Two questions:

Will it work on Linux/Wine?

Will it work in Canada?

Beware! Do not buy this piece of junk! I bought one of these, and this is what made me decide to never buy anything from woot again! It was a horrible horrible mess. It did nothing that it advertised and the forrum was filled with unhappy wooters trying to get their money back! I end up sending it back and finally did get my money back.

Beware! Do not buy this piece of junk! I bought one of these, and this is what made me decide to never buy anything from woot again! It was a horrible horrible mess. It did nothing that it advertised and the forrum was filled with unhappy wooters trying to get their money back! I end up sending it back and finally did get my money back.

What is up with the speed to first woot, though?

Speed to First Woot:
0m 0.-253s

Of course I bought one BEFORE I read the comments.

First sale in 0.-253s huh? I think we've broken a record! (or the space time continuum)

Dumb question: This picks up digital tv correct? You don't need to have any kind of cable subscription or anything? Quality at least decent?

i just ordered something i know nothing about can some one explain what it is

use it as a time machine. all u need is a little plutonium.

qwerty61 wrote:Dear Woot,
what I really need id\s a new F5 button, mine is wearing out

I would probably buy one.

Freaking USB keyboard...with an F5 button on it. And nothing else.

I have this item... great fun for a laptop. Antenna is a little bit fiddly, but heat hasn't been a problem.

In for one. Time to try an alternative to the Pinnacle stuff I've been getting from Woot. Not that they haven't been a bargain, just that their software is pretty cancellation and maybe this one will come with better software. It's worth $25 to find out!

Ironically, I've spent more on the cheap Pinnacle stuff from Woot than if I just spent the money for an ATI TVwonder or Hauppauge tuner for my PC. I still have several analog tuners from them and their software definitely has more features...

But the cheap refurbs from woot were a great way to learn about HD and digital TV on the cheap. I'll post back when I get this and I've had a chance to compare them.

Also, note to Microsoft... why don't you support digital sub channels? I started to mess with XP and Vista Media Center interfaces recently because I couldn't get the Pinnacle software to install on a particular PC. That's when I discovered that MCE doesn't support digital subchannels (you can get 2.1, but not 2.2 etc.).

I'm sure all of you knew that, but I just discovered it. Truly a remarkable flaw that would put anyone other than Microsoft out of business. Holy cow, I am still in shock...

I'll say one thing for it, it's got a nice package.

wish i had read these b4 i was in for one ><

Id be all about it if it came with a picture frame.

sublime8510 wrote:explain

All sorts of problems and never got it to do QAM. cust support blew.

danhalen wrote:What was I thinking when I had chilli for lunch during a woot-off?

that's one smelly woot off!

what were the coupon codes that we received for the anniversary promotion? I dont remember the codes right now and cant access my mails..

Hope I didn't want any of those flash drives --- sheesh, I wish someone at Woot would remember to wind the damn servers when there's going to be a wootoff.

...even in the write up they pretty much admit this is worthless...so I will only buy 2...

nigeria7 wrote:Beware! Do not buy this piece of junk! I bought one of these, and this is what made me decide to never buy anything from woot again!

If you are never buying anything again, why are you here?

I have this item. I live in 97338. I can get no signal AT ALL with supplied antenna (no I didn't try using a real antenna) I did try standing outside in an area that has no trees. Nothing. I am not blaming the product per se but keep in mind how far you are away from a signal (50+ miles in my case)

What I would really like is a tuner that performs most of the processing so I could implement it with a cheaper PC. Although, it might save more money just to beef up the CPU/RAM in a target system.

tighty wrote:For the tech challenged .. will this work on a mac laptop?

Really? REALLY?! I was joking when I was asking if it was Mac Compatible. You must be comprehension challenged too. It's called "System Requirements" on the bottom of the page.

On the other hand, it doesn't matter if you use parallels.

o_O

A remote control USB-powered buttplug?! Weird.

Allright - seriously now. Most "1"s got about 72 Sansas in their baby of the cosmos. How could Woot possibly have MORE?

timsampson wrote:Of course I bought one BEFORE I read the comments.

Me too, hopefully we have better luck

Allright - seriously now. Most "1"s got about 72 Sansas in their baby of the cosmos. How could Woot possibly have MORE?

PocketBrain wrote:What I would really like is a tuner that performs most of the processing so I could implement it with a cheaper PC. Although, it might save more money just to beef up the CPU/RAM in a target system.

For most of these devices, the PC does ALL of the work. So anything less than a dual core device will struggle with full-screen video or recording.

Sorry to bring the bad news...

mikedashg wrote:Really? REALLY?! I was joking when I was asking if it was Mac Compatible. You must be comprehension challenged too. It's called "System Requirements" on the bottom of the page.

On the other hand, it doesn't matter if you use parallels.

Didn't see your post. But was hoping to get a little helpful feedback from my fellow wooters on a product I know nothing about. Not a smart a** reply

billycrook wrote:DOES THIS WORK WITH LINUX?!!

Google: Sabrent USB HDTV Tuner linux
(or replace linux with your particular flavor of linux, e.g. Ubuntu)

Apparently some people have been able to get it to work with openSuSe and Ubuntu systems... but you may have to do more than simply asking if it'll work, lol!

metal02 wrote:bought one last time . . . cr*ptastic broke within a month.

What you do with it, stick in weird places besides an usb port?

nigeria7 wrote:Beware! Do not buy this piece of junk! I bought one of these, and this is what made me decide to never buy anything from woot again! It was a horrible horrible mess. It did nothing that it advertised and the forrum was filled with unhappy wooters trying to get their money back! I end up sending it back and finally did get my money back.

