DS TV Tuner Dated, Priced For Japan

**Shrygue** · October 25th, 2007, 17:57

via Kotaku

And nowhere else, so cool your jets. Nintendo have announced that their official TV tuner dongle thingy for the DS will hit Japan on November 20, and will set Japanese consumers back ¥6800 (USD$59 [£29]). Not cheap for what you get, but then, what price convenience and portability? Importers beware: it's a one-seg tuner.

**acn010** · October 25th, 2007, 18:25

SHIAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i wanted so bad T-T oh well

**RowaN** · October 25th, 2007, 19:05

I wonder if its DVB-T or analog.

**puslar_t** · October 25th, 2007, 23:41

Rubbish

**Eyedunno** · October 26th, 2007, 00:00

FINALLY. They announced this thing and showed it off along with the DS Lite and the NDS Browser. That was how long ago? Almost two years ago?

Originally Posted by RowaN

I wonder if its DVB-T or analog.

It's digital, but like it says in the article, it's 1seg, so it only works in Japan. 1seg is like an addition to the terrestrial digital broadcast system. It uses about 192kbps of bandwidth (or maybe even less; I forgot) to show 320X240 mp4 video.

**kcajblue** · October 26th, 2007, 03:58

these things usually suck.
i wonder how this one is gonna do.

**wiggy fuzz** · October 26th, 2007, 08:20

he he... rabbit ears... poke someone's eye out with that

**Eyedunno** · October 26th, 2007, 09:08

Originally Posted by kcajblue

these things usually suck.
i wonder how this one is gonna do.

I'm actually betting the quality will be excellent. I've seen 1seg-compliant cellphones, and considering the bitrate, the picture is pretty damn clear. The things that might hinder this are the screen resolution of the DS and the bus speed of slot-1, but I'm still pretty sure it will look just fine.

Edit: Oh, but I'm in Japan. Let me stress again that unless you're in Japan or take frequest trips to Japan, if you buy this overseas (if it's even somehow possible), you will end up with a useless piece of expensive junk. Other countries use different systems for DMB, and the U.S. in particular doesn't seem as though it's going to even have such a system for a while yet (aside from Qualcomm's MediaFLO, which seems questionable as a solution due to its monopolistic nature).

**LazerTag** · October 26th, 2007, 16:47

Even if it worked outside of Japan what kind of stations can you really pick up (and get decent quality) out of the air. Our TV's, in the US at least, are pretty much worthless unless you have Cable, Dish, or an HD receiver. Otherwise the signal is just awful.

I'd rather have something to hook up my DS to a TV instead.