TV Tuner Poll

jfall

Diamond Member
Oct 31, 2000
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I am going to be getting a TV tuner card. It will be hooked up to an AMD 800, Asus v7700 Geforce II GTS, SB Live Value, 19" Samsung 955DF.

I need it to be PCI and have svideo input and audio outputs. Also want it to look very nice in fullscreen. It will be receiving the video signal from my RCA directTV sattellite receiver.

I am trying to decide between the three cards in the poll.. please pick your favorite.. or the one you think that would work best for me. Any suggestions/opinions would be appreciated.
 

kazamobah

Senior member
Aug 4, 2001
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I used to have a ATI TV wonder PCI and had a hellva time getting it working. Once I got it up and running everything was smooth, up until the audio died on it. My friend has the VE version of the card and his also stopped working.

I just bought a HDTV card, but haven't installed it yet. It looks very promising.

My experience with the other cards in the poll is limited, so I can't really recommend them. Just steer clear of ATI.


 

kgraeme

Diamond Member
Sep 5, 2000
3,536
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I voted other because I'm interested as well. I had a Hauppauge WinTV-D (digitalTV) card for a while but they don't seem interested in producing WinXP drivers for it.
 

Mule

Golden Member
Aug 9, 2000
1,207
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Go with the Leaktek, it has GOOD picture quality, and it's reliable(new drivers often get released). Get it with the remote though, without a remote all TV cards suck.
 

everman

Lifer
Nov 5, 2002
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I've debated getting one but never did. What's considered a really good one? ( I know newegg had some at a good price, maybe they still do)
 

dcdomain

Diamond Member
Jan 30, 2000
5,158
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71
My Hauppauge Theatre card has worked flawlessly from Win98SE, to Win2K and now WinXP. Never had any problems...
 

KDOG

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,525
14
81
I have the MSI tv tuner, and its a major dissapointment. The remote doesn't work and the software is lame. The picture is good however. Im going to write a nasty letter in MSIs' forums.
 

jfall

Diamond Member
Oct 31, 2000
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11 People have voted other but didn't specify... i'm interested in knowing what other choices I should look at.

Humm.. i'm not sure if the leadtek has DBX or not.. how important is this? and can anyone tell me for sure if it does or does not have it?

Also, what if I just ran RCA to 1/8th" cables from my sattellite receiver directly to the line in on the sound card? then would it even matter what sound the card supports or not?
 

huthut

Member
Sep 29, 2002
73
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I'm waiting for the Asus TV Tuner Card to come out. It supports dbx stereo. The Leadtek and MSI do not.
 

jfall

Diamond Member
Oct 31, 2000
5,975
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Ok... but what exactly is DBX stereo? Is it something that I am going to wish I had? I am going to be hooking it up to a directTV sattellite receiver.. will DBX benefit me or not? I was pretty set on the leadtek card, now finding out this DBX stereo stuff.. i'm not really sure anymore.. is it anything I should be concerned about?
 

Rackemup

Junior Member
Oct 3, 2002
15
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I think I'll be getting the leadtek card as well ... I looked at some of the others and wasnt impressed..

ATI - bad memories of incompatible drivers
MSI - cheap looking remote

and some of them only did mono-sound ... mono=crap.

the leadtek does stereo and has a decent remote so unless I find something much better I'll be ordering it later this month.


What's the difference in the Deluxe version? cant seem to find much info on it...
 

jfall

Diamond Member
Oct 31, 2000
5,975
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Does anyone know if the Leadtek XP tuner card is the Deluxe version? Because on their website I see Leadtek Winfast tv2000 and Leadtek Winfast Tv2000 XP.. I am guessing the XP is the deluxe model which will be the one I am going to get.

Also how are the quality on these... which do you think would have better quality:

1) a cheap TV hooked up to my directtv sat receiver via regular coax

or

2) 19" Samsung 955DF using maximum quality possible on the leadtek card, hook up to my directtv sat receiver via S-video
 

bocamojo

Senior member
Aug 24, 2001
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I run an ATI Radeon 8500DV on my main RIG, and it's also hooked up to a DirecTV satellite. I know you said it had to be PCI though, so maybe the ATI All In Wonder Radeon 32MB PCI version. I have this card also. I used to not be too happy with it, but I found it was mainly because of the buggy drivers and earlier versions of the MMC software. Now, both the ATI drivers and the MMC software are very good and stable. I have heard good things about Hauppage, but I have the most experience with the ATI products. I have to say I am much happier now than I was a year ago with my AIW Radeon and 8500DV. They just keep getting better with time.
 

huthut

Member
Sep 29, 2002
73
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the leadtek does stereo

Let me clarify. The European/Asian version of the Leadtek TV 2000XP supports dbx stereo. The North American version DOES NOT. I repeat the North American version DOES NOT support dbx stereo. I know because I had one and returned it.
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,374
8,499
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i've got an AIW radeon 7500, works pretty well. the tuner rocks... like anand says, it almost changes channels before you press the button
 

jfall

Diamond Member
Oct 31, 2000
5,975
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I still have no idea what DBX stereo is and if I actually need it or not. I will more then likely be getting the card from ncix.com .. so i'm not sure which version it would be
 

poncherelli2

Senior member
Oct 3, 2002
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does the leadtek from newegg.com come with a remote? The product details and pictures dont show one, but the leadtek website says it comes with one and since its a retail package, i figure there should be a remote included in the box. Can anyone shed some light on this? Also, what is dbx stereo? Does that mean the N. AMerican one only does mono sound?
 

ed21x

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 2001
5,411
8
81
avermedia is underrated. Like most other videocards out there (with the exception of ati), they use a philips made tv-tuner chip, and the video quality is fairly similar, and is mainly affected by how companies choose to interlace their output.

avermedia all the way!
 

heartsurgeon

Diamond Member
Aug 18, 2001
4,260
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i have a ati tv wonder le pci card - i run windows 2000 i have an ati video card decent image with supplied software..but with Dscaler 3.1.0 (freeware) FANTASTIC full screen image on my Dell 21" LCD,
Fantastic image on my NEC XP 21" crt monitor.

(really cheap by the way)
hope that helps.


 

JellyBaby

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2000
9,159
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OK, just got my TV2000XP Deluxe from Newegg.

It does indeed feature stereo audio for the TV signal (haven't tried other sources) provided you set the Country to U.S. I don't know what "dbx" means either.

It comes with the remote pictured here..

The drivers included on the CD were current.

Image quality is very good even in full screen mode.
 

IamDavid

Diamond Member
Sep 13, 2000
5,888
10
81
PC PVR from IO Magic.. Works and looks great, does everything you need.. No remote though.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
Do any of those cards support PVR functions?
I'm in the market for a new PVR card, as I've kind of lost faith in Hauppauge's ability to make decent products, or functional software to go with it.:(