Saturday, November 29, 2014

Tech: TV Tuner for Android Pad or Phone (Part 1)

Are you fond of watching TV and did you wish that you can watch your favorite TV shows anywhere you go?


I was looking for phones and pads that have a mobile TV feature which led me to discover about the Christmas sale on mobile phones in the Philippines. You usually find such feature on China and our local brands. However, most of them are Analog TV, which is currently useable. As I read on the reviews of our local brands, I found out about the transition to Digital TV, leaving Analog TV to be phased out.

I searched on the internet about this transition, NTC seems to have declared that all local TV stations should stop service analog transmissions by December 31, 2015. As of today NTC also declared that we will follow the Japan standard, ISDB-T. If the transition will proceed, you can only use the Analog TV as media player, console games, etc. Unless you buy digital converters in order to watch you local TV stations.

But what about the phones and pads that have Analog TV feature? I was hoping that there is an existing software or application that could convert analog to digital. But it seems it is based on the frequency an Analog Mobile TV can receive. If the local stations will use a frequency it can receive, then there is no problem. Otherwise, you will also need a digital converter which mostly uses electrical power. Starmobile is leading regarding this matter and currently sells devices which are digital and analog ready.

This is where I bumped to one of Geniatech's products. They sell a TV tuner which you can attach to your Android device. Yes, any android phone or pad can be used as mobile TV.

TV Tuner for Android Pad or Phone, Geniatech
Image came from Geniatech's web site


Upon checking, the TV tuner has system requirements on the Android device:
  • Android version
  • Screen resolution
  • Processor
  • USB OTG


However, I seem not to find and local store that sells such as device. If you happen to know where to buy or to order, please comment below and I will post my experience of it on part 2.

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