AVerMedia AVerTV Combo PCIe ATSC/NTSC/QAM TV Tuner Card

[konakona]

ripped from techbargains

linky
user reviews at egg look quite good to me.
now, the card doesnt seem to include an antenna. is antenna a must have for adequate QAM reception?

funny thing is that they have an open box version of the same thing for the same price (due to supposed $20 discount) sans free shipping, hah!

wonder how good avermedia is with rebates...
Return completed form along with original or copy of sales
receipt from Newegg.com and the ORIGINAL UPC code
from the purchased product box. No photocopy
of the UPC code will be accepted. Keep copies of materials
submitted; Originals become AVerMedia?s property and
will not be returned.

 

[Karaktu]

QAM is from your cable provider.

If you want OTA HDTV, a $25 Terk indoor antenna is usually fine in most instances, but you can't go wrong putting up an aerial (on a pole or in your attic).

The cards are very good. The only thing worth more $$$ IMHO is the Vista View series...

BTW, two of these work and are supported under Windows MCE (gives you two HD and two analog tuners).

The retail/non-white box version of this card comes with an MCE remote and receiver.

Edit: I'm prety sure this rebate is handled by www.rebatestatus.com

 

[konakona]

Originally posted by: Karaktu
QAM is from your cable provider.

If you want OTA HDTV, a $25 Terk indoor antenna is usually fine in most instances, but you can't go wrong putting up an aerial (on a pole or in your attic).

The cards are very good. The only thing worth more $$$ IMHO is the Vista View series...

BTW, two of these work and are supported under Windows MCE (gives you two HD and two analog tuners).

The retail/non-white box version of this card comes with an MCE remote and receiver.

well to be honest i only have the vaguest i dea of QAM is really... arent you supposed to be able to watch HD materials without subscribing to a cable network?

could you explain what makes the vista view series better? I am not in the market for either one personally, but I have a friend of mine who would most definitely benetfit from getting a HDTV card thx!

 

[JJHayesIII]

I've got this card in my MediaPortal box, and it works great...the picture quality is excellent...haven't done any solid encoding benchmarks or anything yet, but I've been pleased with the quality of the card. Biggest downside so far is that it's not Linux compatible, and probably won't be for a while...

 

[Slick5150]

Originally posted by: konakona

Originally posted by: Karaktu
QAM is from your cable provider.

If you want OTA HDTV, a $25 Terk indoor antenna is usually fine in most instances, but you can't go wrong putting up an aerial (on a pole or in your attic).

The cards are very good. The only thing worth more $$$ IMHO is the Vista View series...

BTW, two of these work and are supported under Windows MCE (gives you two HD and two analog tuners).

The retail/non-white box version of this card comes with an MCE remote and receiver.

well to be honest i only have the vaguest i dea of QAM is really... arent you supposed to be able to watch HD materials without subscribing to a cable network?

could you explain what makes the vista view series better? I am not in the market for either one personally, but I have a friend of mine who would most definitely benetfit from getting a HDTV card thx!

QAM is essentially unencrypted digital cable. When you subscribe to ANY tier of cable service, they are required (I believe) to offer at least the broadcast networks (NBC, CBS, etc..) unencrypted in HD. So in addition to the analog channels, you'll be able to pick up digital channels. Which ones remain unencrypted is up to your cable provider. I can get the networks, TBS, History Channel, Discovery Channel, and a couple others from Comcast in HD, the remaining digital channels I have to watch on my TV hooked up to the cable box as they are encrypted.

ATSC is the over-the-air free digital TV. That you would need an antenna of some sorts to pull in the channels.

So, if you have cable TV in your house, you can use the QAM tuner. If not, you'll likely have to use ATSC.

 

[sparhawk6]

Originally posted by: Slick5150

Originally posted by: konakona

Originally posted by: Karaktu
QAM is from your cable provider.

If you want OTA HDTV, a $25 Terk indoor antenna is usually fine in most instances, but you can't go wrong putting up an aerial (on a pole or in your attic).

The cards are very good. The only thing worth more $$$ IMHO is the Vista View series...

BTW, two of these work and are supported under Windows MCE (gives you two HD and two analog tuners).

The retail/non-white box version of this card comes with an MCE remote and receiver.

well to be honest i only have the vaguest i dea of QAM is really... arent you supposed to be able to watch HD materials without subscribing to a cable network?

could you explain what makes the vista view series better? I am not in the market for either one personally, but I have a friend of mine who would most definitely benetfit from getting a HDTV card thx!

QAM is essentially unencrypted digital cable. When you subscribe to ANY tier of cable service, they are required (I believe) to offer at least the broadcast networks (NBC, CBS, etc..) unencrypted in HD. So in addition to the analog channels, you'll be able to pick up digital channels. Which ones remain unencrypted is up to your cable provider. I can get the networks, TBS, History Channel, Discovery Channel, and a couple others from Comcast in HD, the remaining digital channels I have to watch on my TV hooked up to the cable box as they are encrypted.

