GBA TV Tuners...Really worth getting?

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GBA TV Tuners...Really worth getting?

Post by jessman »

Hey, I finally bought a GBA SP compared to a lame old GBA, and I must say that I'm addicted to it. I've been meaning to buy the TV tuner for it, but don't have any real info on it. Do any of you out there actually have it, or have seen it in action? The thing is, I was wondering if you guys wouldn't mind telling me how good the reception and quality is. I'm mainly hoping to get FOX and WB, but I have no clue how to attach it to my system, where exactly to buy it, or how well, it even works. Please help me out. Thanks.
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Post by Lartrak »

I've seen it. It's fairly good, but not as good as the Game Gear's, from what I can remember of it.
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Post by az_bont »

Don't bother. It requires it's own batteries and only lasts 90 minutes before you need to replace them. You'd be much better off getting the GBA Movie Adaptor, which is completely powered from the GBA, draining no more battery life than a game. It's also a lot more compact, and generally a lot cooler.

http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?catego ... ts_id=3983

The movies are encoded to a special format, with a 128MB CompactFlash card holding around an hour of fairly decent quality video. You can fiddle with the settings to fit more or less depending on the source of the video, it's content, your preferred resolution, and audio compression.
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Post by curt_grymala »

Hey - I just saw a bunch of those "GBA Video" cartridge things. Do they just plug straight in to the GBA, or do you need some special piece of equipment to use them? They actually look kind of cool. There are Spongebob videos, TMNT, etc.
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Post by az_bont »

Those are something completely different, and rather sucky. You get two cartoons totalling 45 minutes, and you have to pay an absolute fortune for them. They just plug straight into the GBA. You can get the GBA Movie Player for less than the cost of one, and CompactFlash cards are always dropping in price - you'll no doubt find some other use for them as well, as they're fairly universal. If nothing else. they're handy for transporting files between different machines.
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Post by curt_grymala »

az_bont wrote:Those are something completely different, and rather sucky. You get two cartoons totalling 45 minutes, and you have to pay an absolute fortune for them.
Really? I just saw them at KayBee Toys for $14 each. I thought that was kind of cheap. Not any more than you would pay for a video tape.
They just plug straight into the GBA. You can get the GBA Movie Player for less than the cost of one, and CompactFlash cards are always dropping in price - you'll no doubt find some other use for them as well, as they're fairly universal. If nothing else. they're handy for transporting files between different machines.
Good to know. I'm still considering getting a flash card, but they are still a bit pricey for me.
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Post by az_bont »

Just to make sure, you realise I'm talking about flash cards and not flash carts, right?
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Post by jessman »

uh....i guess, lol. can you use flash cards for emulation or just for movies? thanks for the link though. I'm a big-time novice when it comes to the GBA accessories, so I really wan all the info. $69 does seem a bit much for the cards though. How many minutes does a 128mb card hold? thanks again.
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Post by AmadeusZull »

for 69 i bet u can get a good 2nd hand 5 inch tv online.


128 on an avg i can fit a whole album.
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Post by Lartrak »

az_bont wrote:Don't bother. It requires it's own batteries and only lasts 90 minutes before you need to replace them. You'd be much better off getting the GBA Movie Adaptor, which is completely powered from the GBA, draining no more battery life than a game. It's also a lot more compact, and generally a lot cooler.

http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?catego ... ts_id=3983

The movies are encoded to a special format, with a 128MB CompactFlash card holding around an hour of fairly decent quality video. You can fiddle with the settings to fit more or less depending on the source of the video, it's content, your preferred resolution, and audio compression.
But uh.. You can't watch TV on it. That's a pretty huge difference.

The GBA TV tuner was $20 at GameStop, if you can find one that still has one.
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Post by Ian Micheal »

Game gear when is better still.
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Post by Matt »

Tru ebuyer.com for the flash cards
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Post by jessman »

lol. you guys are really funny.. listen, tv isn't the most important part. i also want to play nes games and gba roms on my SP. the game gear can't do THAT although i admire your dedication, Ian. Also, the SP is easy to see in the sun or at night, but trying to play a game gear in the sun is REALLY hard. What I really want most is to be able to play NES roms on my SP. Is there ANY way to accomplish this for under $100? Crap, taking advantage of this system is sure hard if you're poor. Heh heh, luckily in Alaska you get a yearly Dividend check of over $1500 just for being a citizen! I'll have money for everything by October, ha ha ha. Some of you guys really should see how Alaska is right now. It's over 87 degrees! Man, I love this state! Especially since it's 2.5 times the size of Texas! YEEEEEHAW!

