Any experience of using a TV stick to watch on a laptop

Concerto

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During lockdown I have been considering getting a 12V/240V television for my boat. Yesterday I came across a plug in TV stick that allows digital TV signals to be received and watched on a lap top. Has any one used one of these on a boat and how good are they. I know it is a small cost, but I am tempted to try one and if it does not work it is not a great loss. This is the one I am looking at.

Watch HD TV on your PC August DVB-T210 HD TV Tuner + Recorder For PC 5053047000941 | eBay
 

LiftyK

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I used to have a Hauppauge very many years ago. It was a bit finicky. Since then I’ve used an EyeTV, mainly on an iPad. Brilliant. It just works. It transmits wirelessly to your device.
 
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Scubadoo

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Alternatively, I use a wireless TV transmitter whereby my tablet (or laptop) connects to it through wifi and therefore enables you to place the transmitter/antenna outside the boat for best reception, either use the inbuilt aerial or connect external one. It has a battery and charged by USB and can be left plugged in. The TV freeview is watch through an app which I found to be reliable, watched a few films etc without problems.

Portable TV, Portable Freeview Digital TV, Handheld TV, Bluetooth Speakers, Bluetooth Headphones, Bluetooth Receiver, Bluetooth DAB Radio, Clock Radio, TV Aerial
 

Concerto

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Alternatively, I use a wireless TV transmitter whereby my tablet (or laptop) connects to it through wifi and therefore enables you to place the transmitter/antenna outside the boat for best reception, either use the inbuilt aerial or connect external one. It has a battery and charged by USB and can be left plugged in. The TV freeview is watch through an app which I found to be reliable, watched a few films etc without problems.

Portable TV, Portable Freeview Digital TV, Handheld TV, Bluetooth Speakers, Bluetooth Headphones, Bluetooth Receiver, Bluetooth DAB Radio, Clock Radio, TV Aerial
That does look interesting, but it only has a 3 hour battery life, so would need charging regularly.
 

Concerto

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The August TV stick and aerial arrived yesterday and this afternoon I settled down for a play. Slightly tedious in downloading all the software. As I live in a low signal strength area, the extra aerial was not good enough in my lounge to allow the system to load any of the channels. So I used the rooftop aerial and it worked fine. I then changed to the extra aerial and it stopped working, however when I went upstairs and placed the aerial outside the window I could now receive television pictures quite well on my laptop on battery power. I think on the boat I will need to raise the small aerial above deck level for a strong signal and have a 20m extension cable on order. Overall the system meets my requirement and I do not need a bulky TV on the boat. It definitely is not quite as good as a TV for picture quality as the screen is smaller, but I am happy and think it is good for the low budget price of under £50 for everything.
 
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