Already some extras for it :smt009 From Lik Sang Nintendo licensed Nintendo DS and Gameboy Advance SP TV Tuner for the Japanese market Sat Nov 20 2004 09:42:15 Hong Kong Time - GameBoy - Nintendo DS Nintendo of Japan announced a TV Tuner for the Nintendo DS which will also work for the Gameboy Advance SP. The unit is supposed to hit the shelves of Japanese retailers in January 2005 for Yen 9,240. The unit requires 4 AAA alkaline batteries, which will provide 6 hours TV playback. The unit is being developed by Agatsuma Entertainment, and it is currently not known if it will be sold as first party accessory under the Nintendo brand, or as licensed accessory under the name of Agatsuma. As soon as more news and better images emerge from Japan, especially about a planned US or European release, we will be updating the Nintendo DS section. In the meantime, the Japanese unit, which will most probably have some difficulties with PAL or US TV networks, has been placed on pre-order for US$ 89.
Bah, you can get a good quality mini-TV with a AC Adapter and better quality screen for that ammount, but eh, whatever floats Nintendo's boat.
Ah, but it makes it easier for the soccer moms to buy one, tell Timmy to shove it (in his DS of course :-D) and be done with it. :smt043
Ah! There's something the PSP cant do. great idea, i hope it works well! @ Jasonkhowell; that's not the point - who wants to carry a DS AND a TV?
If you look at this page, you'll see that the US date for shutting off terrestrial television signals is set for 2006. Would Nintendo really release an addon device that wouldn't work a year after it was made? That really doesn't make any sense! You'd think Japan, being ahead of the game technology wise, would be shutting off terrestrial signals earlier than the West, too. I for one wouldn't want to buy a TV tuner card that won't even work in a year's time!
Damn, I hope they don't turn it off here, I know of several people who still use it. Let me guess, they turn it off but won't lower the taxes (even though you pay for it) :smt009
Japan is quite pathetic for TV technology as far as service goes. Their TVs kick arse but their broadcasting service doesn't. They only have a hand full of programs on BS Hi-Vision that are what I'd call real digital TV and al those shows are documentaries or concerts. The UK is years ahead with it's Digital Sky + services. Japan's standard TV system is so bad. Reds have that fuzz around then that I never ever saw on British TV. Picture quality is quite poor. Not one single channel has a perfect picture no matter how hard you try. I remember when I lived in the UK and being pissed off that Channel 5 had piss poor reception. But now that I live in Japan it wasn't that bad. Japanese TV isn't as bad as Channel 5 but it's by no means perfect. Also why the hell do they use VHF and UHF for TV? can someone explain this to me? Yakumo
I know that at one point in Holland, TV broadcasts switched from VHF to UHF. I think the latter gives higher quality, but was more difficult to implement. There has been a period of transition when TVs supported both, but that was a long time ago. Do they still use both in Japan?
It has to do with the strength of the signal(its like am and fm radio, except for tv channels). Here in the U.S. digital cable has really tooken off, but as far as shutting off attena tv at that point, i got an odd feeling it wont happen, theyve been trying to get everyone to go all high definition, but its never worked, in fact as a comprimise the cable will still output in analoug for old sets, belive me as much as they want you to belive that were going to go start displayin in high def as standard, its just not going to happen, even though people these days are starting to wise up to hd tvs(not sweating it since we got a big screen hd in the front, plan on getting an hd set my self soon), many still are stuborn in the fact that they cant afford a new tv and if their current set still works and they can see the picture their fine with it. Even then hdtv here is very limited, only the major 3,fox, and 3 or 4 other channels are even avalible in hd if you prefer. Id imagine their going to wait for 85% to have hd tvs,if not they just go with the converter option till everyone has a hd set.
For those of you in the US and Japan, terrestrial TV is television through an AERIAL. Cable TV is digital. That device for the DS has an antenna. How is it going to receive the radio waves, and hence the television signal, if the transmitter is turned off? And for Anti: Yakumo, as your question hasn't really been answered, allow me VHF transmissions were originally used, but it became obvious that there wouldn't be enough frequencies in that range for many channels. UHF was introduced - frequencies above VHF. Unfortunately, as always, UHF was a compromise. The conversion of the signal that takes place in the television sets is less efficient, and therefore more susceptible to signal loss. As you will see on this site, UHF requires more careful setting up of the aerial. You would have thought that as the UK has only 5 channels and the US had 13 on VHF, that we would still use VHF. However, I believe VHF was turned off in the UK in 1985!!
Yep, they still use both in Japan. Really stupid system makes things very complicated when setting up an ariel. Yakumo
The individual stations broadcast their signals out though. So you can't trun them off all at once... And Radio won't be turned off for a long time. Many people aren't ready to pay for satelite radio, though I think it will eventually become like cable--85% of the population will have it.
The stations broadcast, but there are repeater stations all over the country which repeat EVERY station. Yes, all stations will be turned off at once. EVERY station that is on terrestrial TV in the UK is also on digital. And I think just about everywhere in the country is able to get digital terrestrial now, so analogue WILL be turned off, and it won't be all that long. The difference in quality is amazing. Of course, broadcasting 1s and 0s is easier than an analogue signal - you either get the signal or you don't. As for radio, we have digital radio in this country, actually. It will eventually be popular, when the receivers are cheaper... and is a lot better quality. You can broadcast at a better sample rate over digital, and it doesn't have to be compressed to hell. Still, that's not the point - analogue radio may indeed stay for many years. There are too many old radios that would become useless. Television sets on the other hand - you just buy a set top box that connects via SCART or co-ax, as you would a VCR.