Comcast is quite generous in your area. Normally they only push the network HD channels unencrypted.

And they are not required to do it. It is up to their discretion.

 

[imported_docsparky]

Using some beta drivers and beta channel scanning app from Avermedia, I was able to get QAM support in Vista Media Center (The Green Button has some info on it). The quality of the picture is good in both analog and digital. As a previous poster mentioned a $30 Terk antenna works well (I have the one he linked).

 

[Binky]

Great deal and a very nice card. Picture quality is excellent under Vista MCE. I've had zero issues with this card.

I haven't experimented with the QAM. I read the instructions for it and it just sounded annoying. Maybe I'm just too lazy.

 

[scootermaster]

Better or worse than an HDHomerun? I thought the major advantage of that was the dual-tuning QAM support in Vista/MCE? But if this has support for Vista/MCE is it a better bet?

 

[imported_docsparky]

Originally posted by: Binky
I haven't experimented with the QAM. I read the instructions for it and it just sounded annoying. Maybe I'm just too lazy.

Be warned that the VMC QAM stuff is annoying (in fact very), but it did eventually work and is still working. Just for the record though, the Avermedia TV software from their site worked with QAM right off the bat, I just prefer the easy scheduling with VMC. I've had zero problems with the hardware itself.

I believe the HDHomeRun is easier to work with than this card. The only downside to the HDHomeRun is that it cost more and can be overloaded if you have too many clients accessing it at the same time (pretty rare occurrence).

We are quickly becoming addicted to HD content due to this card.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Do you have to have MCE or Vista for QAM enabled TV Tuners? Or this one in particular?

 

[imported_docsparky]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Do you have to have MCE or Vista for QAM enabled TV Tuners? Or this one in particular?

No, in fact MCE and VMC don't support QAM on tuners out of the box. Avermedia is one of the few companies that even have beta support for QAM in VMC. The Avermedia software works fine with this tuner. Check out GB-PVR (free PVR for Windows) as I hear that it has support for QAM wtih this tuner.

BTW, OTA HD worked great with this card. I picked up my card from NewEgg a month back and was looking at picking up a second one.

 

[ra990]

I can vouch for this card. Its been running great in my HTPC box for over a year now. Both vista and XP MCE.

 

[tdawg]

In for one. I already have two ATI Theatre 550 cards in my PC, but am completely hooked on HD media, so this was a no brainer.

 

[cyberia]

Originally posted by: Karaktu
The retail/non-white box version of this card comes with an MCE remote and receiver.

If I remember correctly, they had the retail version with the remote for sale for around $90 a couple of weeks ago. Considering that it comes with a real Vista MCE remote, it was a good deal.

 

[Karaktu]

Originally posted by: cyberia

Originally posted by: Karaktu
The retail/non-white box version of this card comes with an MCE remote and receiver.

If I remember correctly, they had the retail version with the remote for sale for around $90 a couple of weeks ago. Considering that it comes with a real Vista MCE remote, it was a good deal.

The bundled remote will work with XP MCE or Vista MCE and is a stylish black. Unfortunately, it's still the big, bulky IR receiver.

The Vista View cards have better picture quality due to the tuners used, and the tuners are NOT hybrid tuners, but true independent hardware tuners.

Edit: There is no official QAM support for either version of Windows Media Center at this point. A HD HomeRun "fools" Windows into supporting QAM, but it is something of a tedious setup. QAM support has been promised for quite some time, but hasn't appeared yet.

Other PVR programs do support QAM.

 

[cyberia]

Do those Vista View cards support QAM at all (even outside MCE)? QAM suppor tis one of the major features of the AverMedia card.

 

[beergeek]

Originally posted by: cyberia
Do those Vista View cards support QAM at all (even outside MCE)? QAM suppor tis one of the major features of the AverMedia card.

Well, the write-up on the JR web site says:

The ATSC hardware is QAM capable for Optional Cable/Dish connections. Saber DA-1N1-E works with Vista Media Center, XP-MCE and other third party media applications. No application Software is included

So it would appear that if you had appropriate SW it would, but it isn't clear what that SW would be...

 

[Chunkee]

does beyond tv...i have that program with my hauppauge 150dvr...thinking of giving it to my pops and upgrading as my new Vista Ultimate is coming soon from the participation program.

JC

 

[bradley]

Is this card better than the Hauppauge PVR-1600? I've read reports of it running hot, yet, Tom's Hardware stated that the card never gets above 100°.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: scootermaster
Better or worse than an HDHomerun? I thought the major advantage of that was the dual-tuning QAM support in Vista/MCE? But if this has support for Vista/MCE is it a better bet?

Two different applications. AverTV isn't going to put your channels on the network, HDHomeRun will.

This is a great deal. The AverTV has phenomenal image quality and handles QAM like a charm.