So, what you're left with is the laptop OTA tuner card as the best choice
It's my understanding that Analog OTA is supposed to have been discontinued, except for limited, low-power applications. I don't even have an antenna anymore to check. Are there still any NTSC TV broadcasts?
even a low-cost netbook running windows as a kind of all-purpose emergency communications station. I've been really happy with the Acer netbooks, and the Dell Mini-9 and Mini-10 are good too.
Have you had any success using any of these lower-cost netbooks with USB tuners? I know that just trying to watch HD video streams on my Atom-based EEE-pc can often be unsatisfactory.