what is needed to get live tv in truck

You have an XPS? Nice, as far as Dells go...I had to be cheap and buy a Studio.
Hulu is fantastic...there's also a gadget out there called the Slingbox, which hooks up to your DVR at home. That's what I'd recommend, but that's only because I think the concept of live tv is overrated these days.

 

Yes, there are advantages to that, but also disadvantages. My laptop is my primary source of entertainment. I was watching a dvd on it last week, I had just left the house the day before for my standard 14 day tour of duty, and the stupid AC adapter/battery charger decided to stop working. The next 2 weeks I had nothing but sat. radio to keep my mind occupied during breaks. I did manage to get in 2 mystery novels in though. Dell overnighted me the new one, but it doesn't do much good if you aren't home to pick it up.

Moral of the story is never put that black box on your power cord under a stack of pillows like I did.....

 

If you use a cellular air card to use a sling box, be prepared for some astronomical overage charges.

 

Hulu is free. Nice that it shows a timeline with the 30 second commercials on it too. My browser is set so I don't even recieve the commercials; just a 30 second message telling me to open the cookies or sumpin' - I don't read it, actually.
Did you know you can make a huge sandwich in 30 seconds?

 

NETFLIX STREAMS movies, but HIGH SPEED is necessary which isn't available everywhere, even with cellular based internet, or especially using truck stop WiFi.

 

Most if not all the cellular cards have 5 gigabyte data limits. Streaming 2 hour movies is going to chew that up pretty fast. I'll do that, but only when I'm on a wi-fi connection. This sucks, because my Sprint card is more than capable of brining in these movies without a glitch.
This is what you will end up with if you use your "unlimited data" Sprint card to watch Hulu and netflix movies.

This didn't come to me, but someone in another forum I participate in.

 

Yup, I use Hulu and Fancast but it eats up bandwidth at an alarming rate. I have the 5 gig Verizon plan and with 5 gigs you get about 20 hours of total viewing for the month, I mean 20 one hour episodes which actually is more like 20 45 minute episodes because the commercials are removed. Being in a company truck I can't use a satellite dish, how well does the USB card work? Do you just get networks like Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, WGN etc.? Even if it's just those channels that would be okay with me so long as it works more often than not. Does it use any bandwidth or is it strictly a broadcast signal receiver? I really appreciate any info on this, I'm a TV junkie suffering through pergatory for half the month. What would be a good card? If it works as well as you say I'd be willing to spend a couple hundred bucks on one. Thanks again for the heads up on this, I never even cosidered it.

 

You can get a USB tuner that will pick up over the air broadcasts. Buying one is tricky these days, because a lot of them on the market are now obsolete because of the digital transition the government mandated.. Make sure it has an ATSC HD tuner. You can find them pretty cheap on ebay. If you do go to ebay, don't buy the ones from China with DVB-T tuners in them, they only work in Asia and Europe. You get one of those, you can hook it up to your truck's antenna and watch over the air High Def Tv on your laptop. The tuners also usually have software so you can use your laptop as a DVR, record the shows and watch them later. You can get them pretty cheap at tigerdirect as well. You won't be using any internet bandwidth with one of these, because you are just watching standard over the air tv.

Personally, what I use, is I put a TV together with the converter box the government is issuing coupons for, and an old portable DVD player I found laying around the house after my kids all moved out.
I posted about it a few months back, and included photos. It's my Frankenstein TV. But it works really good.
http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/electronic-connection/56206-hd-tvs-and-whatnot-4.html
check it out.

 

i read maps too... that gps is as smart as a goldfish but its nice to get you in the right direction...