Separate TV tuner vs. tuner+video card

[KnowledgeSeeker]

Need your input. I would like to install a TV tuner in my PC. Should I get a separate tuner card or a combo video/tuner card. My current video card is *probably* good enough (even when I get my second monitor plugged in) to meet my needs but there do seem to be some good deals on AIW cards this week that would also upgrade my video.

I use my machine for
60% business apps (MS Excel, MS Powerpoint, MS Money and slightly more graphic-intensive stuff like MS Visio, Photosuite, Windows Media Player).
20% strategy games (Galactic Civilizations, Warcraft3, Alpha Centauri, Rise of Nations, RR Tycoon, RollerCoaster Tycoon)
15% web surfing and newsgroup reading
03% first-person shooters
01% tools (Norton, Spybot, ZoneAlarm, etc.)
01% tinkering around with learning/using Linux
Obviously, I will be adding watching TV/DVDs to the list after I get the TV tuner card so the %s might change a bit.

So, as you can see I really do not *need* to have the absolutely top-of-the-line card. But I do want to get the TV tuner up and running and want to get the best bang for the buck in the video card department (which could mean keeping my existing video card, although the urge to upgrade, even just a little, is strong).


As-Is environment:
NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X
ViewSonic E790 monitor
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
Mobo: ASUS A7V8X REV 1.xx (Bus Clock: 133 MHz)
BIOS: Award Revision 1006 09/13/2002
Windows 98 SE
2 X 256 PC2700 Installed Memory
One Memory Socket is Empty
194.15 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
162.93 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

To-Be environment:
Immediate: Windows XP (already purchased but not yet installed)
Immediate: New TV tuner card (???)
Immediate--Alternatively new video + tuner card (ATI 9600 AIW? or maybe even ATI 7500 AIW for the tuner and as a backup/second video card?)
Late January: New video card (ATI 9600 or 9700 or ?) if not already obtained with tuner or wait til next Summer and get the top-of-the-line -1 generation card then
Late January: Second monitor (probably a Samsung SyncMaster 192 or SyncMaster 213T)
Early Spring: New CPU P4 2.6C or AMD Athlon 64
Early Spring: New mobo (depends on CPU chosen)
Spring/Summer: 2 X 512 PC3200 memory
Fall/Winter 04: New SATA2 hard drives

 

[adams828]

i've been looking around at TV tuners as well, and it seems many recommend the leadtek winfast . deluxe model. it's $50 at newegg for the deluxe, which has the remote as well. i'd say at $50, might as well keep the ti4200, it is enough for what you use it for

 

[Flyermax2k3]

I picked up a Radeon 9600 All-in-Wonder Pro and it kicks major ass! $220 from Newegg.

 

[KnowledgeSeeker]

Thanks for the reply.

Can you point me to an objective comparison of the tuner in the 9600 AiW (which is what I was leaning toward) and the Leadtek tv tuner (only) card that has also been recommended. While I like to upgrade as much as the next guy (well maybe not quite as much but certainly more than joe average user), $50 vs. $220 makes a strong case for my video card might be good enough and just focus on the tuner.

Is there any software included in either of these products that is good enough to be considered a factor in the decision?

I have also seen a recommendation for the Viewsonic VB50HRTV (http://www.viewsonic.com/products/video_box_vb50hrtv.htm) which looks like an interesting option.

Originally posted by: Flyermax2k3
I picked up a Radeon 9600 All-in-Wonder Pro and it kicks major ass! $220 from Newegg.

 

[yhelothar]

ati tv tuner quality sucks from my experience... most people that used both the leadtek and ati would agree that leadtek looks better(what I read at least)

 

[tefleming]

What about the software with the Leadtek?

The software with the ATi cards is amazing. Guideplus is just awesome!1

 

[rbV5]

The picture quality from my AIW is very good. I've owned several and all have been very good, 2 out of my current 4 running rigs run AIW cards including my main PC. I did have to add a signal amp for my AIW 9700pro as it had poor reception channels 2-6 out of the box.

The AIW software is excellent, especially the new MMC 8.8. The new MPEG-4 capture codec is producing the best analog captures I've ever had with my HTPC rigs.

The AIW 9600pro isn't exceptionally faster than your present card until you crank up the AA/AF. It has an impressive feature set, and the MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 captures and 12bit ADC's can't be matched by any standalone card. It also comes with a coupon for HL2 and the new Remote Wonder2 when it comes out in January.

 

[thedarkwolf]

I'd just stick with the video card you already have till the next gen chips come out. The one you have is already a pretty decent one especially for the things your playing. Just get a leadtek and that way you can keep it when you upgrade your video card in the future.

If your plan on doing a lot of captures then a pvr-250 would be the way to go. They are over $100 but have a hardware encoder and are suppost to have the best capture quallity.

 

[blodhi74]

got the Leadtek 2000XP Deluxe for $48.00 from newegg a few weeks ago .... for what U do I would stick with the current Vid card and get the leadtek card...... comes with a remote, DVD movie factory, Video studio7, has FM capability and works as PVR and can also record FM music in a varity of formats ....decent image quality on my dual monitor setup with minimum CPU load (2% to 10% while watching TV and have a couple of browser windows open) ... consider it to be one my favorite and most used item
Barton 2500+
Gigabyte 7N400pro
512 PC 2700
9700 PRO
40 GB Maxtor 7200

 

[Peter]

ATi's video decoder chip on the AIWs has very neat filtering and de-interlacing circuitry. Most PCI TV cards don't (including ATi's). Also, with the tuner on the graphics card, there is no video stream traffic from PCI through the chipset onto AGP, it's all local to the card. So on an AIW, CPU load in viewing TV will be just as low, but system bus load will be zero. That's the main differences in hardware.

 

[lxdbxl]

if your thinking of getting the ATI TV Wonder card....dont! the drivers are horrible, i think there only ment to work with ATI cards. get the Leadtek Winfast insted...looks like a better choice. Or if your willing to spend the cash, get an All - In - Wonder card.

 

[adams828]

yay gonna get me a winfast 2000 deluxe for xmas.. everyone on here says its great, i can't wait!

 

[BlueWeasel]

You can't go wrong with the Leaktek Winfast card...I got mine back in May and love it.

 

[Atlantean]

I chose the separate tv tuner option because the aiw9800pro does not have a dual monitors option.

 

[Xtremist]

My wife wants to watch Satellite in the room where her computer is while she works on other things. She has a Dell Dimmension 2400 we got in a Hot Deal recently, which includes crappy onboard video. She doesn't care though, and neither do I... Unless it's going to pose a problem with her watching TV on this thing. Any opinions?

Thanks.

 

[Peter]

The only thing that needs to be there is "Video Overlay" support. This has been present even in integrated shared-memory graphics chipsets, but there have been just as many driver screwups in this regard. Do check whether that's there, e.g. by attempting a DVD replay or something similar.

 

[Xtremist]

It will definately play DVD movies so I'm hoping I'm ok. Even if I'm not, I think I still prefer the separate TV card over a combo card and I have an old Ti4200 I could give her if she needs it.

Thanks for the info.