tv and video card advice

[gte343z]

i'm looking at buying a moniter and video card, i have read lots of reviews and am still uncertain of what to get. I want a good quality video card w/dx9, and dvi. I also want to watch tv on my computer but don't really want to lose resourses to a pci tv tuner card. I have looked a several setups:

Radeon 9700 AIW pro or non pro? (with any moniter)
or

LCD moniter with tuner controls / av inputs (so i can watch without computer on) , then use 9700 np, 9500 pro, or 5600 ultra

or
vcr with s-video into graphics card or monitor {iiyama 4332, svideo-in}

i'm wondering which will have the best picture with cable signal and how much resources the 9700 aiw tuner software will take. also i'm wondering whether the tv signal needs to go through some sort off comb filter like the 9700 aiw has?

 

[gte343z]

bump

 

[Peter]

PCI TV tuners won't hurt, in terms of resources - unless you're actually short on PCI slots.

In that case, an AIW card fits you best. If you're just after VIDEO inputs (not a TV tuner), a non-AIW card with VIVO option (video-in, video-out) will let you connect the VCR to the computer - not only for watching videos, but also for digitizing them.

 

[stuman74]

I have a related question...

I have a AIW 7500 video card, but I don't really need the TV tuner anymore since I have a DV card that I now use for connecting my camcorder. I don't do much gaming on my PC either, but the most taxing task I do is the video editing and rendering once I capture video from the DV camcorder.

What would be the best card that I could "downgrade" to that would not have a TV tuner, but a good video chip on it for playing DVD's on my PC as well as playing MPEG-2 files? The render step seems to take forever on the AIW 7500!

Thanks!

 

[Peter]

The render step isn't done on the graphics card at all.

 

[stuman74]

So the rendering is only based on the rest of my system (cpu, ram, bus, hdd speed)?

 

[gte343z]

i saw these add on boxes that take several inputs and allow pip in the display, has anyone used these. They have a 1280x1024 ~200$, 1024x768 ~100$
http://www.viewsonic.com/products/video_box_nextvisionn6.htm

also one by planar http://www.planar.com/monitors/video_ex.asp 640x320 or 1024x768 non-interlaced ~100

i know these are more than tv tuner, but i wonder if they will have better picture because of resolution?
what resolution does ati aiw tuner use?, and i read something about a 3d comb filter.

http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=review&dId=194
i also saw this tuner, if anyone has used anyof these or has any ideas on which will have better picture when watching tv-cable on a lcd.....

 

[gte343z]

bump**

i am looking at a huappage tv tuner/personal video recorder. model 250 pvr see link
http://www.hauppauge.com/html/wintvpvr250_datasheet.htm

i saw these add on boxes that take several inputs and allow pip in the display, has anyone used these. They have a 1280x1024 ~200$, 1024x768 ~100$ http://www.viewsonic.com/products/video_box_nextvisionn6.htm
also one by planar http://www.planar.com/monitors/video_ex.asp 640x320 or 1024x768 non-interlaced ~100

1. i know these are more than tv tuner, but i wonder if they will have better picture because of resolution?
what resolution does ati aiw tuner use?

2. i read something about a 3d comb filter (is this neccesary or does it improve tv quality on crt/lcd moniter).

http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=review&dId=194
mfg link http://www.lifeview.com/Sales/Catalog/flyvideo2k.htm
3. i also saw this tuner, it has hardware encoding and i wondered if it has a digital comb filter.

4. if anyone has used anyof these or has any ideas on which will have better picture when watching tv-cable on a lcd.....