Antenna TV on boats - the latest?

[derfy]

A very overlooked technology is free digital tv, broadcast over the public airwaves in the US. When cruising, I like it for local news/weather, or to catch a game. The picture and sound quality can be really excellent. But TV is not a big deal to me, and not something I want to spend a lot of money on. Needless to say I will never pay $150/mo for satellite internet. 4G cellular is just fine, but not for streaming.

I have a perfectly good tv antenna on my mast, but no longer have a tv on the boat. I would like to find a small digital ATSC tuner box that has a wifi hotspot and can stream video to my wireless devices... i.e. tablets, or my PC. I don't want or need a TV. The little box just needs a coax antenna port and dc power (like a USB or 12v). I don't want an HDMI output or any other wires. Just Wifi that I can connect to with a tablet or PC with a web browser.

A bonus might be if it had an FM receiver, so I could catch radio weather, news, music on these same devices.

I am amazed that, it seems at least on first pass, no such device exists.

I find plenty of devices that output video over HDMI, but that is of zero interest to me. I need wifi and streaming to my tablet.

Q1: Has anybody out there done this or have this?

Q2: Am I the only one that would want it?

[Chotu]

Ooooh!!!! I like this. Following.

Maybe there is some little box made these days that will stream locally based on the video input.

[Chotu]

Found em!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestseller...s_3015428011_1

The top one would do what you want. As would several others.

I might have to actually buy one of these myself

[rdempsey]

This is why I use a TV as my computer monitor.
Antenna is up on radar mast so I can watch TV when near a city, or play on computer when in the middle of nowhere.

[wholybee]

The Silicon Dust HDHomeRun is the best of these devices. It doesn't have a built-in wifi, but an Ethernet port that connects to your router. It works with a variety of devices, and has 2 tuners, to so people can watch different things at the same time. The top of the line HDHomeRun also supports ATSC3.0, which works better in mobile applications and difficult reception situations than ATSC1.0. No other brand supports ATSC3.0.

[shimari]

We have the Glomex V9112AGC on the top of our mast. We've not used it much so I can't really give a review. The one down side is the birds seem to enjoy it.

http://www.glomex.us/portfolio-items...a-nashira-agc/

It is a marine TV antenna though, and not much more than the ones Chotu linked to on Amazon.

[derfy]

Originally Posted by wholybee

The Silicon Dust HDHomeRun is the best of these devices. It doesn't have a built-in wifi, but an Ethernet port that connects to your router. It works with a variety of devices, and has 2 tuners, to so people can watch different things at the same time. The top of the line HDHomeRun also supports ATSC3.0, which works better in mobile applications and difficult reception situations than ATSC1.0. No other brand supports ATSC3.0.

I like this one, but, as you say, it needs a router. I have been avoiding putting a dedicated wifi router on my boat. Its just a thing that can go down. Maybe one of those cheap wifi extenders with an ethernet port, that plug into 110 wall plugs would work.

Any idea of the power required? Couldn't find it in the specs.

[derfy]

Originally Posted by rdempsey

This is why I use a TV as my computer monitor.
Antenna is up on radar mast so I can watch TV when near a city, or play on computer when in the middle of nowhere.

Yeah, that's what I used to do, but the tv went belly-up and I just don't want another one on the boat. I have tablets and laptops and they for fine for watching video.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by derfy

Yeah, that's what I used to do, but the tv went belly-up and I just don't want another one on the boat. I have tablets and laptops and they for fine for watching video.

yes, I used to do televisions also. But I don’t like the amount of power they use. The bigger the screen the more power it uses. I mean I probably can afford it in my power budget, but I do like to conserve for some reason still

[s/v Jedi]

When you have Internet (Starlink) you have lots of tv choices: Roku, Youtube TV etc. I don’t wat h tv anymore, it’s too annoying.

[rslifkin]

Power-wise, modern LED backlit TVs use dramatically less power than even a 10 year old flatscreen. OLED uses a little more power, so avoid those if power use is sensitive. A modern 40" TV will use somewhere around 50 watts. Smaller TVs will use less, and I'd expect most of us can't reasonably fit anything bigger on the boat.

[Dr. D]

Any of these devices run on 12 volt?

[svmobert]

I have a TabloTV (new gen) which is about $100. There are no monthly fees and it works reasonably well. We have about 50 channels including the locals for Fox CBS, NBC, ABC, etc.. And we can watch sports (NFL, etc) in full HD.

Couple things to consider..

1.) Most devices need a router in part to get an IP address from a DHCP server in order for you other devices to talk to it. They just assume you have a WiFi network already and you don't want to built a new one. But you could add a small cheap WiFi router (linksys or whatever) for like $20 to make a WiFi network.

2.) You will need an onboard router for more than just getting connection between the device and your devices. These devices download guide data from the Internet. So ideally it would get Internet at least every few days or so to get updated guide data.. but other than that, it's pretty simple, low power.

The TabloTV supports connection to the boat's network via WiFi or Wired Ethernet. It runs natively on 12VDC if you want to bypass the AC adapter.

It has a single Coax connector for the antenna, plus an internal 10db signal amplfier you can turn on or off in the app menu. It has 50 hours of DVR recording capacity built in as well as 2 tuners.

Tablo App (free, and again no monthly fees) works on iOS, Android, etc. There are also apps for Android/GoogleTV, Roku, etc and you can watch live or recorded shows on any of the devices/apps.

For the cost it's pretty hard to beat, but your main issue will be the need for a permanent onboard network with (at least intermittently available Internet access).

[derfy]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

When you have Internet (Starlink) you have lots of tv choices: Roku, Youtube TV etc. I don’t wat h tv anymore, it’s too annoying.

The purpose of this thread is for those of us who choose not to pay a lot of money every month for an internet connection. I don't want to get into Starlink vs Broadcast TV. Believe me when I say I know what you can get on the Internet. I have a 300 Mbps connection right this minute at home. I also know what is available on Broadcast TV. I am interested a technical recommendation for receiving ATSC.

[derfy]

Originally Posted by Sea-TechSystems

I have a TabloTV (new gen) which is about $100. There are no monthly fees and it works reasonably well. We have about 50 channels including the locals for Fox CBS, NBC, ABC, etc.. And we can watch sports (NFL, etc) in full HD.

Couple things to consider..

1.) Most devices need a router in part to get an IP address from a DHCP server in order for you other devices to talk to it. They just assume you have a WiFi network already and you don't want to built a new one. But you could add a small cheap WiFi router (linksys or whatever) for like $20 to make a WiFi network.

2.) You will need an onboard router for more than just getting connection between the device and your devices. These devices download guide data from the Internet. So ideally it would get Internet at least every few days or so to get updated guide data.. but other than that, it's pretty simple, low power.

The TabloTV supports connection to the boat's network via WiFi or Wired Ethernet. It runs natively on 12VDC if you want to bypass the AC adapter.

It has a single Coax connector for the antenna, plus an internal 10db signal amplfier you can turn on or off in the app menu. It has 50 hours of DVR recording capacity built in as well as 2 tuners.

Tablo App (free, and again no monthly fees) works on iOS, Android, etc. There are also apps for Android/GoogleTV, Roku, etc and you can watch live or recorded shows on any of the devices/apps.

For the cost it's pretty hard to beat, but your main issue will be the need for a permanent onboard network with (at least intermittently available Internet access).

Thanks, Richard, this is super valuable info and sounds like just what I need. I like the 12volts. Hope it is not too much power.

You are right, a cheap wifi router is no big deal. I've been putting off getting one for the boat - just another thing to fail, setup, etc. Maybe I will connect my NMEA2K/Seatalk network to it also and start monitoring some things.