Hauppauge Bows Fixed+Mobile DTV PC Antenna

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y.: Hauppauge Digital, the Long Island maker of computer broadcast TV tuners, is rolling out a USB receiver that decodes both regular and Mobile DTV.

The WinTV-Aero-m is designed for use with PC-based laptop or netbook, and tunes in live, over-the-air TV. The receiver is plugged into a USB port, the telescoping antenna extended, and then it scans for available channels. The device is said to allow for viewing in a separate window so the entire screen isn’t taken up by the video, or full screen for high-definition content.

The WinTV-Aero-m receives and decodes regular ATSC over-the-air digital TV signals, and those transmitted via ATSC M/H for mobile DTV reception. It’s expected to be available by next month for a suggested retail price of $69.

Hauppauge rolled out the dual over-the-air tuner at the Consumer Electronics Show, which wrapped Sunday. News of it was overshadowed by the company’s introduction of an in-home wireless device that streams live TV to iPhones and iPads. The new “Broadway” (at right) uses a Wi-Fi connection to transmit content from the user’s cable (QAM) or broadcast (ATSC) TV platform. The Broadway is due on the market in “about six weeks” at a suggested retail price of $199.

Hauppauge previously rolled out peripheral designed to stream live TV video to Apple devices, but it was more complicated than the Broadway. The WinTV-HVR tuners with WinTV Extend were said to stream “live TV from a user’s home over the Internet to the iPad, iPhone, iPod touch and any Apple Macintosh computer which supports a Safari Web browser.”

Hauppauge shares shot up on the introduction of the WinTV-HVR tuners last May. Shares rose from less than $1 to a peak of $3.93 at one point. Hauppauge (NASDAQ: HAUP) was trading this morning at $2.84.

-- Deborah D. McAdams