Gadgetory

free TV on your iPad it may be easier than you think if you can live with just a handful of channels hi I'm John Falcone from CNET and this is the elgato ITV mobile it's a little $99 antenna dongle that turns iPads iPhones and iPod Touch models into portable TVs setup is simple just plug the ITV mobile into your iPad or iPhone and you'll be prompted to download El Gatos free viewing app once that's installed you can be watching live TV just a few seconds later there's a catch though actually a few of them first off the ITV mobile only works with over-the-air TV stations and only a subset of those channels at that that's because instead of a standard digital TV tuner the ITV mobile accesses a service called Dyle mobile TV which has some but not all of the local stations in several markets around the u.s. you can check the dial TV website to see what channels are available in your area here in New York City it currently includes NBC Fox Cuba and Telemundo but no CBS ABC or PBS and don't look for any cable or satellite channels you won't find them here you also can't playback or record your programming so you're limited to live shows that said the ITV app does let you pause and rewind what you're watching the other issue with ITV Mobile is that it uses the older 30-pin Apple port it does actually work with Apple's lightning adapter but the result is a rather delicate two and a half inch protuberance from your iPad or iPhone the video quality is good but not great we noticed lots of pixelation during scenes with a lot of motion and the hardware itself feels a bit delicate I wouldn't be confident for this to survive a fall it's not all bad though the ITV software includes a built-in on-screen program guide so you always know what's on and unlike a sling box or an online video service like flicks or Hulu Plus the ITV mobile lets you watch TV without requiring internet access so you can even use this during a blackout for instance and unlike some of those online streaming services ITV choirs no additional monthly charges once you've got the hardware you're good to go personally I think $99 is too expensive for the ITV mobile especially given the limited channel selection but if you're looking for a hassle-free live TV on your iPad it certainly deserves consideration I'm John Falcone for CNET and this is the elgato ITV mobile thanks for watching