Issue with my Laptop and TV Tuner

[Minas6907]

Hello everyone!

I have a question about my laptop and tv tuner, any help at all is appreciated.

What happened is I got a Pinnacle HD Stick for my laptop, and it works fine. My laptop is downstairs in my room, and when I would want to record something, I would take my laptop upstairs and hook it up to record a show. Just a few days ago my roommate put a wire for the cable TV in my room, so now I dont have to take my laptop upstairs anymore.

It works fine, but what I have issues with is the other things I plug into my laptops USB ports while watching TV. I have an 3.5 inch hard drive inside an Antec case (I'm going to try to give as many details as possible, if I leave out anything necessary, do please tell me) and a D-Link 7 port USB hub. I was concerned about the quality of the video coming in when I would watch TV, and thought something might be wrong with the way my roommate hooked everything up. The video was extremely fuzzy and very jerky. Anyways, I eventually noticed that if I turn off my exernal hard drive, the picture improves considerably, and if I unplug my USB hub, it is perfect.

I have a Toshiba Satellite, AMD Turion 64x2 2ghz, 3 gb ram, Windows Vista...and I cant really think of anything else that is important. I was wondering if there is any sort of fix for this. I sure would be nice to have everything plugged in at the same time, ha ha. Does any one know why this happens? If I had a desktop (which is not practical for me, but I'm just wondering) would this still happen? Can I get a different tuner? Anyways, like I said before, any help is much appreciated, I really don't know that anything about computers, so I look to everyone here :-)

Edit: I'm using Windows Media Center for capturing and watching TV, btw.

[Minas6907]

After an extensive google search, I came across this in another forum:

"Anyways, I've heard that if you got a weak PSU and you've got a few things added to your PC (ie. HDD's/PCI cards/USB devices etc.), then the TV tuner (USB) will not get enough power to it and work.

This has probably got nothing to do with your problem, but yeah ..."

Not much help, but does my laptop not have enough power to carry all my devices? Moreover, would this help power them all?
http://laptops.toshiba.com/accessory/PA3575U-1PRP

[Ghitulescu]

Yes it does. However, use a powered USB-hub, or at least an Y-shape USB cable (it draws power from 2 USB ports to a maximum of 1000mA; for your reference, each USB port can deliver 500mA top).

It is known that USB tuners have a problem with the power voltage (as the tuner is voltage controlled), but I think there's another thing you may consider:

USB 1.1, not all hubs are USB 2.0 and if it's USB 1.1 then you're limited to 12Mbps (less than 10 in praxis), which is very low (imagine burning a CD with 6x).

So connect the tuner directly to your laptop and the HDD on a separate channel (they are by 2, so use your engineering spirit to figure how they're linked). If the problems persist then it's a voltage issue (too much current is drawn).

[iffybob]

I have had problems in the past with external HDs when using an external HUB ( powered ), even when I have only 1 thing pluged in, as far I could tell, the OS (Win XP Pro) was data volume splitting the USB ports, so each of the USB HUB ports was getting a pecentage of the USB port it was plugged into, so it would transfer 'X' amounts of data and stop, then after a while it would start again, not good for transfering a large amount of data, I never solved this prob and my new comp has 8 USB ports built in so I dont need the hub.

If this is the prob, you may be able to solve it if you need more ports, if your laptop can take a plug in USB card, this would give you more ports with no need for a hub.

[Minas6907]

Hey guys, thanks for the response. The USB hub is USB 2.0. I can watch TV on my laptop no problem, but I need to make sure I disconnect the hub and turn off my external HD. This is workable, but a little disappointing, because I got the large HD so WMC can automatically record show and I dont have to worry about space. If I have the HD plugged in and set to record to that drive, the picture fuzzy and the video is jerky. My tuner and HD are plugged directly into the laptop. So I guess I just need to be aware of when things record and unplug these items. Thank alot guys. :-)

[Minas6907]

This is interesting, though. Leaving the HD out of this, when the tuner is plugged into a port on my laptop, and the USB hub is plugged into another port, the video is pretty unwatchable by most peoples standards. But when I plug the tuner into the USB hub, there is such a minor loss of quality, it is hardly noticeable, and I can still use my other USB devices. Would this have anything to do with my hub being plugged into a wall, thus giving more power to the tuner? Anywho, just thought I'd share.

