Do TV card work?

[statetech]

Do these actually work well? Pretty much like a TV would? How about reception?

I'd like to hear from those who have owned and used them. My gf wants to get a TV but I'm trying to persuade her not to but I'm running out of time since Xmas is coming up

If the TV cards work, any recommendations?

TIA

 

[dcdomain]

Hauppauge baby! I've used a TV card for the last 3 years and it has worked fine, it's nice to be able to watch TV in a window while you do your work, or sit back and watching it full screen. Hauppauge has awesome drivers, although some models are a little pricey. I own the Theatre which at the time was around $125. I'm sure you can get it for cheaper now.

ATI has some good cheap alternatives, but their driver support sucks.

For around $100, it's a pretty good value considering most of the cards usually support some kind of video capture or still shot capture. Definitely give it a go, and if it doesn't work, return it.

 

[samgau]

As long as it comes with a remote control.... it would suck without one.... I have an ATI -All in Wonder pro- which is easily 4 year old technology and TV reception is still excellent... lately I've been using it for my N64 and sony ps one... the only thing is that if you are running a higher resolution than 640x480 then when you do full screen it interpolates the image so it looks a little bit fuzzier than on a tv...

 

[Jublian]

Yeah, so obviously they do actually work and it's not a huge sham.

If you've got the space and the money, it might be worth it took actually get a separate television - what if your woman wants to watch tv but you're doing stuff on your machine? I've got the TV-Wonder, but I don't really have room for a tv and I like being able to record to my hard drive.