Digital TV to be integrated into laptops

 

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By David Bayon in San Francisco

Posted on 19 Sep 2007 at 23:11

Laptops will soon be able to receive digital television signals without the need for a third-party tuner and external aerial, it was revealed today.

As part of Intel's Montevina platform, due in the first half of 2008, an integrated digital tuner has been developed that makes use of two internal aerials in the notebook lid to receive a signal.

The minicard tuner, codenamed "Stone Park", was demonstrated to PC Pro running a live TV feed at a booth in the Technical Showcase at IDF in San Francisco, and is actually being held back as part of the next-generation platform.

"We could actually go sooner than Montevina if we wanted to, it's pretty much ready," explained an Intel representative. "But it really fits in as part of the platform's focus on entertainment."

Field trials have been carried out in the US and Europe, and the representative claimed the signal strength is better than that of most portable external aerials.

"A laptop is quite a noisy platform... The main source of conflict is the interference from GSM, so we've actually fitted a GSM filter to get around the problem. The video runs really smoothly throughout."

Earlier Intel showcased the first working Montevina notebook to delegates.