[Shinigami-Sama]

Would this have anything to do with my hub being plugged into a wall, thus giving more power to the tuner?

more than likely yes

or one(or more) of your ports is being odd

[Ghitulescu]

more than likely yes

or one(or more) of your ports is being odd

The power supply should provide up to 500mA, unless it's a new design. Definitively, however, the USB ports of your laptop have not enough power (it's a laptop).

I've seen also laptops having 2 USB1.1 ports and 2 USB2.0 ones.

[Minas6907]

So now that we have narrowed down the problem, does anyone know if there is a way I could boost the amount of power for my laptop? For the most part, I'm thinking there really is no solution for this, but I thought I'd still ask. Also, how can I see if all the USB ports on my Laptop are USB 2.0 or not?

[iffybob]

Also, how can I see if all the USB ports on my Laptop are USB 2.0 or not?

Try your manual for the laptop if you dont have one look for a review with specs for you make and model, possibly sub model.

You may be able to find a PDF manual at your laptop makers web site.

[Ghitulescu]

So now that we have narrowed down the problem, does anyone know if there is a way I could boost the amount of power for my laptop?
See my first post, start reading with the 4th word ;)

[iffybob]

Would this have anything to do with my hub being plugged into a wall, thus giving more power to the tuner?

If you plug a USB2 hub into a USB1 or 1.1, you get the power upgrade but not a bandwidth upgrade, so yes you get more power, but no you dont get more bandwith, this can be used as a solution where low bandwith is not a problem keyboards, mice, game pads, etc where more power is required.

The same happens if you use a Y-connector to draw power from 2 USB 1.1 ports, you get a power upgrade only, not bandwidth

A TV tuner requires high bandwidth, it will stait on the box or the documentaion for the tuner wether it will work with USB 1.0, 1.1, 2.0.

Does anyone know how complient USB2 is at giving 500mA at 5V is.

(PS - I once had a "sales" person try to sell me a USB2 powered hub, saying it would upgrade my usb 1.1 to usb 2, education, that guy needed some, I told him and walked out ):cool:

[Ghitulescu]

(PS - I once had a "sales" person try to sell me a USB2 powered hub, saying it would upgrade my usb 1.1 to usb 2, education, that guy needed some, I told him and walked out ):cool:
He was right, you can't use an USB2.0 device with an USB1.1/1.0 port, unless the device supports USB1.1/1.0, too ;). The drawback was that you have achieved only the compatibility and not the speed.

[Minas6907]

See my first post, start reading with the 4th word ;)

By that I assume you meant "However, use a powered USB-hub." By "powered USB-hub" you mean a USB hub that is powered by bring plugged into a wall, right? If thats the case, I have one already, that is what I am using. Its a 7 port USB hub from D-Link, it needs to be powered by being plugged into the wall. Also, would it still be a power issue that my external HD does not get recognized by windows when it is plugged into the hub? At first I was getting rather frustrated, but as soon as I plugged it into a USB port on my computer, it worked fine. And I did check my laptops specifications on the Toshiba web site, all three USB ports are USB 2.0.

[Shinigami-Sama]

well theres your problem... its a Dlink...
not the highest quality

[Ghitulescu]

By that I assume you meant "However, use a powered USB-hub." By "powered USB-hub" you mean a USB hub that is powered by bring plugged into a wall, right? If thats the case, I have one already, that is what I am using. Its a 7 port USB hub from D-Link, it needs to be powered by being plugged into the wall. Also, would it still be a power issue that my external HD does not get recognized by windows when it is plugged into the hub? At first I was getting rather frustrated, but as soon as I plugged it into a USB port on my computer, it worked fine. And I did check my laptops specifications on the Toshiba web site, all three USB ports are USB 2.0.

There were actually 2 ideas - one is to use a powered hub, the second was to use an Y-shaped USB cable, it has two end USB-A and one end USB-B, so you can use the cummulative power of two ports, that's 2x500 = 1000 mA, good enough for most uses. The powered hub helped you with the power loss, the Y-cable helped you with overcharging (TURBO :)).

[olyteddy]

There is a pretty good (free) USB tool called 'Microsoft USBView - USB Connection Viewer' and available here: http://www.ftdichip.com/Resources/Utilities.htm. I've used it to help resolve USB issues with my laptop. There's also a TechNet article that tells you how to see power and bandwidth loads of USB devices: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772242(WS.10).aspx#bkmk_2