, only to learn about Office Depot's sale today.  I can't bring the one from Office Depot back to CVS for a refund, because the packaging is different and they'll know it's not the one I bought there.  Office Depot will not take back an opened package, only exchange it (they will give a refund if it's unopened).  CVS might take back an opened box, though; I'm going to need to try it out first and see if I even like it at all.

One plus for some of us: it has a QAM tuner.

As one of the earlier posters said, the single-pole, no-loop antenna included with it doesn't look very useful, so you would need another antenna with it, but any portable digital-tuner TV will need an antenna, whether it comes in the package or not.

[Inundated]

I went ahead and went to CVS and bought one...I'm watching it right now.

Nice little set.

It does indeed have a QAM tuner, which I'm using at the moment. The only pain in the whole thing is removing the scrambled channels from the list. Via TWC/Cleveland, I've got HD and SD versions of all the available locals, and whichever subs TWC actually carries from them (i.e. the former WeatherPlus on WKYC-DT 3.2, the WVIZ-DT 25.x subs like The Ohio Channel, Create, etc.)...and even an occasional channel like Sleuth and Style (?).

I don't know if those "hidden" channels I checked will still be hidden if I go back to OTA reception. I'd have to have to recheck that long list of some 200 channels each time I want to hook to cable!

Better PQ than the old Insignia 5" I bought from Best Buy - the screen on that one was destroyed by water damage, so I can't use it anyway.

I haven't hooked up an OTA antenna here, but I played with it when I was at the CVS... but I was in a bad reception location re: the local antenna farm, about 15 miles further way southwest of where I live. I wasn't expecting much. I did get the DT OTAs in that general area (WDLI-DT 17.1-17.5, WEAO-DT 49.1-49.2), which are about 5 miles up the road.

Oh, I was in a car behind a grassy hill and a tree.

I don't expect these small TVs to perform as well as a Zenith DTT901 CECB. But if I wanna take the Zenith along, this set has *standard*, built-in RCA yellow/red/white video/audio jacks on it. That's right, no dongle!

Still playing with the picture settings for best picture. It has brightness/contrast/tint, etc., and four separate "picture" modes, including "Personal", "Standard", "Dynamic" and "Soft". Obviously, this screen isn't HD (downconvert to 480i, I believe), but it's certainly more than watchable.

Overall, it appears somewhat worth the $99 I paid. (I'd have gone to Office Depot, but the gas back and forth from Pittsburgh would have eaten up the $10 savings )

And yes, as always on these things, the built-in pole antenna basically stinks, though even it was picking up the 17 and 49 signals in that car behind the tree.

Nitpick? There's no signal meter, anywhere, that I can see. It does put up a "Good" for signal on the Info screen of each channel, but I have no idea what that means, or if there's a "Fair" or "Poor".

It appears to be the same model pictured by me earlier in the thread, and appears identical to the pictures I've seen of the Haier. I don't know if that means it's the same unit.

[Clint S.]

Those TV's with rechargeable batteries are bad according to all reviews I've seen. They don't last more than 110 minutes, they can't use regular batteries, and the car adapter can't charge the rechargeable battery pack. Not very good for emergency purposes.

Does this "Digital Prism" TV look like it uses a proprietary battery pack, or does it look it it can run off regular batteries? They don't have any products at their website.

[Inundated]

Originally Posted by Clint S.

Those TV's with rechargeable batteries are bad according to all reviews I've seen. They don't last more than 110 minutes, they can't use regular batteries, and the car adapter can't charge the rechargeable battery pack. Not very good for emergency purposes.

Yeah, I knew that going in. This thing will be tethered either to an AC adapter or the car adapter about 95% of the time. It's for hobbyist purposes for me, not really for emergency purposes. I've got a car power-AC converter in the car, so I can even charge it there.

Yes, it is a proprietary LiIon battery as near as I can tell.

For those hoping to use digital TV on an emergency basis, I don't know if there's even one that doesn't have a battery like this. Would a powering a portable color LCD widescreen of this size even be practical with standard batteries, and how long would those batteries last?

The good news? The door covering the battery does open, and the odd looking pack at least looks like it could be easily replaced...assuming they come up with replacement batteries one day. I'll take a picture or two at some point here.

[Clint S.]

Originally Posted by Inundated

Yes, it is a proprietary LiIon battery as near as I can tell.

Ok thanks.

For those hoping to use digital TV on an emergency basis, I don't know if there's even one that doesn't have a battery like this. Would a powering a portable color LCD widescreen of this size even be practical with standard batteries, and how long would those batteries last?