I can't BELIEVE Woot posted this AGAIN as being QAM compatible! Unbelievable! I used to TRUST this company to TELL me if there was a hidden flaw in the product, not INTENTIONALLY LIE about it!

sublime8510 wrote:explain

Hundreds of us got duped!

In a nutshell......2% sold worked!!!

The other 98% got stuck with a mini antenna refig. magnet!!!

[quote postid="3341463" user="Hoser768"]If you are never buying anything again, why are you here?[/quote

Because I just like to look!

Well, once again I've gotta say Smartpost is a beautiful thing when you live in a "sortation" city... I got my USB HDTV tuner today.

I installed it quickly, and it works pretty well. I only had time to scan channels with the magnetic antenna it came with, and I was in the basement when I did it. It found all but a couple of the channels I was expecting. The ones it didn't find tend to be low signal levels anywhere in my house - even on the deck - so that's not a problem.

The setup was much easier than any of the Pinnacle devices I've purchased from woot, especially since it didn't require an uninstall/upgrade/re-install like all of the Pinnacle devices did because they all shipped with old (and buggy) software. They also required .NET 2.x which is a completely separate install than .NET 3.x and it wasn't on any of my PCs. Along with a few other issues, those are examples of why I think the Pinnacle software is such a pain.

It was nice to have the Sabrient software and drivers install quickly, on the first try, and (ironically) on the one PC that just refuses to work with my Pinnacle HDTV Ultimate stick. The software checked for updates and said there were none. Either Sabrent doesn't ever update their software or they shipped this with the latest code. I prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume these are just a new enough model to have the most current software.

The funny-looking remote actually works very well, and the EPG is a thousand times better than the really poor EPG that Pinnacle provides. Minimum system requirements on the Sabrent are less severe, so I will probably be happier with how my older laptop performs with this Vs the Pinnacle. The brief time I spent watching TV showed video quality at least as good at the Pinnacle stick. I played it full screen on my 1680x1050 notebook and it looked very good. I'll try it at 1920x1200 later(24" HP I got from woot, natch)to see if it can keep up at full HD.

So far, I'd say this is a much better deal than the Pinnacle HDTV sticks I bought previously (although they were a good deal and I'm happy enough to keep them).

My only concern is that the build quality of this thing is really cheesy by comparison. The slightest pressure on the USB connector popped the case apart and I can see that it would be easy to bend/break the circuit board connector. I'll bet it wouldn't have to move more than a few millimeters to break that soldered joint, so be careful! That's probably what happened with those above that say they stopped working after a few days/weeks/etc.

I will use epoxy to fortify the junction between the USB connector and the plastic case to make sure that case can't pop open again.

The pinnacle sticks came with a short USB extension cable (a nice touch) so the device doesn't stick directly into the PC, and I'll use one with this device to further reduce the potential if snapping it off if it gets bumped.

So, if anyone is still reading... this was a good deal, and it is easily as good as the Pinnacle devices I've paid twice as much for on woot (and they cost 3x at Frys just so you know woot deals are usually great).

Well worth the price, does what it is supposed to do, and arrived in a snap because Smartpost rox!

I'll post back again if I run in to anything else worth mentioning.

Thanks Woot!

Statici wrote:I would probably buy one.

Freaking USB keyboard...with an F5 button on it. And nothing else.

You will be able to buy that by Christmas time. Apple will be shipping their Tablet MAC...

That's actually true.

However, here is a parody from a few months ago that is even more interesting... and not all that unlikely considering Apple's history...

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/apple_introduces_revolutionary

Well, the rumors are true. No QAM support whatsoever. I only bought this to use as a QAM tuner since I'm tired of not having DVR or channel guide with my current setup (just plugging the cable directly into the HDTV). Either the unit is broken or they advertise a feature that does not exist. I requested an RMA for my purchase just like a lot of people in the other thread for this product.

Oh and the included antenna? It found NBC. I'm on the 3rd floor of my house and I had the antenna out on the windowsill. You're telling me it can't pick up more channels than that? Guy above me did it in the basement and got most of his channels. What a joke.

Coolguy423 wrote:Well, the rumors are true. No QAM support whatsoever. I only bought this to use as a QAM tuner since I'm tired of not having DVR or channel guide with my current setup (just plugging the cable directly into the HDTV). Either the unit is broken or they advertise a feature that does not exist. I requested an RMA for my purchase just like a lot of people in the other thread for this product.

Oh and the included antenna? It found NBC. I'm on the 3rd floor of my house and I had the antenna out on the windowsill. You're telling me it can't pick up more channels than that? Guy above me did it in the basement and got most of his channels. What a joke.

Are you saying I didn't find all those channels from my basement? I certainly did, and I scanned again from a powered antenna and got all but one (ION has a weak and unreliable signal around here, and that's the only channel this device couldn't find.).

I can't speak to the clearQAM issue because I shut off cable once I realized how good the OTA digital signals were. The best day of my life was when I called up the cable company and told them to cancel my TV service.

I'm sorry your scan didn't find as many stations as I did. I wonder if there is any variance between devices (e.g. mine would have found more channels at your house or yours wouldn't have found as many as mine did at my house).

Wow, I reminded again of what an educational experience it is to shop at woot.com! A 20 dollar purchase has spawned enough questions to fill a doctoral dissertation or keep a geek busy experimenting with variables for months!

Woot is the gift that just keeps on giving!

Good 'ol Fedex delivered mine (NOT Smartpost!!) about an hour ago. I'll be playing with it later on several PCs and OSs.

Has anyone tried it with Orb?