Please recommend me a tv tuner card

[jfall]

I am in the market for a tv tuner card and I really need some suggestions. When it comes to this I have no clue.. I'm not sure what specs to look for etc.

I am going to be putting it in an AMD 800 system, Asus v7700 Geforce2 GTS, 256ram, SB Live Value, Windows XP Pro. I want it to be a PCI card, not USB or anything else. I am going to be hooking up my DirectTV sattellite dish to it. I also want the sound to come out my computer speakers, so I guess I would need an audio loopback so I can hook it directly to the sound card. I don't want to skimp on the price, I want a good quality one.. something that will run in full screen and look great without problems.. and something that XP will work with. Also, I want to hook it up via S-Video.

What do you guys recommend? Also, I guess a tv tuner with a remote would be useless because from what I see, most TV tuners only go up to 125 channels... but my sattellite gets 999 channels.. so I figure that i'm going to have to leave it on input or channel 3 or something and switch the channels with my directTV receiver... is that possible to do? Or are there special tuners you can get that are for sattelite receivers?

Thanks

 

[Demon-Xanth]

WinTV model 401.

Tuner cards are NOT satallite recievers so what you'll need to do is either put the antenna or the svideo/composite in to the tuner card (svid/composite recommended) from the reciever. With composite in you simply select the source as video in and bam, there's picture. The reason why I recommend the 401 is because it has stereo and svideo in. Side benefits are FM radio and a remote. And it works as advertized! The drivers are stable, and even generic drivers work well.

edit: they don't mention this in the manual but it's painfully odvious, you can use either the internal CD connector or the external loop back for getting sound to the sound card.

 

[jfall]

Ok.. that just reminded me of something.. I forgot all about s-video not carrying sound.. so I guess to get sound I will need to run RCA from the left and right on the sattellite receiver to left and right RCA inputs on the card... so I need a card with l/r RCA inputs as well.


So is this WinTV model 401 any good? Who makes it? and you said that it has stereo IN .. I assum that is rca left and right inputs?

 

[Demon-Xanth]

The input is the same 1/8" phono jack that's on most sound cards. The manufacturer is Haupagge and the card typically runs $99

 

[jfall]

oh ok.. so on my SB live.. I have two outputs used right now.. I have an altec 4 speaker + sub set.. using the two outputs on the sound card. So I just have to run an 1/8" from the TV tuner to the 1/8" input on the sound card?

The only problem I see with that is I won't have sound... how is the sound going to get from my sattellite receiver to my computer?

 

[Demon-Xanth]

the audio from the reciever goes into the tuner, and the audio from that either goes to the sound card's external line in or to a internal CD/Aux/TAD in

 

[jfall]

Ok... I just want to be sure that the audio input on the tuner is RCA.

Also, do these have to be hooked up to the video card in any way? And should it work fine with my geforce2?

 

[Demon-Xanth]

They're not RCA, they're 1/8" phono, but the RCA->1/8" phono cables are widely available as are adapters and there usually isn't a difference in price compared to RCA-RCA cables. And it works via overlay, so no connection to the videocard is required.

 

[jfall]

Ok lol... thanks for all your posts btw

So basically I run an Svideo cable from my sattellite receiver to the s-video input on the tuner. I then get an RCA to 1/8" cable and plug the RCA ends into the left and right on my receiver and then plug the 1/8" end into the 1/8" audio input on the tuner card. Then from the tuner card I can either use an audio loopback cable to hook it directly to the sound card from inside the computer or use another 1/8" cable to go from the output on the tuner to the 1/8" input on my sb live. lol do I have it right now?

Also, running rca to 1/8" is there any quality loss? it will still be stereo sound right? and does the audio loopback cable come with it? if not, would one from a cdrom be the same thing?

On second thought... why would I go from the receiver to the tuner to the sound card... could I just use that rca to 1/8" and go directly to the input on the sound card?

Either way, it looks like this card should work fine for me.. it will just be a matter of getting the proper cables to hook it up right. Although I must admit, I am a little concerned about the quality.. I read a couple of reviews and they didn't seem to think the quality was all that great.

Does anyone have any other suggestions that I can consider?

 

[Demon-Xanth]

You could go straight to the sound card, but then it probably wouldn't capture correctly and if you use the antenna in you won't get any sound from TV or FM radio. Yes, it is still stereo. And the sound quality loss is negligable. (I challenge you to prove a difference)

 

[jfall]

What about the WinFast TV2000 XP? any comments on that?

 

[Mavrick007]

The Winfast tv card from Leadtek is a good card, I would say better than the Ati and the cheaper Hauppauge cards(not the better models above the WinTV).

 

[Lint21]

The Leadtek isn't stereo, is it? That's the main reason I haven't gotten it, or the MSI tuner that's out. Asus has one that's just starting to hit stores that looks very nice.