DVB-T Tuners for Laptops Is The New Trend

Samsung Electro-Mechanics (SEM), CyberLink and Siano Mobile Silicon have recently joined hands with the intention to produce a mobile TV Tuner that could receive both analog and digital transmissions. And it seems that the project went pretty well because they've just announced the SuwonExpress, an ExpressCard solution for watching mobile digital TV (MDTV) on notebooks.

The SuwonExpress card is based on the MDTV SMS1000 chipset, and uses an ejectable antenna from SEM. It supports four spectrum bands that are commonly used for terrestrial TV broadcasting and no less than five standards of mobile TV/radio: DAB, DAB-IP, T-DMB, DVB-T, and DVB-H. The card comes bundled with a complete mobile TV software suite from CyberLink, which includes Electronic Service Guide (EPG), a TV player and a recorder. The specifications, according to the product's data sheet, are:

Built-in GSM filter to eliminate interference from the GSM/EDGE modem;
Built-in antennas for all bands;
Draws power from the USB bus - no need for batteries;
Extremely low power consumption;
(20mW average for DVB-H);
Support for Personal Video Recording (PVR) applications - display one program while recording another, and Picture-in-Picture (PiP);
Bundled with a complete software package (drivers and player) for Microsoft Win XP, Vista, and Linux;
Supports the following frequency ranges:
VHF III (170-240 MHz)
UHF (470-862 MHz)
L1 (1450-1492 MHz)
L2 (1660-1685 MHz)

The SuwonExpress Cars will first appear in January 2007 at CES. The pricing and availability are still unknown, but the model will probably prove to be quite a success among the mobile TV users, especially if it will come at a competitive price. Digital mobile TV solutions are also available from various manufacturers such as Avermedia and Kworld and some of them also include DVB-T HDTV decoders.