ADS Tech Instant HDTV PCI Card VS ATI HDTV Wonder TV and HDTV Tuner PCI Card

[fatdragondzc]

I'm building a new comp for myself and im slowly piecing it together. I was looking around for more parts and i ran across HD tuners. I wanted one so i can watch games in HD on my comp. but the thing is iono which is more suited for me. The ATI card needs a external attenae or something in order to pick up HD signals and the ADS card i cant seem to find much info on it. Mayb my fellow forumers can help me in choosing a HD card. even if its not these two.

ANY SUGGESTION OF HD CARD IS ACCPETED TFYO

 

[Kartajan]

the state of HD is rather poor right now, until OCUR type cards are out, the vast majority of HD capable cards are (a) only useable for cable with vendor software, or (b) not useable at all with cable.

You want QAM capable tuners for digital cable, most (all that I have seen) HD cards are ATSC, which is over the air HD only.

This will allegedly be no longer a problem when vista comes out due to the cable card tuners, but time will tell.

 

[erwos]

If you've got cable, I'm not sure I would get either of them. QAM support is non-existent, mostly, with a very few cards supporting it partially. Wait for OCUR/CableCard.

If you can tolerate OTA reception (and with a good antenna, it can be pretty good), I've had good success with the HDTV Wonder in Windows XP, and I've heard that Windows MCE is even better (since you no longer have to tolerate ATI's so-so media center software).

 

[videopho]

I've used the ATI HDTV tuner for almost 2 years now but I'd however, not recommend it since ATI is working on a 2nd gen of the tuner and I have no idea when it hits street. For now I'd recommend you to go to avs site (search under HDTV for PC) where there are a great deals of interests about this specific question. I myself would start to look for a replacement for my new build and I'm currently considering the tuners from DVICO which offers a usb version that claims to be QAM ready, which I have some reservation about. The usb is even nicer if you own a laptop and travel much which may also suites me well.
Link for anyone who may be interested:

dvico HDTV tuners

 

[jnmfox]

I have a MyHD 130 that supports OTA HD and QAM. It does HD hardware decoding so you don?t have to use CPU cycles to watch/record/timeshift HD. Because of the hardware decoding it is more expensive but I feel it's worth it. I tried the ATI HDTV wonder I didn't care for it, but I love my 130. One nice thing if you can get OTA HD is I believe the broadcast isn?t compressed were as if you?re using QAM the cable/ satellite company will compress the HD broadcast to save space. Here is a nice anandtech review on the subject.

 

[fatdragondzc]

srry, for the time being i dont think im getting cable kinda tight on cash, plus i work most of the time. and wat is QAM? srry for my lack of knowledge in this area, but i am interested and would like to hear more about it. I mean from what you guys are saying i should wait for the nexgen cards to come out because it supports cable hookup better?

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: fatdragondzc
srry, for the time being i dont think im getting cable kinda tight on cash, plus i work most of the time. and wat is QAM? srry for my lack of knowledge in this area, but i am interested and would like to hear more about it. I mean from what you guys are saying i should wait for the nexgen cards to come out because it supports cable hookup better?

QAM is the cable companies' format for unencrypted channels. You only need to worry about it if you have cable and want to get hi-def out of it. If you're just doing over the air, then it doesn't matter and isn't a feature you need.

I don't think I would recommend waiting for the supposed next gen such as ATi's OCUR. First of all, I think that VISTA might be a requirement, and who knows for sure when it will actually make it to market or be worth it. Same with the hardware, there's no sure way to tell when it might be available and how well it will work. The last and probably the most important thing is that OCUR needs CableCard, which cable companies haven't exactly been ecstatic about (in fact, more or less the cable companies are trying to kill off Cablecard). Also keep in mind again if you don't plan on going cable then OCUR won't really matter much to you since its basically like incorporating a digital cable box into your PC.

 

[jnmfox]

I agree with darkswordsman17, who knows when the new technology will come out and how it will work. Especially considering how easy it is to get OTA (over the air) HD signals that look and sound great.

If you don?t have cable/satellite and don?t plan on getting it then the only way to pick up HD signals would be OTA with a HD antenna. If this is the case look toward the DVICO FusionHDTV card, about $150 uses software decoding (your CPU); or the MyHD for about $250 with hardware decoding. Read the anandtech review to see the pro and cons of each. You can find both at www.digitalconnection.com. Just make sure you can receive OTA HD signals in your area, here is a good link to see what is offered in your area and what type of antenna is recommended. http://www.checkhd.com/aw/welcome.aspx