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Best TV tuner card?

jdoggg12

jdoggg12

Platinum Member
I'm in the process of revamping some of my computer and i'm wanting to watch tv on it. We have digital cable, but i'm guessing the card will likely bypass that unless i want to get a separate cable box for my pc.

How does HDTV decoding work on the cards? is it over the air only? i know nothing about these cards

Whats the best for under $120? I want to use it like tivo on my XP home eddition. Do you need a pay subscription service to do that?

Also - best dual layer burner? Speed is not important just burn quality and compatibility. I can't seem to find the benq 1655 anywhere so whats the best alternative? Is there a better one under $80?
I'd preferably like to have lightscribe too.

thanks!!

Also - any recomendations for the software to get with the tv card?
 
ATI All-In-Wonder I suppose is a good TV-Tuner card, I'm not sure though. I myself have a oldish Hauppauge WinTV Tuner, and it does it job ok.
As for DVD burners, NEC 3550A are cheap awesome burners 😀 , and theres probably a lightscribe version not sure on that though.
 
I'd recommend hauppauge. I had an old card from them...old as in 7ish years old, and it still worked fine in every version of windows i used (never tried it in vista though). I've since upgraded to a pair of the hauppauge 500's, which are dual tuner cards. So now i can record 4 channels at the same time. If you do that that though, get a big hard drive 🙂

Also, as far as software goes, i use snapstream.com. I've been very pleased with their products and their company as a whole.

And yes, for digital you'd need a separate cable box (or for any of the premium channels also most likely). Most of the channels i watch though arent digitally encoded so it works fine for me without going through the cable box.
 
I found a good one a couple months or so ago, a hauppauge on tigerdirect.com

Whatever you do!!!!
Do NOT buy a TV Tuner from a company called Pro-Link (I found it on NewEgg)
What a horror story that was. It ate the drivers for my sound card and then crashed my system. I had a Turtle Beach sound card and was running XP

A good "TiVo" like program is something like Wonder TV (not 100% on the name).
I believe it comes with the tuner I found on Tigerdirect.com. There isn't a subscription for it, all you need is a cable subscription

Sorry, no ideas about a burner
 
I've been very happy with my Hauppauge PVR 250 and LG or NEC burners. I believe the PVR150 replaced the 250. I've had mine for several years and never had a problem with it.
 
Got the hauppauge 250. The thing is silicon magic. HW tuners rock. Even when I totally screw up my pc the recording service still takes its <10% cpu and records flawlessly. I'm also using beyond tv ver 3 and 4. Great product but sage tv looked great also but beyond went on sale 1st.
 
Most, if not all PCI TV tuners are only for analog cable. Since you're using a digital service, you're SOL.

As for best DVD burner, get a Plextor.
 
Not true for anywhere but the US. Plenty of digital (satellite, off-the-air, cable) tuner cards everywhere else.
 
I have 7 years old ATI TV wonder VE installed but I have not test it because I don't have a cable but in the past it was great. Good picture quailty Paid for 50 buck
 
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