h a l f b a k e r yIdea vs. Ego
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It seems nothing quite like this exists, so I'll post it.
Here's a scenario. You're making breakfast and watching the morning news show, and the meal is ready and you want to eat it out on your patio. You don't want to miss the interview that's coming up, however, so you take your portable screen
out to the patio table with you.
It's a small battery operated flat screen, say 8", with a single speaker, and a couple of buttons on it for power, volume and channel selection. It has a picture frame type of support on the back so it stands up on your table. When you power it on, it broadcasts the signal that your TV is currently showing. It has no tuner of its own. Changing channels on the portable actually changes the channel on your main television unit.
The portable comes with a dongle type of device that interfaces with your television, which does the rebroadcasting and also communicates the remote commands for channel changing, etc. It will also mute the sound on the main TV when the portable is on (optionally it can kill the picture too).
I was thinking this could be an optional add-on for high-end televisions. They could be sold with a remote screen already configured.
Portable TV
http://www.everythi...m/ca10colcdtve.html
[half, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
Wireless Stereo Audio and Color Video Transmitter System with Remote Extender
http://www.eaprotec...pment/WAVECOMSR.htm
[half, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
http://www.batterym...ttery.mv?p=EVR-1209
http://www.batterym...ttery.mv?p=EVR-1209
But it doesn't tune the transmitter. [Amos Kito, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
TV band radio
http://www.kmart.co...p?productId=1307332
$14.99 (U.S.) [Klaatu, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
http://www.duct-tape.com
But it doesn't tune the transmitter. [half, Oct 05 2004]
A flat screen portable television that receives A/V signals over 802.11b WiFi:
http://www.sharpusa...0,1058,1258,00.html
But it doesn't tune the transmitter. [Amos Kito, Oct 05 2004]
[link]
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A small thing that attaches to another larger thing. Most commonly used to describe a hardware copy protection device (eg. my software comes with a dongle - you have to attach the dongle to your computer port or my software won't run. This prevents you copying my software and giving it to your friends.) |
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I use it here to describe the concept of a small external device that attaches to the master television and communicates with the portable unit. |
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With the imminent arrival of iptv systems which deliver television as packets such small “monitors” may take the form of a Tablet PC-like device with WiFi connectivity and without dependency on a master television. The defunct “Mira” smart-monitor system by MS was similar but designed to be a small remote screen for your PC. PCs and TVs seem to be converging and the notion of a tuner will likely go away altogether. |
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.11b is graying at this point and has a peak physical-layer rate of 11 Mbits/s but usually can only make a net peak of 5 or 6 Mbits/s (on a good day). The newer a and g has a theoretical peak of 54Mbit/s but really delivers about 20 to 22Mbit/s. |
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The proposed n standard will be about 100Mbits/s at the physical layer with a net delivery of about half that. Further out yet proposed UWB (802.16, etc.) radios that are to have yet a far greater bandwidth but who knows when they’ll come to market. |
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In any case, an MPEG2 stream only needs 5Mbits/s. ATV/HDTV stream (torrent) will need more, of course. |
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Nah. I'm thinking UHF, max. You guys are way overcomplicating this. |
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Something functionally similar could be put together from off-the-shelf parts. (links) |
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"Nah. I'm thinking UHF, max. You guys are way overcomplicating this" |
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Not really. The analog television transmission system goes bye-bye in the US, by FCC mandate, in 2006. Also, the WiFi bands (2.4-5Ghz) are in the public domain, the V/UHF bands are not. It is legal to transmit WiFi and not legal to (re-)transmit V/UHF. |
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Finally, WiFi chipsets are getting to be dirt cheap and headed for even cheaper than dirt, soon. It'd be a less expensive device to manufacture without the analog crap in it and far less prone to becoming obsolete. |
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If the interview is on channel 6, you could just tune your radio to 87.9 FM and listen. You can also get TV band radios which tune into the stations. |
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...or, am I missing something here? |
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Yes, quite a lot, actually. The picture, for one. Access to all the channels on your cable TV signal, for another. |
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There's also this thing called a portable TV that runs on batteries AND has a tuner of it's own! Wow! What a great idea! (sorry i couldnt resist) |
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The only problem is that over the air TV, as you should know as well as anybody, doesnt have nearly as many channels |
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