Nintendo DS TV tuner, large

Yeesh, so you can watch TV on your Nintendo DS alright, but you'll have to effectively double its size if you want to do it with this gigundo TV Tuner. It'll work on your GBA, too, and will garner about 6 hours' worth of playback on 4 AAA batteries. You can pre-order at $89 now, and the unit will ship with its gargantuan cranium in October.

[Thanks, Enrico]

[Jeffler @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

It may be huge, but it looks like quite a good addon.

[EiZei @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Obsolete in less than 5 years here if it does not support DVB-T, oh well.

[dwx @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Just like the GBA tv tuner. A damn brick. It's a shame. Oh well.

[Lectoid @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

If you need to watch OTA TV this bad, you have problems. Seriously, do you need to watch Friends reruns that bad? Unless this thing pics up Sci-Fi and Cartoon Network, count me out. Better off getting the play-yan and watching what you want.

[bert @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

That Is HUGE!

I had a Tv tuner for my Game Gear back in the day and it was less than a QUATER of that size!!!, and was pretty good, Plus It never took Batterys!!!!!

[matt preston @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

oh and dont forget the "amazing" receptiion you will get.

[Thrustinj @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

It's a shame they don't work in some kind of rca inputs or outputs. I have no idea how that would work for output with two screens, maybe a set for each lol.

[RR @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

looks like ANOTHER WASTED OPPOURTUNITY.

Considering there are two screens, you should be able to get Picture-in-Picture (able to watch two channels simultaneously).

Call me when Sony decides to add TV to the PSP. They seem to do everything right.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

RR: two tuners doesn't seem like it would be useful plus it would add to the cost of the already expensive unit.

By the way, call _ME_ when the PSP has TV-out so you can watch your UMD movies on your television.

[Thrustinj @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Suuuuure they do.

[Buck Q. Fitch @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Buddy, your Game Gear had 2 hours of battery life.

[Max @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Yeah bert, I remember my game gear and that thing was so ahead of its time it wasnt even funny. Game boy still had a black and white screen for like 5 years after the color wielding Game Gear was released!! What happened to Sega? They were always so much better than Nintendo. Too bad their marketing department sucked.

And the TV tuner was just slightly bigger than the cartridge and didnt kill the batteries too bad. This thing for the DS looks terrible. I wonder if Sony will even bother with a TV tuner, maybe it'll be 3rd party hardware.

I think an XM or Sirrius tuner would be way more useful.

[jorellh @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

If you want to talk ahead of its time then you must mention the NEC TurboXpress. It can even be used to store digital video according to the movie "Enemy of the State"

[Max @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

jorellh, I always believe everything I see in movies, especially when they tell me I can get a 3D X-Ray image from a victoria secret CCTV cam.

But I will give props to the turboXpress and turbo graf-x 16 (spelling?). My friend had both and they were sweet.

[Timmy @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Can you imagine putting a game boy micro on top of that thing? Frickin huge.

[Jason Schlessman @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Has a TV tuner unit ever been commercially successful for a portable gaming unit?

Turboexpress had one, Game Gear also, the Nomad may have had one (can't recall), and given the drugs Atari seemed to be on in the early 90s, I wouldn't be surprised if the Lynx had one as well.

All I want my portable game hardware to do is play games well, and provide enjoyment in the process. I love the DS and pretty much exclusively play games on it at the moment, but this rehashing of a concept that's never worked and will be obsolete in a few years is pointless in my opinion.

[norebonomis @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

is watching tv called 'playback' now? weird how times are a changin.

[Weasel @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

I had the TurboExpress with the TV Tuner and that was 10+ years ago. How come they could make a great, small tunner that didn't require a seperate battery back then but the best they can do now is this giant brick?

The TV Tuner was so good that I still have my TurboExpress and use it as a portable color TV to this day.

[Technology Expert. @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

The most succesful handheld with a TV tuner was the SEGA GAME GEAR. No other handheld kept up pace with Game Boy in unit sales.
Game Gear lost the race with Game Boy simply because nintendo had far more third party support than sega did. Sega's OTHER problem was releasing advanced technology too early which BTW tended to make its system's more expensive.
For example, the Sega Saturn had a dual processor design which game developers had a nightmarish time developing software for.
Thus, they perfered to develop for the Playstation even though the Saturn had superior performance.


The NEC turbo express had a TV tuner but that system suffered from three problems.
#1 It had shitty construction which led to huge problems with DEAD PIXELS in its LCD,
#2 it costed $400 in a time where Gameboy was $100 - $150 and Game Gear was around $189
and #3 it suffered (just like turbographyx 16 and turbo Duo) from poor third party support.

Gameboy had over 500 games out by 1995. (both liscensed and unliscensed).
Meanwhile NEC and Sega's portables only had less than 300 combined.

And I didn't even mention how many systems TETRIS sold.


This tv tuner for the DS looks too awkward to catch on. I bet if you move it the wrong way, things would break pretty easily.
If the developers are smart they will make an AA batteryless model the size of a cartridge and a hand strap/antennae like Sony's portable TV (FDLPT222)

[Idlecogz @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

"im not jokin, its got its own weather system"

*n.b. would be funnier as first post :)

[Josh @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

"I think an XM or Sirrius tuner would be way more useful."

Whoah. Does anybody else think this is an awesome idea? It seems to me that a DS would make for a really nifty sattelite radio receiver.

[Jayenkai @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Wait, it uses 4 AAA's up in 6 hours!?
What's it doing!?

