TV tuner card suggestions near $150 USD

[T2urtle]

I just picked up a Dell E510 nicely loaded with a D820, 1gb of ram, 60gb sata 3.0gb/s, ATi x300 128mb and a dvd-rw 16x with a 1907FP. on reg win XP

And well since the computer is in my room and i dont have a tv in the bedroom i would like to attempt to save a little space by adding a tv tuner card. I dont have a specfic need or anything. I'm sure i'll be recording as well. I just have regualr analog Comcast cable. Not looking for anything too fancy just something with a remote.

Also would i need to upgrade anything else to ensure that i will optimize my viewing pleasures?

 

[Markbnj]

For straight NTSC tuning there are a pretty wide range of choices. The only thing I would say is get a card based on the ATI Theater 550-Pro chip, or wait for the 650 chip (may be out already. I just got back from the woods of Canada and haven't really caught up yet.) I have an ATI TV Wonder Elite and Beyond TV 4.0. The combo works great.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Pretty much anything will work well for you. You've got plenty of CPU power to use one of the "software capture" tuners and still be able to watch videos while recording I think. However the hardware-encoding tuners are well within your price range, even with a retail box with a remote and software.

Make sure you get one that's not the "MCE" version. Those don't come with a remote, since an XP MCE computer comes with one. Newegg has the PVR 150 retail for only 94 bucks shipped. That's what I use; quality is good enough that my cheap Radeon9600 card outputting to the TV is what makes it look like crap.

Some prefer cards based on the ATI Theatre550 chip. Prices are comparable or even cheaper (Newegg: Sapphire card)

You can also get models with 2 inputs so you could record one show and watch another.

The nvidia DualTV chipset also looked like a really good product, but I don't know where you can actually get one.

Software can be a big issue. All retail cards come with basic software, which will work well enough for you to occasionally record things and perfectly fine watching live TV. You'd need to look into 3rd party software, some free some not, if you wanted to make the system work as a full-fledged personal video recorder that wouldn't just annoy the hell out of you as the included software would. I decided on BeyondTV 4.0 as well, it's worked out just fine for me.

Hard drive space might become an issue if you really find that you like recording and saving shows. It would depend on whether you're satisfied with higher compression rates and exactly how much you record. That can be decided on after you've tried it out for awhile.

 

[Varun]

If your budget is that high, get the ATI version of the Theater 550. It comes with the best remote (and it is RF to boot rather than IR like most).

If you don't need a remote then and only then get a saphire or MSI. I have two of the MSI cards and the remote is a complete piece of junk, but I use the MCE remote from Microsoft which is amazing.

 

[Powermoloch]

I have a dell dimension 5150 too...works perfectly with the Ati 550 pro (sapphire)

 

[Lord Evermore]

Just for informational purposes, Snapstream bundles are cheaper than buying them separately, and you can get a free Firefly RF remote (which you'd need since the MCE card in the bundle doesn't include one). I've ended up just using the retail Hauppauge remote, the Firefly is still in a box.

 

[mshan]

Your profile says you're in Chicago, so I'm guessing you should be able to get lots of Over The Air High Definition content.

You could try an ATI HDTV Wonder (often $69 AR at Buy.com), but it is very finicky about associated hardware and it's software interface can also be flaky. You can use the freeware watchhdtv.net, though, which is very nice:
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10375953&loc=101&sp=1
http://watchhdtv.net/default.aspx

If you're in the city itself, you might want to get a Dvico Fusion HDTV 5 lite, because it has a 5th generation LG tuner chip which is supposed to have the best reception and multipath rejection.
http://www.digitalconnection.com/Support/cn_fusion_1.asp

For pure cable input, you might want to try a Hauppauge 150 with some software bunle (http://www.htpcnews.com seems to have some good reviews of these capture card / software bundles).
http://pcalchemy.com/

 

[T2urtle]

Well i dont currently live in chicago at the moment. i moved near detroit. I'll be returning home to chicago for good come spring.

I have very little knowledge of TV tuners, i've read a couple of threads where people recommended the PVR150 and the ATI 550 cards. Both within my range. But i didn't want to go and pick up any random card that will do the job i need it to at the moment and then later find out it doesn't do anything else i neeed.

from what everyone is mentioning it looks like i'm a little over my head if i wanted to recorded TV and i should do more reasearch.

with these hardware/software encoders. which normally provides the clearest picture when recording


I'm leaning towards a ATI 550 card, would it help video quality if i upgrade my video card?

 

[cabroker]

I've been using the Hauppauge pvr-150 and am very happy with it. I imagine there are better cards out there that cost alot more, but I have yet to find one that does as good a job for under 100 bucks. The picture quality is excellent. If you are looking for a low cost solution to convert vhs tapes to dvd, or record from a cable connection, look no further than this card, this is the real deal.

 

[Markbnj]

If your budget is that high, get the ATI version of the Theater 550. It comes with the best remote (and it is RF to boot rather than IR like most).

I had the ATI remote to begin with, and was disappointed in it. The software regularly crashed when navigating channels and performing other basic functions. I now use the Firefly remote that comes with the BeyondMedia bundle from Snapstream, and it has worked flawlessly for several months.

 

[nismotigerwvu]

If you plan on using linux at anypoint avoid the theater 550...no drivers...none in sight either....but if you are stucking to windows its a great little card (coming from the owner of one)

 

[T2urtle]

linux is a big no. windows all the way. a lot easier on my half.


Markbnj=== when you say the software crashed reguarly do you mean from using the ati remote or in general?

just to confirm. if i order that bundle on snapstream for the 129$ it comes with the pvr 150 MCE but i can still use it on my win xp home because the only diff is that it doesn't come with a remote. but since i get the firefly remote it doesn't make a problem. and why is it like $129 there when newegg has them for like 55-88$ is the software that much better?

 

[T2urtle]

bump./.

 

[BUrassler]

I am about to purchase the Nvidia DualTV. The only place to get it is from the Nvidia site itself. There are some great reviews on it, and it is a dual tuner as well. You should check it out.

 

[Powermoloch]

Originally posted by: T2urtle
Well i dont currently live in chicago at the moment. i moved near detroit. I'll be returning home to chicago for good come spring.

I have very little knowledge of TV tuners, i've read a couple of threads where people recommended the PVR150 and the ATI 550 cards. Both within my range. But i didn't want to go and pick up any random card that will do the job i need it to at the moment and then later find out it doesn't do anything else i neeed.

from what everyone is mentioning it looks like i'm a little over my head if i wanted to recorded TV and i should do more reasearch.

with these hardware/software encoders. which normally provides the clearest picture when recording


I'm leaning towards a ATI 550 card, would it help video quality if i upgrade my video card?

Nope, I went from IGP to GPU. No difference lol

 

[T2urtle]

kool one less thing to buy at the moment.