Experience with TV Tuners?

[EBphotography]

I am looking into getting a TV Tuner for my computer, Best Buy has ATI's 200 PCI TV Tuner on sale for 43 bucks this week, and I am wondering if anyone has experience with this card, or any TV Tuners for that matter? They also offer an "Elite" one, wondering if there is a difference in quality or just features.

Thanks guys.

 

[Mitica100]

Ooh... I'm curious now! I have cable in my den where the computer is and wouldn't mind plugging it in.

 

[EBphotography]

Hehe! If only someone with a little knowledge could assist our curiosity!

 

[Xmetal]

I've got a TV Tuner/Capture Card in my PC, has dual-digital recievers so I can watch TV on one half and record on the other. If I knew what the broadcasting arrangement was in America i'd be able to make better decision for you.

Basically here we've got standard-def and high-def digital broadcasting and my tuner/capture card gets both levels of broadcast, I can't get Digital TV on the tuner with a basic indoor antenna either so you have to use an outdoor antenna to get good signal.

 

[clarinetJWD]

Well, I'd be careful. I didn't think this was possible, but with my ATI TV Wonder PCI, at home in Texas, it works fine, though the quality is a bit rough, and the audio has a high pitched whistle when using a coaxial cable for a signal (higher quality cards should address this issue). At school in Baltimore, it barely worked at all, when you had it auto find channels, it couldn't... You get a horrible picture, but audio is fine. I resorted to watching TV in B&W because it was easier on the eyes...

I also have an external TV->VGA adapter by Viewsonic which has great sound and picture quality, but it didn't even get audio here in Baltimore. (Texas is AOL Time Warner Cable, Baltimore is Comcast). My advice, find someone nearby with one, and ask them, because it seems to vary from place to place. I ended up junking the card, thinking it was broken... :S

 

[JDS]

I've got a Hauppage PVR 150 and an ATI HDTV Wonder in a media center PC. So I get standard-def and hi-def broadcasts on that...I love having a DVR...

If all you want is standard-def, I've had pretty good luck with Hauppage cards - I've got an old, old WinTV card from when they first started making them, and as far as I know it still works..although its quality isn't quite up to par with today's cards. My PVR 150 works great for anything standard-def.

 

[Xmetal]

Something else I forgot to mention - you will need HEAPS of RAM and free Hard Drive space if your card has timeshift capability.

 

[MommyOf4Boys]

my new computer I just got has a TV tuner I think LOL...it says I can hook my cable up to it and watch, record, and pause live TV and my computer even came with a remote control like a regular tv remote. Now if I only knew how to use it HAHA!

 

[morydd]

I've got a cheapo ($20) hauppage card that is just a tuner card, no capture. It works fine under linux to recieve regular cable TV. It is somewhat resource intensive, and I find that if I try and go very big with the window while doing anything else I get some audio delay. I mostly use it if there's a baseball game or something on that I just want in the background while I'm working at the computer.

If you're wanting something like that, a cheap card will probably be fine. However, if you're wanting to do timeshifting and such, you'll probably want a card that does as much as possible on-board.

 

[DeepSpring]

I got an external one for around $30 and it works just fine IF YOU DONT TOUCH THE COMPUTER!!!!!!! If I try and do anything the audio becomes un synched and you have to stop it and wait a few seconds and hit play. I think it is just the software because my computer is pretty fast but the tv watching software is like 5 years old.....

 

[Tiberius]

The best cards for quality and universal support are Hauppage. If you do get a Hauppage, though, get it only for TV - since they have hardware decoding there's a 1-2 second delay between the signal and what hits your computer screen - not a problem for TV, but for Video Games, etc. it's unbearable.

 

[captblue1]

i have the hauppauge 150 and it works fine. i only have 512mb of ram. you should get a hardware decoding card. this will take alot of strain off of the CPU. I beleive the ATI all in wonder cards are software decoders. i mostly use mine to schedule recording and then watch them when i have time. I am planning on building something that uses this case. http://www.logicsupply.com/product_info.php/cPath/23_85/products_id/33
it is very small and quiet. i don't want somehting loud and big next to the tv.