PCMCIA Slot?

I'm not sure if any capture cards are made for the PC Card slot, but it would be a nice place for one. Someone post a link for a nice USB TV Tuner on newegg a while bag. Have a look-see there and see what you can find as far as TV Tuner options.

The slot is probably most commonly used for Wireless/ethernet/modem cards on older notebooks. They can also be used for serial ports, firewire, USB, memory cards, Sounds cards, bluetooth cards, etc. They are pretty much the equivalent to a PCI slot in desktops in terms of being used for expansion. They are very under used nowadays since most needed ports, etc are already on the notebook. I would be interested in a DVI (Digital Video In) card for mine also if you happen to run across one. I am soon to be in the process of digitizing some recruiting video from VHS for http://www.gamecocksportscenter.com (shameless plug), and it would be nice to do it on the notebook instead of the tired old Desktop.

EDIT: Just did a quick search on newegg ... just typing in "capture" returns lots of USB models to choose from.

http://www.averm.co.uk/avermedia/pro...V_Cardbus.html
same card different view:
http://www.goldenshop.com.hk/AI-trad/pc/pc_pcmciatv.htm

or this model: (this one you can watch digital tv and analog tv with picture in picture with worldwide standards to view tv anywhere you travel)
http://www.lifeview.com.tw/html/prod...uo_cardbus.htm
http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=117162

The cardbus tv cards just haven't hit the U.S. market yet for some reason.

I'd really want to get one of these myself, who wants a large external USB device when these are so small and possibly faster.

For TV, I'd suggest going the USB route. I've been into HTPC (home theater personal computer) stuff for a little while, and from what I've read, Hauppauge is pretty much the best brand. I had an old ATI TV Wonder Pro PCI card that I used for awhile but it wasn't so hot on a monitor; it really only looked good on a TV or in a smaller-than-fullscreen window on the monitor. Here's a link to the (good) Hauppauge USB tuner:

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/produ...a_pvrusb2.html

I'm actually asking for that for Christmas Here's a review:

http://htpcnews.com/main.php?id=wintvpvrusb2_1

Basically, you get that, then pair it with HTPC software such as BeyondTV or SageTV and you can record TV, schedule TV recordings, sort through your recordings, get a TV guide, etc. I don't want a full-blown HTPC program that does music, DVD, etc., so I'm going to go with BeyondTV, which just handles the TV aspect of it. I already use PowerDVD for DVDs, iTunes for music, etc. I've been asking questions on the HTPCnews.com forums, you can read the responses here:

http://htpcnews.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9163

If you happen to find a good PCMCIA video capture device, definately let us know! I've done video editing in the past using a PCI video capture card (not a tv tuner card) and I'm going to miss it with my laptop.

If you're into crazy wireless stuff, you might want to get a "wardriving" setup for your laptop. For example, get a 200mW SMC PCMCIA wireless card, a blade antenna, Netstumbler, and a USB GPS device, and drive around getting wireless connections and making maps.

Music might be a good use for it. Creative Labs just came out with a PCMCIA Audigy card for laptops. Buy that and a set of Logitech z-680 5.1 surround sound 500w speakers and you're in business!

There's still a chance that you will get the copyright protection if you hit record. I never tried with my desktop TV Tuner. Though, with dvds I own it was easy enough to dl a free probgram to rip the files off the disc to my HD, then use Dr. Divx to directly open the copied files, select audio track, then encode. That way I encoded from the original dvd file quality instead of through the svideo in quality.

Check out this previous thread: PCMCIA TV TUNER ! Whoooohoooo !