Is there a better solution then Hauppauge WinTV?

[Lothar1974]

I am not home ever and need a good system, I was using a 9700 AIW but am upgrading my video card to a 6800 GT. What is the best tuner card/device out there? Any help is appreciated!

Lothar1974

 

[sigpop]

these folks are probably more experienced with such questions:
http://www.videohelp.com/forum/

 

[supagold]

If you want the best single-tuner solution, it's probably one of the ATI Theater 550-based cards. I believe there's an MCE tuner card comparison on this site. I picked up a Sapphire Theater 550 card for about $75, and I'm really happy with the quality.

 

[Bateluer]

In my experience, all TV Tuner products have their quircks.

 

[Lothar1974]

ATI Theater 550-based

Are they basically the same as an AIW card as far as the tuner and software? I am having issues with the scheduler from my ATI 9700 AIW. It errors out and ATI has no idea what to do. I am just wondering if a Hauppauge tuner would be better? Thanks!

 

[Capt Caveman]

The ATI Theater 550 based cards use a new chipset that currently provides that best analog picture reception available. So unfortunately no, the older AIW video cards do not use it.

I just recently got the Visionteck Xtasy Theater 550 tv tuner for under $60 after rebate. It comes with Beyond TV and so far I'm very happy with it.

 

[Lothar1974]

Capt Caveman, this sounds interesting. I hate the Gemstar Guideplus software that came with my 9700 AIW, plus it's always crapping out with the same error "ATISCHED.EXE ERROR". An ATI tech also told me that their current Catalyst has issues. I have had a ticket open since January and ATI still can't figure it out, nice huh!

 

[IeraseU]

Have you looked at one of the Beyond TV software + hardware bundles? http://www.snapstream.com/products/beyondtv/default.asp

You can get software + capture card (internal or usb), or software + capture card + remote.