Device links computer, HDTV

Could Perry County be the next Silicon Valley?

That might be a stretch, but the North American distributor of a new product from a Korean electronics firm says cheap real estate and good transportation in the midstate led him to pick 403 Huckleberry Road in New Bloomfield as the location for his company.

It's also just a short hop from his home in northern Dauphin County.

"We found a building that suited our needs perfectly," said Patrick Castellani, president and CEO of AutumnWave. "We're going to run distribution, customer support and technical support from there."

Castellani recently completed a national distribution tour for AutumnWave's main product, the USB HDTV-GT from OnAir Solution of South Korea.

The product lists for $179.

The pocket-sized device with an antenna plugs into the USB 2.0 port of a Windows-based computer and pulls in high-definition or regular TV broadcasts to display on the monitor. You can watch a high-definition program on your computer without buying an expensive HD television.

Imagine sitting in an airport lounge between flights and being able to tune in to the local TV network and PBS stations. Because it runs off USB, no wall outlet is required.

"OnAir Solution is the first company in the world to have a high-definition receiver which connects to a PC through the USB port," Castellani said. "They hold the patent on this technology. We control this space."

Although Castellani warns your performance might vary, he said he has used the device for several hours at a clip without draining the battery in his laptop computer.

Business travelers and college students are the target audience for the device, Castellani said. College students will be able to watch TV on their laptops instead of adding TV sets to their cramped dorm rooms. You also can attach the device to a cable box and watch HD broadcasts that way.

Castellani said the device also acts as a video recorder similar to a TiVo player, meaning that an HD or regular TV show can be recorded at home and played back on the road.

There are some downsides.

The device doesn't work with Macintosh computers. A Windows computer needs to have a USB 2.0 port (not the slower USB 1.0) and a video card from ATI or nVidia, and run Windows XP or 2000. And while the unit can record from a satellite TV receiver, it won't do so in HD.

Castellani got to know OnAir Solution in his former role as president and CEO of Advanced Logic Inc., which sold high-definition TV products over the Internet.

AutumnWave has another product, surround-sound headphones that have three speakers for each ear, including a subwoofer for bass. Castellani said the headphones, which are the cover-the-ear variety, are useful in situations where the noise from a movie might be distracting to people nearby.