TV Tuner cards are AWESOME!

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

aphex

Moderator<br>All Things Apple
Moderator
Jul 19, 2001
38,572
2
91
Whats the best quality non-hd card? I really dont care too much about DVR functions, i just want the best quality picture.
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
Originally posted by: aphex
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
eh, get an ati hd wonder before you get so excited;)

Im actually looking into that for myself.... How close do you think i would have to be to the tower though for the included antenna to work?

hm theres an antenna website out there that shows u how close u are to towers and such. i forgot the link:(
 

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
27,703
12
81
Originally posted by: KK
Originally posted by: silverpig
AIW 9800 here. I'm happy with it but kind of wish I had bought the video and tuner seperately.

why's that. I have a AIW 7500, and was looking to upgrade to either the aiw 9600XT or the 9800,

Just so it's easier to upgrade components seperately. Like if I got a deal on some HD programming channels or sattelite or something and wanted to cap some stuff from there I could just sell the old tuner and get an HD capable card. Or say I was happy with the tuner but wanted a better video card...
 

Goosemaster

Lifer
Apr 10, 2001
48,775
3
81
Originally posted by: aphex
Whats the best quality non-hd card? I really dont care too much about DVR functions, i just want the best quality picture.

pvr250mce. cheap. And it just works. Assuming you want Linux interoperability, get the regular PVR250.
 

aphex

Moderator<br>All Things Apple
Moderator
Jul 19, 2001
38,572
2
91
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
Originally posted by: aphex
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
eh, get an ati hd wonder before you get so excited;)

Im actually looking into that for myself.... How close do you think i would have to be to the tower though for the included antenna to work?

hm theres an antenna website out there that shows u how close u are to towers and such. i forgot the link:(


Its antennaweb.org, but i just didnt know how far of a reach the ATI one could pick up.
 

aphex

Moderator<br>All Things Apple
Moderator
Jul 19, 2001
38,572
2
91
Originally posted by: Goosemaster
Originally posted by: aphex
Whats the best quality non-hd card? I really dont care too much about DVR functions, i just want the best quality picture.

pvr250mce. cheap. And it just works. Assuming you want Linux interoperability, get the regular PVR250.

Dont care about linux but i would like a remote...
 

cronos

Diamond Member
Nov 7, 2001
9,380
26
101
Originally posted by: aphex
Originally posted by: Goosemaster
Originally posted by: aphex
Whats the best quality non-hd card? I really dont care too much about DVR functions, i just want the best quality picture.

pvr250mce. cheap. And it just works. Assuming you want Linux interoperability, get the regular PVR250.

Dont care about linux but i would like a remote...

PVR250 is not the best option for watching TV though, there will be a slight delay since it's actively encoding the stream before showing it on the screen.

i'll say PVR250 for PVR function, and WinTV-Radio (or WinTV Go in the OP) for watching live TV.
 

PoPPeR

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 2002
6,993
0
0
Originally posted by: hypersonic5
Dscaler > *

(except BeyondTV)
anyone know if there's any way to get the Leadtek XP2000 remote to work in DScaler?

 

Goosemaster

Lifer
Apr 10, 2001
48,775
3
81
Originally posted by: saxguy
Originally posted by: aphex
Originally posted by: Goosemaster
Originally posted by: aphex
Whats the best quality non-hd card? I really dont care too much about DVR functions, i just want the best quality picture.

pvr250mce. cheap. And it just works. Assuming you want Linux interoperability, get the regular PVR250.

Dont care about linux but i would like a remote...

PVR250 is not the best option for watching TV though, there will be a slight delay since it's actively encoding the stream before showing it on the screen.

i'll say PVR250 for PVR function, and WinTV-Radio (or WinTV Go in the OP) for watching live TV.

The output of the PVR250 is noticibly better, as I have had both. In addittion, if tv will be watched on a tv monitor, havign the card do the mpeg2 encoding is a must as it frees up the CPU for deinterlacing....
 

Goosemaster

Lifer
Apr 10, 2001
48,775
3
81
Originally posted by: aphex
These are how far away HDTV stations are from me

Would the included HDTV antenna with the HD Wonder work for me?

