are ATi's TV-tuners worth paying for?

[zCypher]

Do any of you here use them? I NEVER watch TV anymore mainly for the reason that we don't have cable anymore, and have a 30 year old TV (old one broke, haven't gotten new one). If I could lazily watch from the comfort of my chair, I might... so what's the best tv tuner and is it worth it? how much are they? difference between ATi's TV tuner and "VE" tv tuner?

 

[Brian48]

The ATI TV Wonder VE I have worked fine under Win98, was so-so under Win2k, and completely sucks under WinXP. ATI has not upgraded the drivers in a long time. Don't think they ever will.

Anyway, I only used it long enough to transfer my VHS wedding video into .mpg format. It collects dust now.

 

[zCypher]

Originally posted by: Brian48
The ATI TV Wonder VE I have worked fine under Win98, was so-so under Win2k, and completely sucks under WinXP. ATI has not upgraded the drivers in a long time. Don't think they ever will.

Anyway, I only used it long enough to transfer my VHS wedding video into .mpg format. It collects dust now.

Thanks for the input. I use WinXP... are there any cards that would work alright with WinXP?

 

[StraightPipe]

Window released an XP media center version. but is didnt support any cards one card I never heard of. you can check it out the review article at anandtech.

 

[PraetorianGuards]

zCypher, I used the TV Wonder VE under WinXP for about a year before it bit the dust. ATI's drivers for XP are OK but not great. A better alternative would be to get a card such as the Leadtek Winfast 2000XP Deluxe. Newegg sells them for about $55 dollars and they are great. Good XP drivers, comes with remote, good viewing and recording software. Also tunes in to FM stations.

Oh and the difference between the VE and regular ATI TV Wonder afaik is that the VE edition is only capable of mono sound. It can't output stereo. There could other differences, sorry I can't help more. When I bought the VE I didn't really care if it had stereo sound, just wanted something that worked.

 

[aswedc]

Before you buy any TV tuner be advised that because of the nature of monitors vs. TVs the image quality will be noticably less sharp on your PC. There is a program that can help to fix this problem as well as make ATI tuners work well under Windows XP: DScaler, which runs some sort of heavy duty calculations to make it look better. The catch is you need a CPU with at least 500mhz for good results. Under Windows XP, you can use DSaler instead of ATI's tuner software so you avoid the compatibility issues which are with the TV software not the drivers.

 

[zCypher]

Originally posted by: aswedc
Before you buy any TV tuner be advised that because of the nature of monitors vs. TVs the image quality will be noticably less sharp on your PC. There is a program that can help to fix this problem as well as make ATI tuners work well under Windows XP: DScaler, which runs some sort of heavy duty calculations to make it look better. The catch is you need a CPU with at least 500mhz for good results. Under Windows XP, you can use DSaler instead of ATI's tuner software so you avoid the compatibility issues which are with the TV software not the drivers.

Thanks a lot for the replies, they've been very helpful.

PraetorianGuards - I would pay $55 for that card, it sounds great - but newegg doesn't ship to canada. :| Where can I purchase it?

Would this card be better, or the ATi with the fix program? 500MHz is no prob, I have a 1.3 tbird so I should be good

 

[PraetorianGuards]

Sorry about that zCypher :Q. I was looking around and I saw the GoogleGear sells it but it's $62. However, the one they are selling isn't the "Deluxe" model that Newegg sells(which is what I have). Description looks the same, but it seems like they are some differences. I looked at their FAQS and it seems like they do ship to Canada. I personally have never ordered from them but their ResellerRatings is pretty good.

I've never linked before so here goes hehe

LeadTek card at GoogleGear

It's up to you which card you want, both are pretty good. I've fiddled around with Dscaler w/the VE but I can't tell you mich past that hehe.

 

[paralazarguer]

They're garbage. Don't pay a penny for them. Get ANYTHING else.

 

[zCypher]

Originally posted by: PraetorianGuards
Sorry about that zCypher :Q. I was looking around and I saw the GoogleGear sells it but it's $62. However, the one they are selling isn't the "Deluxe" model that Newegg sells(which is what I have). Description looks the same, but it seems like they are some differences. I looked at their FAQS and it seems like they do ship to Canada. I personally have never ordered from them but their ResellerRatings is pretty good.

I've never linked before so here goes hehe

LeadTek card at GoogleGear

It's up to you which card you want, both are pretty good. I've fiddled around with Dscaler w/the VE but I can't tell you mich past that hehe.

Thanks! I didn't know googlegear shipped to Canada. I just upped my credit to 1700 from 500, and I only have about 70 left to pay off there... so once I'm done that I'll feel more comfortable buying a couple things... tv tuner, gig of ram, dvd player, video card.. hehe

thanks for all the info, it was very helpful!