Yeah, in fact most of them use regular batteries. At least most that I've seen use them. It's really not a matter practicality, but usability. Obviously they are almost useless when the battery pack dies and you have no electricity. Then you can only watch it in a car.

I have a 16:9 7" LCD now, but only NTSC tuner. It runs off regular batteries.

The good news? The door covering the battery does open, and the odd looking pack at least looks like it could be easily replaced...assuming they come up with replacement batteries one day. I'll take a picture or two at some point here.

Do you know what the voltage is, and does it look sort of like a "pack" of AA batteries stuck together? In other words, does it look like from the way the contact points are, that regular batteries could be put in the compartment, or is it a tiny compartment in which only the proprietary battery pack will fit?

I guess as long as these type TV's have an external DC jack, some kind of external battery pack using regular batteries could be used. But that kind of hurts portability.

[dattier]

Originally Posted by Clint S.

Do you know what the voltage is, and does it look sort of like a "pack" of AA batteries stuck together? In other words, does it look like from the way the contact points are, that regular batteries could be put in the compartment, or is it a tiny compartment in which only the proprietary battery pack will fit?

The internal rechargeable is a flat rectangular shape, regular batteries would not fit in there, and it is permanently connected as far as I can tell; that's from the one I bought at CVS with 2008 on the packaging.  The one from Office Depot has a box of different dimensions that reads "2009" and "09-04," but as I said earlier, I haven't opened it to look inside.

The DC adaptor says 9 volts, 2 amperes, tip positive.  As you said, Clint, if the grid power is out and you don't want to drain the car battery any more (or the car battery is also dead or you have no car), then this unit can run only until the internal battery runs down.

[Clint S.]

Originally Posted by dattier

The DC adaptor says 9 volts, 2 amperes, tip positive.* As you said, Clint, if the grid power is out and you don't want to drain the car battery any more (or the car battery is also dead or you have no car), then this unit can run only until the internal battery runs down.

Thanks for the info. So for TV's like that, you could use a AA, C or D 9V battery pack available from any online parts place, or Radio Shack. The only concern is getting one with the right tip.

[dattier]

Originally Posted by Inundated

There's no signal meter, anywhere, that I can see. It does put up a "Good" for signal on the Info screen of each channel, but I have no idea what that means, or if there's a "Fair" or "Poor".

I got "Bad" on one station, if I remember right, and that was very odd, for the TV was on the cable feed at the time, using the QAM tuner.  Otherwise I had all "Good"s or blanks in that field.

And, oh yes, you can add names for nameless channels and analog channels and edit the names of other channels.  Let's not omit that.

[Inundated]

Originally Posted by Clint S.

Thanks for the info. So for TV's like that, you could use a AA, C or D 9V battery pack available from any online parts place, or Radio Shack. The only concern is getting one with the right tip.

The description dattier gave was accurate...the battery door is removable, and two long, thin batteries are wrapped up in plastic and connected to the set by a connector that looks permanent.

I don't know enough about feeding battery packs by hooking them up to the DC tip, but yes, there is one there.

Are there portable ATSC sets that run off C/D/AA/9V batteries? Anywhere? I have even owned portable NTSC sets that ran (for about an hour-ish) on multiple AA batteries, but A) they were smaller than this 7" widescreen set and B) they were NTSC/analog, of course.

I'm under the impression (maybe mistaken) that all the current digital portable sets - like this, the Haier, RadioShack's Accurian, etc. - run off of fixed LiIon batteries. If I'm wrong, don't just say "there are a bunch of them", give me some examples.

Originally Posted by diehardz

So do you recommend to just get a big tv?

I'm not sure what that means. This set is not meant to replace a full-fledged "big TV" (I assume you mean an LCD HDTV set over 26"?). It's meant to be a portable set. They are two entirely different animals. This is also not an HDTV set, though the picture looks reasonably good.

If you're looking for a portable set that can run for hours on end "off the grid", this isn't what you want. If you can hook up external batteries as described, more power to you, but it's not really a set if you're looking for TV service during a hurricane.

It appears to fit what I need well...as a hobbyist, I can use it to drive to nearby markets, or take with me out of town, and get a lay of the digital TV landscape. (It also does NTSC, of course.) And it has QAM, so I can explore cable systems further in other areas.

Have I explained this well enough?

[Clint S.]

Originally Posted by Inundated

Are there portable ATSC sets that run off C/D/AA/9V batteries? Anywhere? I have even owned portable NTSC sets that ran (for about an hour-ish) on multiple AA batteries, but A) they were smaller than this 7" widescreen set and B) they were NTSC/analog, of course.

Yeah, I mentioned above that I've seen them.....

