Best dual tuner card?

[SmoochyTX]

I've been out of the tuner game for awhile and was wondering what the best dual tuner card is at the moment? I'm looking at buying a new desktop in the next month or so (prob from Dell) that will have Vista Home Premium, quad core, etc.

I will be wanting to use the Media Center within Vista so separate software for the card is not necessary and basically unwanted.

Any suggestions? Price isn't really a factor unless you're talking over $250.

TIA

 

[Binky]

The Hauppauge 500 has dual SD tuners. There was also a dual tuner Nvidia card. If it were me, I'd stick with the Hauppauge.

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages...ts/data_pvr500mce.html

But - I'd strongly suggest reconsidering your SD only requirement. The HD/SD combo cards are the way to go right now. Look at the avermedia M780 (aka PCIe combo) and the hauppauge 1600/1800. Missingremote.com has few helpful guides:

http://www.missingremote.com/i...iew&id=1542&Itemid=236


http://www.missingremote.com/i...iew&id=2034&Itemid=232

 

[SmoochyTX]

Originally posted by: Binky
The Hauppauge 500 has dual SD tuners. There was also a dual tuner Nvidia card. If it were me, I'd stick with the Hauppauge.

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages...ts/data_pvr500mce.html

But - I'd strongly suggest reconsidering your SD only requirement. The HD/SD combo cards are the way to go right now. Look at the avermedia M780 (aka PCIe combo) and the hauppauge 1600/1800. Missingremote.com has few helpful guides:

http://www.missingremote.com/i...iew&id=1542&Itemid=236


http://www.missingremote.com/i...iew&id=2034&Itemid=232

I do a lot of watching and recording of TV shows on my computer so I have to be able to watch one show while recording at least one other. I also only keep them on the hard drive for a fairly short period of time and rarely burn them to DVDs so as long as the quality is clear and decent, SD is fine. Wish there was an easy way for me to watch one and record two or three others but I'm sure that's something completely different.

I don't need to watch or record HD on my computer. I do subscribe to HD and the DVR box is on my TV but I just want to be able to use the regular coax cable that I'm using right now.

Would I have to do anything special if I bought an HD/SD combo card?