 

[zCypher]

microstar tv tuner

this is a local shop... this tv tuner is 92cad which is 62usd... so shipping would be cheaper from here, or i could pick it up directly. is that any good?

the leadtek is here and is 99cad. worthwhile? there is also a samsung tv tuner... and two viewsonic tv tuners! expensive one ouch, $229... remote... how about this one for 166 bucks? (cad currency)

more input appreciated

found the ATi here.. $109cad. The VE was only $71 but it said "(no S-Video & no Mpeg I Compression)"

 

[coolred]

aswedc, are you sure Dscaler works with radeon cards. I was under the impression that it did not.


Also could someone who has used both tell me which tuner has better quality between the LEADTEK WINFAST "DELUXE" TV2000XP and the ATI AIW 9700Pro with videosoap. I know the ATI is an AIW not just a TV tuner, but that shouldn't make a differance.

 

[coolred]

Okay just looked it up on the dscaler site, dscaler will work with the ATI TV wonder, just not the tuner on the AIW cards, that sucks. It has no mention of the VE card, but if it works with the standard card it likely works with the VE version.

Now for an addition to my question, the leadtek card does support dscaler. So now how would the ledtek using dscaler perform against the aformentioned ATI AIW 9700Pro with videosoap.

 

[PraetorianGuards]

Originally posted by: zCypher
microstar tv tuner

this is a local shop... this tv tuner is 92cad which is 62usd... so shipping would be cheaper from here, or i could pick it up directly. is that any good?

the leadtek is here and is 99cad. worthwhile? there is also a samsung tv tuner... and two viewsonic tv tuners! expensive one ouch, $229... remote... how about this one for 166 bucks? (cad currency)

more input appreciated

found the ATi here.. $109cad. The VE was only $71 but it said "(no S-Video & no Mpeg I Compression)"

That Microstar one looks pretty sweet. Couldn't find any reviews but I found a site that said it could do real time mpeg4 encoding! That's pretty sweet. I wouldn't get the VE, the Microstar or Leadtek ones seem like good purchases.

 

[zCypher]

Thanks again for the input!

coolred stop stealing my thread

OK, microstar or leadtek it is!

 

[chizow]

There's also the Asus TV880 which costs a bit more than the Leadtek, but has the newer CX880 decoder/encoder chip. Main difference is it has an integrated adaptive comb filter that helps deinterlace the overlay image similar to the adaptive comb filter you'd find on most TV sets. The software suite is also excellent, and provides a copy of AsusDVD XP (rebadged PowerVCR 4) along with other Cyberlink software (PowerVCR II, PowerDirector, etc.). I got it for ~$80 from Newegg. It has a nice remote and break-out box as well for video/audio inputs.

Chiz

 

[coolred]

coolred stop stealing my thread

Yeah, sorry about that. I am just trying to find out peoples opinions of these 2 units.

That MSI tuner seems to have the CX881, is this older or newer then the CX880 mentioned earlier? I would assume newer, but that doesn't sound right.

 

[zCypher]

Originally posted by: coolred

coolred stop stealing my thread

Yeah, sorry about that. I am just trying to find out peoples opinions of these 2 units.

it's all good dude i was just kiddin around.

anyway... so now my choices are Asus, Microstar and Leadtek? Now how to choose?

 

[coolred]

I knew you were joking, but I appologized anyway.

Anyhow, I did manage to find a couple reviews of the MSI card. The trick is to search for @nywhere, not anywhere

Sharky Extreme gave it an 8.5

Some user reviews here

There look like a few more as well, like i said just do a search for MSI TV @nywhere.

 

[paperfist]

Sorry to bust in on your thread zCypher, but what ever happened to the nVidia Personal Cinema line based on the GeForce4 MX cards that were suppose to be out in February? Those sounded like the TV tuner cards to get?

 

[coolred]

Wow, been reading some user reviews of that MSI card and most people don't like it. They say the video quality is great, but everything else sucks. It is supposed to support MPEG4 recording, but as of yet does not, supposedly a patch is in the works to fix this. It does not support Stereo sound, even though it is supposed to. I heard one guy say they used the wrong chip, so nothing can fix the stereo issue. Some people say the layout of the backpane of the card makes it difficult if not imppossible to install in some cases. thats mainly what i've heard, but there were some other problems mentioned. So it doesn't look like a great option, unless all you plan to do is watch TV with it.

 

[coolred]

The personal cinema doesn't even hold a candle to the ATI tuners let alone anything else, plus that is an entire new video card, i think he just wants the tuner

 

[zCypher]

Originally posted by: coolred
The personal cinema doesn't even hold a candle to the ATI tuners let alone anything else, plus that is an entire new video card, i think he just wants the tuner

Although my video card is slow at TNT2-32MB and I do plan to upgrade, I do just want the TV tuner. But I want the best solution for it. How exactly do they work anyway? Do I have to pay a monthly fee for channels or what? What channels will I be able to watch? How does it receive them? cable, antennae, satellite, what?

 

[coolred]

ASUS TV880 got great reviews, all around.

 

[coolred]

You don't have to pay anyhing to use the card. You do need a coax connection from, as you said, an antenna, sattelite, or cable TV. You will be able to view whatever channels the input allows you too. Obviously an antenna will only provide a few channels, as opposed to cable or sattelite, but those options cost more.