Slumping in front of the set in your living room or bedroom isn't the only way to watch TV these days. Even mobile phones will soon have digital tuners in them, and it's easy to transfer recorded programmes to one of the growing number of portable media players in order to enjoy TV on the go.
The Digipal LCD may not be as lightweight as these products (it's a relatively hefty half-kilo) but it serves a useful purpose, particularly, say, if you're on a long car journey or may be planning a caravanning holiday in UK and want to watch digital TV on a rainy day.
Due in part, no doubt, to the power requirements the Digipal exhibits none of the slimline, flat-screen futuristic looks we've come to expect from TVs that use LCD technology.
Instead, we're presented with dull grey, decidedly Eighties-looking plastic casing and a remote control that, although functional, is pretty much equivalent to what you'd expect to find bundled with cheaper Freeview adapters. There are small black buttons down the right-hand side for changing the channel, picture volume and other settings, and the set also comes with a stand attachment should you be thinking of wall-mounting it.
The Digipal LCD comes supplied with a 12V universal adapter, but if you're not a position to plug it in, rechargeable batteries are built-in.
The antenna poking out from the rear has its own 5V supply and it's here that you'll also find a serial port for PC software updates.
The TV doubles as a monitor too, hence the inclusion of an S-video connector (although the supplied cable is composite to Svideo only) so you could also use it to watch a VCR or DVD player. You can also output the tuner to a VCR or an external TV, effectively using it just like a normal adapter.
The menu software is basic but easy to fathom (a bonus as the only manual currently available is in German). There's an automatic setup option or you can do manual or extended searches with the option to set frequency parameters and even enter PIDS. There's also an antenna adjust setting where you can waggle the aerial and view the effect on signal strength and quality.
