Another TV Tuner Card Question

imported_nunya

Senior member
Jul 15, 2005
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I'm looking to buy a TV Tuner Card and the Hauppauge pvr-150 seems to get good reviews around here, I've seen people recommend ATI also. However, everyone keeps saying that the software they comming with is lacking and that 3rd party software is recommended. My question is, is there a decent TV Tuner Card w/ hardware encoding that comes with good software for PVR, etc., or will I be stuck buying the card and a different program to run it?
 

Matthias99

Diamond Member
Oct 7, 2003
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I use BeyondTV on my HTPC, and they have some bundle deals where you can buy a capture board and the BTV software together at a discount. I'm not aware of any capture cards that come with really good software (although if you want a dedicated HTPC and don't mind using Linux, MythTV is free).

Also, the software that comes with most cards is just fine if all you want to do is watch TV and occasionally record something. Nicer PVR software has things like a fully integrated TV guide/schedule, can handle multiple capture cards in one system, gives you more control over file formats and encoders/decoders, has a nice 10-foot UI, that sort of thing. You can always try the bundled software and then upgrade to something else if you don't like what came with it. BeyondTV and SageTV (probably the two biggest Windows-based PVR programs) both have free trials.
 

imported_dakota81

Junior Member
Nov 2, 2005
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I've got both a PVR-250 and a PVR-150 in different computers here. Their software is decent, but takes some getting used to, figuring out how to adjust like the recording quality settings and such. But for me, I get that stuff set up once then never really adjust them again. The software has definately gotten better over the years, though there are two issues I do not like about the scheduling software, the scheduled programs must always have a start and end date, and you can only set the scheduler to record in 30 minute increments. But other than that, I've definately like the product enough to buy a second.

But I mean, I've got the cards to only do recording, I never watch t.v. with them, so for me the provided software from Hauppauge is more than adequate.

Haven't tried out ATi's new cards, though I think they've been getting very good reviews on their video recording quality.
 

bendixG15

Diamond Member
Mar 9, 2001
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I've had a couple of TV cards, the latest is the
PRV-150 for almost a year now.
The bundled software is sufficient to watch and capture TV.

If you want to get into video enhancement, editing, etc
(not required to watch and capture TV)
then you got to get other software.
Thats the software that is lacking from the usual TV cards.
Its an entirely seperate game with a steep learning curve.
 

imported_nunya

Senior member
Jul 15, 2005
612
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Not really looking to get into any crazy video editing, basically want to convert a bunch of VHS to DVD and record the occasional TV program. A 30 minute timer on the PVR-150 is kinda lame. Thanks for all the info.