Game Boy Advance TV Tuners

[Pantechnicon]

I've got the TV tuner made for GBA by Pelican Accessories and frankly I'm not too impressed with it. For starters reception on the upper VHF band is next to impossible. I can stand on my roof and see the building for my local channel 4, point the fully-extended antenna at the dish and still can't pick up a signal! It picks up UHF well, but my Spanish is not that good and I don't like those jackals on TBN. Secondly it's a battery hog. Third, if you use it with its supplied stand and you extend the antenna (you know, because you want to actually watch TV on the thing) the thing falls over on its side every time :angry:

On the upside, since it accepts composite video as well it makes a pretty handy portable monitor. I wouldn't play GTA3 on it, but it's good for things like the TV Games 10-in-1's as well as portable famiclones.

Anyway, does anyone know of a better TV tuner for the GBA? Likewise, does anyone know if the Pelican tuner is compatible with GBA SP? Maybe backlighting would make me like this thing a little more.

[Oobgarm]

It's not compatible with the SP, unless you cut around the tuner's cartridge slot. I haven't tried that, I just might go pick up a used GBA for it.

[jonjandran]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3070272068&category=18809

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3071171192&category=18807

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3071430493&category=18807

[Bratwurst]

Not to trash on the GBA TV Tuners but my experience with dedicated hand held units in general has been less than satisfactory. The screens look washed out at the wrong angles and the reception issues seems to be a common thing. Can't expect much from those telescoping rabbit ears though.

That said, one can score a used dedicate unit for 20 bucks or so if they're dilligent with ebay..

[Pantechnicon]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3070272068&category=18809

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3071171192&category=18807

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3071430493&category=18807

Thanks for the links. The first and last ones are actually the Pelican, the one I have, although the third one seems to be in different packaging than mine. So I guess that answers the SP question based on the pics.

That middle unit looks nice, but works with the SP only. When I upgrade maybe I'll look at one of those.


Not to trash on the GBA TV Tuners but my experience with dedicated hand held units in general has been less than satisfactory. The screens look washed out at the wrong angles and the reception issues seems to be a common thing. Can't expect much from those telescoping rabbit ears though.

That said, one can score a used dedicate unit for 20 bucks or so if they're dilligent with ebay.

I agree that these devices are by no means a solution to anything, but they're still nice to have for a the novelty of it if nothing else.

One more gripe I forgot to mention about the Pelican is that you actually have to have a cart plugged into a pass-through slot on the back of the peripheral in order to use the device. No, you can't play the game through it either, and it has to be a GBA title. GBC or GB won't do it. Must be an encryption thing. Ugh.

(/goes to look for a Game Gear TV Tuner)

[SoulBlazer]

Cool, there's a TV Tuner for the GBA SP? Has anyone used one? How does it work?

Now I just need a device to hook a VCR/DVD player up to my GBA SP on the road so I can watch movies. :D

[Pantechnicon]

Cool, there's a TV Tuner for the GBA SP? Has anyone used one? How does it work?

Now I just need a device to hook a VCR/DVD player up to my GBA SP on the road so I can watch movies. :D

Yes. Per this thread topic, I have one, and per my above comments, as a television it has a rather high suck factor. However, it does allows composite input with the supplied dongle so you can also use it as a monitor for VCR or DVD. Just be prepared to change the batteries on the tuner (4 AA's) every 90 minutes if you do this. :bawling:

[SoulBlazer]

I thought you said you only had a older original GBA though? And that tuners for the GBA won't work on a SP, which is what I have? x_x