[Dunhamzzz]

It seems like Dell have just shipped out their first batch of Dell Mini 1010s with TV Tuners, as all of a sudden we have a big ol' McFlurry of complaints regarding said configuration.

As first noted in this thread it seems that the integrated TV tuner in the Dell Mini 1010 should have came with an external antenna, but no-one yet has reported receiving one and it seems Dell support does not yet know how to officially handle this.
When first shown on Engadget, the Dell Mini 10 TV Tuner appears to have an external aerial that plugs into the side of the unit, but Dell has neglected to ship this with TV-Tuner Mini 10s! As a result, it's pretty likely that you'll be moaning like everyone else when the Dell TV application replies with "no channels found".

Of course these leads are available online, but should we really have to shell out extra £ for something that should have worked out of the box? Also its not as if these type of aerials are commonplace, chances are you won't find one without going to a specialist PC store, and even then that's pushing it.

On a high note I am enjoying the other aspects of my new Dell Mini 10 with HD screen, expect to see pics and a quick review soon.

If you are experiencing the same problem or have actually received the missing lead with your order, let us know in the comments!

[mdburkey]

Personally, I don't feel that not receiving an antenna with it would be that big a deal.

Of all the units with TV Tuners I have received from Dell in the past, none of them have ever come with an antenna either (this includes both internal cards in desktop [Emuzed, etc] and the Avermedia micro HD tuners in Inspiron and Studio laptops).

With the potential exception of one USB HD tuner I bought, I haven't seen any retail tuner cards that come with an antenna either.


As far as that goes, I don't even know anyone personally who even uses and antenna for TV reception anyway -- everyone has cable or satellite.

[Dunhamzzz]

Originally Posted by mdburkey

As far as that goes, I don't even know anyone personally who even uses and antenna for TV reception anyway -- everyone has cable or satellite.

Well the main reason is that you can't exacly just go home and plg yuour mini into a regular coaxial aerial in the wall, its a different (smaller) socket on the unit so unless you've owned a laptop TVtuner before, you certainly won't have it.

[fyrfyter]

Can someone post a picture of this socket, so we can at least identify it, and then give some pointers from there?

[jimhanseng]

I received my 1010 last week and noticed the TV issue immediately. The issue with Dell is worse than it sounds. No only are they clueless, they continually give out WRONG information on the antenna. Yesterday I received a cable I GUESSED on that is in fact working. It is a MCX Male to a F Male F three foot cable. I plugged this into my COAX cable to my outside antenna and now I am getting all the local channels. I got this one from InkPool. The part number is "F-F-MCX-M-5". There are various types you can get, but what you need to plug into the computer is MCX Male.

I still don't have an answer from Dell on this issue. The last correspondence was that the antenna should have been shipped, and they opened a ticket for it. Personally, I don't think the Antenna was part of the package but they should at least have a cable you can purchase.

[Quiksilver]

Received my uk mini 10 This morning with a tv tuner and not external ariel.
bloody great !! if i had known this i wouldn't have paid £40 for the upgrade.

regards

Nathan

[Dunhamzzz]

It seems these leads may actually be very cheap off ebay::

mcx tv antenna, great deals on Electronics on eBay!

[mdburkey]

Originally Posted by Dunhamzzz

Well the main reason is that you can't exacly just go home and plg yuour mini into a regular coaxial aerial in the wall, its a different (smaller) socket on the unit so unless you've owned a laptop TVtuner before, you certainly won't have it.

Ok...I misunderstood.

Not including an antenna is not that big a deal -- not including the cable that you would use to CONNECT it to an aerial or television cable is a bit of an issue.

All the expresscard tuners I have received from Dell in the past have included a short micro connector to standard coaxial adapter cable with them.

[Dell-Bill B]

Thanks to all our Mini 10 customers and to ones who recently ordered units with a TV tuner. A small number of the orders were recently shipped without the corresponding external TV antenna and adapter accessories.

To affected customers, we apologize for any frustration this has caused. We’re currently working on a solution to correct this, and will share more information soon.

[Dell-Bill B]

Thanks again to all our Mini 10 customers who ordered systems with external TV tuner antennas. We have been able to proactively contact the majority of customers who are missing the antennas and have shipped the missing parts to most. We still have a few remaining customers to notify and provide parts for, but we are working to finish providing solutions as quickly as we can.