TV Tuner

[Flanle]

So I've been looking around for a TV tuner card. Ive looked at a few previous posts on the subjuct.

I bassicaly want a TV tuner for my pc thats somewhat inexpensive, good quality to watch tv and some maybey some recording with ok quality.

But there seem to be many choices. There are ones that fit in PCI slots, theres USB, and of course theres the option of just bying a tv with the correct monitor ports, although i heard that it makes text look fuzzy do to pixels being different shapes then regular moniters.

any suggestions are appreciated

[gvblake22]

I really don't have any experience with add-on TV tuners, so I can't give you much advice there. But as far as using a regular CRT Television as a monitor, I can confirm that the text is not sharp and the picture is far from ideal. You would really have to get an HD TV if you wanted to use a TV as a PC monitor.

[Panda Man]

Actually if you force the resolution to 320x240 it looks pretty good on a CRT, most CRTs run at 320x240@30Hz. when I emulate games and such on my TV, I run it at 320x240@60Hz, looks great

As far as TV tuners go, I understand its not really the hardware that makes them great, but the software. If the card has the ports you need, go for it, but read reviews on it and make sure the bundled software is what you want (or 3rd party software works with that card). I myself am like blake on this subject, however I do plan to get a TV tuner card soon.

[stinger608]

Most of the $50.00 to $100.00 tv tuner cards are pretty good.
One of the better ones out there is Hauppage brand, (I think I spelled that correct), and they have great software for recording movies, favorite shows, and you can even set them up to record on a specific location automatically while you are not at your computer.

[PrOLifIC_onE]

yeah, I have the Hauppauge 250MCE. It goes in a PCI slot.

There is a difference between capture cards though. Some do their own decoding, converting video directly to mpeg (usually mpeg2). Some of the older and less expensive capture cards do not do the encoding, they simply capture and let the computer convert the video. Usually the video comes out fine on those for LIVE TV viewing/recording but you will not likely be able to use good viewing software with it because it will likely not pause/fast forward LIVE TV.

Also some newer cards now are specifically designed for HD TV. If you are getting a high definition signal then you may want to (or have to) get one of those cards.

If you just want a basic tuner with reasonable quality for a basic cable coax connection then I would go with a Hauppauge 150, 250 or 350 (it doesnt have to be an MCE version, the MCE versions just have additional rca connections. The cable coax connection is on both and it is the same quality (MCE or not). The possible picture quality improves as the model # increases, but the price increases as well. If you find an 500MCE, just know that it is a dual tuner card with two 150s on it...

My recommendation is the 250 or 350. I would only go with a 150 if the prices of the other 2 are way out of your range....

[sbohdan]

I have a hauppauge 150 and am happy with it. it has a very good hardware encoder (other cards at this price use the much worse software encoder) and it only differs from the 250 and 350 in features but not quality

[Carl Martin]

My last computer had an ATI Theater Pro, and I would not recommend that tuner. I got good results playing back recorded TV, but live viewing was quite poor. (I always found that strange and never found a solution; must have been the nature of the beast.)

[WhiteEagle]

My computer has a Hauppage TV card, and it's great. (Though I wish I could view channel 51 with my antenna!)

[wtcnbrwndo4u]

Anyone know any good USB ones? I need USB because it's for a laptop...

[Zambini]

I bought a KWORLD VS-TV7133 3DYC PVR-TV Card (Link is deactivated)

It was free after rebate (4 bucks w/shipping+tax total). Works well. I just haven't used it in a while cuz my current rig lacks room for it.

It was nice, but it didn't have the finesse of a good DVR tv system like Moxi.

Scheduler worked, and it claimed it could turn on your compy to record something and turn it back off, but I never tested it.