It's not like it's gotta actually display the signal, is it?
Why so much power?

[matt preston @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

i have a tv tuner for the GBA, it was crap signal, but the imput hings meant i could watch dvd's and play ps2 thro it

and i got it fer �10($15 US) so i thort it was ok

[Extinction @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

"I have no idea how that would work for output with two screens,"

Then you're an idiot. Both DS's screens are small enough to fit on a 640*480 TV. It doesnt take 2 TVs to fit both DSs screens, it takes one.

[Adam-Ondi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Forget the tuner itself. Totally not worth it. You could pick up a standalone portable TV that got better battery life for not much more money.

I am just delighted to see a "So I Married an Axe Murderer" reference in a post. Suhweet.

[OddManOut @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

I had a game gear (my sister has it now). Fun machine. Huge, Hot, heavy, and hungry through it was, it was still much fun.

I do have to give props to the Turbo express. With the exception of the Nomad, it's the only portable I know of that natively played the same games as it's console cousin (unless you count the PSP which seems to only play PORTS of PS2 games...(kidding))

But I think I agree...Lynx, Game Gear, and Turbo express were all kind of ahead of their time. LCD screen and battery technology were not really advanced enough to make those systems heavily successfull.

Kind of ironic, in the face of largely (spec wise) superior systems, the good ole B&W Gameboy kept nintendo afloat through thick and thin for over 10 years. Cheap to make, cheap to buy, and easy to play is what made it so successful.

I wonder if ultimately, now that the slightly more expensive, more complicated, more involved DS seems to be nintendos current pony in the handheld race if the (spec wise) superior PSP will finally change this trend, or once again be ahead of it's time...

Now don't get your shorts in a twist fanboys, the question is rhetorical. No answer/projection needed. Just watch the market and see what happens.

Que sera, sera...

[Bladder @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

This picture was released last year and the also that a TV tuner was coming..

[Gene @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

"Game Gear lost the race with Game Boy simply because nintendo had far more third party support than sega did."

No, Game Gear barely even made it over the starting line of the race. Sure, the TV tuner was neat on it, but the Game Gear itself was a piece of crap. The screen was horrible and was extremely easy to scratch, it ate up batteries like nothing else, their portable external battery device couldn't hold a charge worth a poo, and it was an akward design.

Sure, its lack of games did help with its demise, but it was a crappy handheld to begin with.

[Jody @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

I bet it would be easy as hell to hack in rca jacks

[fistpittingnork @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Game Gear may have only lasted a couple hours with fresh batteries, but the concept is 10 years ago it was able to support a TV Tuner that slipped right into the cartridge area, did not require extra batteries, and worked very well (especially for it's time)

Here we are 10 years down the road, we have capabilities of "hi-fi" screens for portable games, wireless network access, and a cute little screen you can actually interact with like a hands-on Tamagatchi, you'd expect something just a tad more space effecient, or perhaps a slip-in card that picks up from a remote tv tuner base.

For this size, you'd expect maybe a COAX outlet, though if you pay for cable tv you most likely have a full size tv to watch it on, but maybe that's just me?

Does this thing even have an AC outlet?! 4 batteries for 6 hours of watching the 3 local channels it probably only picks up in the first place (atleast 1 of which is most likely Gospel) is just ridiculous.

[omniverse @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Looking for any info about current game system TV tuners I stumbled across this place.

I see Sega Game Gear is talked of. That's what I have now, and have had for many years. I use the TV when power fails during storms and that happened most recently during hurricane Katrina. It has been a great thing all this time. I bought it all together for the purpose of such power outages and it has been very useful.

Never had a PDA type of device or any other portable game system so I haven't learned anything new about them. I thought it was extremely likely that this kind of thing had improved and might be cheap to get an improved device.

I know I less than $200 for the SGG+TV on sale at a Walmart, possibly just over $100. I just can't remember anymore. So it was a really great deal compared to other choices. I also got a "Doc" battery pack to help last much longer.

So far I'm not impressed with the aspect I'm facing in finding anything like it again for a low price. I probably wouldn't look at all if it weren't for the sound quitting on my SGG (headphones ok). It always had awful sound quality.

Well, the search has just begun. Maybe I'll find something worthwhile. This Nintendo DS TV Tuner combo probably isn't it! I expected smaller things. Considered Sony PSP might have one but already pricey (for me) and no such thing found yet.

Another type of device would be cell phone or PDA but chances are that the screen sizes might be too small to be viewable. Well, maybe not if PDA... I'll be *watching* for something.

[matt @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

I'm kinda tempted to get a portable TV or a tv tuner on a gameboy advance, but really, how often are you away from a real tv and want to watch a little portable screen? How good is the picture quality really?

on the subject of older portables. The gameboy was a POS compared to the LYNX (which i have) and the Turbographics express and gamegear. But they ALL sucked batteries down like nothing. I think the PSP will suffer the same fate, people hate having to recharge batteries all the time. Most people use the PSP to watch movies..... why not just market it that way, and say it plays games 'also'. haha, the umd format is going to flop like the minidisk, 8track, etc etc So you wont catch me paying $250 for a psp then another $20 for a movie on umd that only plays on a psp. but thats just me, i would rather save my money for more usefull things.

[PSP LIVE TV!!!! @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

The PSP has a live tv viewer and its a small memory stick http://www.addict3d.org/img/1b801665d717ceca.jpg

notice how psp made it tiny and not screw battery, ds sucks