Check out myHD and other products before the ATI. The ATI is simple to use, but the other products have been out longer and are more refined.

As for the distance, 30Miles is NOTHING....:D IT's digital, so as long as you have moderate line of sight (no mountains etc) you should be fine.


Good luck, whatever you choose :thumbsup:

<---LOVES his SHUTTLE XPC/PVR 250MCE PVR box with ati remote.
 

leechwife

Junior Member
Sep 6, 2004
10
0
0
Hi guys - does anyone know if you can use the PVR250 with a cable box? I can't seem to find definite information anywhere.
 

MichaelD

Lifer
Jan 16, 2001
31,528
3
76
I have a WinTV 250 on the way...I have no idea how it works or how I'll get it to work w/my DirecTV box, but I'm hoping for the best. :)

I already have a S-Video Y-Splitter; going to split the DTV out b/t my receiver (my receiver switches all my inputs) and the HTPC, where the WinTV250 is going. Should work, no?
 

MichaelD

Lifer
Jan 16, 2001
31,528
3
76
Originally posted by: leechwife
Hi guys - does anyone know if you can use the PVR250 with a cable box? I can't seem to find definite information anywhere.

I swear I didn't scroll down before posting. We're in the same boat, apparently. I would ASSUME we can; all the PVR250 does is record input. In our situation, I believe we can still record, but we have to set it up manually, i.e. Have the cable box turned ON and playing whatever channel we want to capture; we then set the PVR to turn ON at this time and OFF at this time.

Someone clarify, please! :)
 

Goosemaster

Lifer
Apr 10, 2001
48,775
3
81
Originally posted by: MichaelD
Originally posted by: leechwife
Hi guys - does anyone know if you can use the PVR250 with a cable box? I can't seem to find definite information anywhere.

I swear I didn't scroll down before posting. We're in the same boat, apparently. I would ASSUME we can; all the PVR250 does is record input. In our situation, I believe we can still record, but we have to set it up manually, i.e. Have the cable box turned ON and playing whatever channel we want to capture; we then set the PVR to turn ON at this time and OFF at this time.

Someone clarify, please! :)

definitely. LINK to IR Blasters
 

ucjffj

Member
Jul 26, 2004
72
0
0
Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
I love my Leadtek card.

Over the past few months ago, I've captured ALL episodes of Futurama, Family Guy, Sealab, and Aqua Teen in high quality MPEG2, and have converted them into 640x480 Divx files. They don't look that good when I watch them on the computer, but look great on my Philips 642 Divx player.

what program do you use? capturing with leadtek program makes the audio go out of sync when converting
 

aphex

Moderator<br>All Things Apple
Moderator
Jul 19, 2001
38,572
2
91
Originally posted by: Goosemaster
Originally posted by: aphex
These are how far away HDTV stations are from me

Would the included HDTV antenna with the HD Wonder work for me?

Check out myHD and other products before the ATI. The ATI is simple to use, but the other products have been out longer and are more refined.

As for the distance, 30Miles is NOTHING....:D IT's digital, so as long as you have moderate line of sight (no mountains etc) you should be fine.


Good luck, whatever you choose :thumbsup:

<---LOVES his SHUTTLE XPC/PVR 250MCE PVR box with ati remote.


Seriously, i should be able to pick up 30 miles fine? What about those in the 40-50 mile range?

Im in FL, so im not worried about mountains :D
 

leechwife

Junior Member
Sep 6, 2004
10
0
0
Maybe I wasn't clear..I meant can you hook up the PVR250 to a digital cable box and record cable shows with the PVR250? I'm interested in recording stuff on HBO and Showtime.
 

Linflas

Lifer
Jan 30, 2001
15,395
78
91
Originally posted by: leechwife
Maybe I wasn't clear..I meant can you hook up the PVR250 to a digital cable box and record cable shows with the PVR250? I'm interested in recording stuff on HBO and Showtime.

Yes it is treated like an "aux" input. You assign it a channel number and just record that channel. I have my cable hooked directly to my Winpvr 350 and my satellite receiver hooked in through the S-Video. I would be sure to verify that the 250 has this capability as well since I am not really sure what the difference is between the 250 and 350 card.