I'm under the impression (maybe mistaken) that all the current digital portable sets - like this, the Haier, RadioShack's Accurian, etc. - run off of fixed LiIon batteries. If I'm wrong, don't just say "there are a bunch of them", give me some examples.

....But I don't have examples anymore because I was no longer interested in them when all the reviews I saw were bad (couldn't pick up any DTV channels with the existing antenna). I'm not interested in a TV with those kinds of problems because if you have to use some external antenna, it's no longer portable! You'd think the makers of these things would KNOW what "Portable" means and test to see if they work! It's very frustrating.

I'm looking into that Stellar Labs I mentioned earlier in this thread to see what kind of battery(ies) it uses. That info is no where, so I have to wait for a reply, and I'll put that info here when I get it.

[Clint S.]

Originally Posted by Clint S.

Has anyone heard anything about the Stellar Labs 9" AT-90T? Apparently they only put their name on it because when searching for that model # along with the brand, the only website is MCM. But the model # alone only returns hits from Chinese websites (Lilliput, distributors) and I can't find out who makes it, nor any reviews on it. The specs are also different at every website, MCM even sent me a manual and that doesn't even match what's at their own website! So the specs are unknown.

Another odd thing is the remote has no decimal/period key, so I don't understand how one is supposed to enter digital channels.

So far I have at least found out about how to enter the channels. They said: "There are three inputs on the left side and three on the right side as you begin to input channels. So for example 7.1 would be entered as 007-1". But I still don't understand that, because the remote has no "-" key on it! Maybe it's just not showing up on the horrible image.

[dattier]

More fun: the "0812" unit from CVS and the "0904" from Office Depot have different model numbers: the latter is ATSC-710 and the former is A17I0130 TV-S3970A.  (Sorry about that; A17I0130 is the "item number," whatever that means.)

I hope to get through to their toll-free number tomorrow to ask what the differences are so that I won't have to open the one from Office Depot if I can avoid it.  Maybe the newer model has some improvements, but if I open it, it's eligible only for exchange, not for refund.  (If they'd give me store credit, that would be OK, because in a few months’ time I'll have spent that much on other things at Office Depot anyway.  But I don't have reason to own two of these.)

[billcushman]

I bought the ATSC-710 from Office Depot. I have owned the Accurian 7" from Radio Shack for about six months. The units appear to both be made by the same manufacturer, but the ATSC-710 has many significant improvements. The remote control is bigger and uses two AAA batteries. It now contains the Power button and Volume controls. It also has Mute, Jump back, and other new features. Gone is the add channel scan, but if you enter a RF channel number and it receives the channel, it adds it to the channel list. It now has standard RCA jacks for the composite stereo AV input. The power adapter is now a 12v unit. The internal lithium polymer battery is removable (sliding battery door). There are four picture modes. Only one allows user settings. There are three color temperatures. The 12 volt car adapter is included as well as a set of AV cables. The 12 volt car adapter charges the internal lithium polymer battery. Menus are virtually identical to the Vizio VA22LF full 1080p 22" TV.

If you want more details, PM me with your phone number and I will give you a call.

[MarcS]

You all should go to the "portable AV" section for a much more extensive look at these small sets...

[RandyWalters]

Originally Posted by billcushman

I bought the ATSC-710 from Office Depot. I have owned the Accurian 7" from Radio Shack for about six months. The units appear to both be made by the same manufacturer, but the ATSC-710 has many significant improvements. The remote control is bigger and uses two AAA batteries. It now contains the Power button and Volume controls. It also has Mute, Jump back, and other new features. Gone is the add channel scan, but if you enter a RF channel number and it receives the channel, it adds it to the channel list. It now has standard RCA jacks for the composite stereo AV input. The power adapter is now a 12v unit. The internal lithium polymer battery is removable (sliding battery door). There are four picture modes. Only one allows user settings. There are three color temperatures. The 12 volt car adapter is included as well as a set of AV cables. The 12 volt car adapter charges the internal lithium polymer battery.

This ATSC-710 from Office Depot looks to be a rebranded Haier HLT71 (that i bought off Amazon a few months ago). Same specs, same design, and same remote etc.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...=813288&page=5

[Inundated]

Originally Posted by billcushman

Gone is the add channel scan, but if you enter a RF channel number and it receives the channel, it adds it to the channel list.

The model on mine is different - TVS3970A, though I seem to recall that it had the other model number in the manual. (I left that at home, and I'm at work.)

I'll give this a try and see if it works. It would be fine with me if that worked.

Originally Posted by billcushman

The 12 volt car adapter charges the internal lithium polymer battery.

Are you sure about this? I thought this model didn't...can't remember if I read that here, or saw it in the manual.