A TV tuner/video capture card

[guynexdoor]

I'm thinking of getting into video editing, and also just having ability to watch TV on my PC.
I know that ATI and NVIDIA offer TV tuner cards. Is it true that ATI is better?

I'd like to have a remote control function.

Do you have any suggestions for cards that would be good? My budget is $100 which I think is sufficient right? Like I'd like to be able to capture mini DV videos onto my PC and make DVDs out of them...

 

[BlueWeasel]

I love my Leadtek Winfast card and got it from Newegg about 2 years ago for $50 shipped. I'm sure there are better choices now, though.

 

[guynexdoor]

Is it possible to do the things I want with the card you mentioned?

 

[BlueWeasel]

Sure -- I use the card to watch TV and record shows. It has audio and video in, so capturing DV video should be easy.

 

[NeoV]

they both stink....get a card with a dedicated tuner...Hauppage is the brand you are looking for

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: NeoV
they both stink....get a card with a dedicated tuner...Hauppage is the brand you are looking for

 

[guynexdoor]

yes, but what about feature sets. They don't do reviews on these products much do they? ANy pariticular model number?

 

[guynexdoor]

But do these cards have video in and audio in, if I wanted to connect my xbox to it?

 

[imported_FishTaco]

http://www.shspvr.com/

That link has reviews and forums discussing the software you'll need and the different hauppauge pvr models.

I think the tv cards have a slight lag, something you won't notice watching tv, but it might throw off your timing when using your xbox.

EDIT: I use gbpvr and a hauppauge pvr-150. It good enough for me to record shows from analog cable tv.

 

[Traire]

I have a Hauppauge PVR150. Its one of the best TV tuner cards with hardware video encoding. That means that it converts the analog signal into a file on your hard drive. Cheaper cards that dont have hardware encoding force the CPU to do the encoding work, which means that when your recording with a cheap card, you cant do pretty much anything else without risking corupting your recording.

As for using an Xbox, cards that have the hardware encoding will introduce a 2-3 second delay (lag) because the chip on the capture card is processing the video. Thus when you press a button on your Xbox controller, nothin will visibly happen for 2-3 seconds. Capture cards that do not have hardware encoding will not give you any lag.

I also use GB-PVR (http://www.gbpvr.com) as the software for watching and recording TV. Its a great piece of free software.

 

[Jeff7181]

What about a USB 2.0 or Firewire one?