Sorry, I had too much coffee tonight. Thanks again everyone.
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Post by Matt »

So basically you want a flash cart, and maybe a tv tuner or movie player?
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Post by DaMadFiddler »

I have both: a GBA TV tuner, and the GBA movie payer (which uses its own proprietary file format, and takes standard CompactFlash cards).

TV Tuner: EXCELLENT picture, uses some advanced scaling/filtering to keep the image crisp, and not feel like you're "missing" anything; tickers on CNN and FoxNews were even readable (though slightly blurred). The battery life sucks, and it's a little bulky...but the model I have came with its own AC adapter, so I generally plug it into either the wall or the car (separate adapter)...it uses the same jack type as generic 3rd-party GBA battery paks, so this works. Of course, I have a stockpile of rechargeable alkaline batteries, so I can use it on the road without problems too--and the company was nice enough to include adaptors for coax cable (for cable TV/VCR/NES/etc.), and composite input (I actually played all the way through Rez on my GBA--that was a strange experience). Gamestop may have them listed for $20, but good luck finding them in stock; GS also has Castlevania Chronicles listed for that same price ;) I'd be willing to part with my tuner for $40 including US shipping, though...still got the original box and everything (they sell on the regular places, like LikSang and Success-HK for $60-80, and that's probably the only place you'll find one). And ask nicely, and I'll throw in an NiMH GBA (first-model) battery pak. Oh, that reminds me--I'd also be willing to part with CV Chronicles, of the price were right ;)

GBA Movie Player: This little item is awesome. It's inexpensive, and comes with a little CD-R that contains an app for converting whatever audio/video formats your (Windows-based) PC supports into the player's proprietary format. Yeah it would be nice if the player just READ standard formats, but that would require licensing, and thus higher cost...plus it would probably be less resource-efficient to the machine and video might not work so smoothly. The only real limitation is the size of your CompactFlash card. I'd recommend getting a 256 or 512 MB card if you really want to put this gadget to use. Oh--and it also reads eBooks, in both .TXT and HTML format. (The audio is a little scratchy, but if you just want music, go buy a Discman or an iPod or something :P). And no, I'm not selling mine ;)
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Post by Egotistical EvilN »

Jessman, we've given you links on where to buy flashcarts about 5 times now. Hopefully, this will be the last time.

http://www.winsunx.com/USBflasher.php?mod=productID_15

Now, if you want to buy a gba movie player (the type you can reencode divx to play on), az_bont has already linked you to one...

Now, this is about the 6th topic on this, will you finally buy a damn one?
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Post by az_bont »

jessman wrote:uh....i guess, lol. can you use flash cards for emulation or just for movies? thanks for the link though. I'm a big-time novice when it comes to the GBA accessories, so I really wan all the info. $69 does seem a bit much for the cards though. How many minutes does a 128mb card hold? thanks again.
The cards can be had for a lot less if you shop around. I payed less than ?30 for a 256MB one.

You can expect to fit just over an hour on a 128MB card, although with a bit of fiddling you could quite comfortably manage 90 minutes without too much drop in quality, provided your source was decent enough (DVD preferably).
Lartrak wrote:But uh.. You can't watch TV on it. That's a pretty huge difference.
Yeah, but if you're bored on a journey and want to watch something that isn't a game, both can allow you to do that :P.
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Post by jessman »

ok ok, i'm sorry. but this time i was asking about cards. lol. also, THIS link is what I've needed all along! Thanks.
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Post by Jaded JAaron77 »

are there any flash carts that are support mac? I want a flash cart but don't want to have to use my dad's computer to use it
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Post by Lartrak »

JAaron77 wrote:are there any flash carts that are support mac? I want a flash cart but don't want to have to use my dad's computer to use it
It's only the software that wouldn't work on a mac. Aren't any of the homebrew flash writers on Mac?
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