TV Tuner questions

[40sTheme]

Hey guys, I have Windows Vista Home Basic and was wondering two things:
1. Can I use a TV tuner and watch TV without the Media Center?
2. If so, what is a good TV tuner in PCI interface (not PCIe x1 please) for $125 or less?
Thanks!

 

[Shawn]

1) Yes, but you'll have to use the software that comes with the tuner which usually sucks. You could also buy a separate media center program like SageTV.

 

[Blain]

I've used BeyondTV for over a year now and love it.

My TV card was a PVR-150 PCI, but now I run an HVR-1800 PCI express version.

 

[40sTheme]

Eh... BeyondTV is quite expensive... Was the PVR-150 any good, Blain?

 

[Shawn]

Which is why you are probably better off upgrading to Vista Home Premium.

 

[nsafreak]

Considering that you can get Vista Home Premium Upgrade for $84.99 (and that's if you're upgrading from a previous version of Windows to Vista) I'm sure you can go from Home Basic to Home Premium for a bit less, or at least I would hope so. I've never understood why anybody would want to buy Home Basic, it's so lacking in so many aspects it doesn't seem to be worth it at all.

 

[40sTheme]

I found this free one called Kastor TV, people seem to like it. Now, to my other question: what TV tuner?
And the reason I didn't want Home Premium was because of the useless stuff other than the Media Center that I do not want/need. Also, it's more expensive.

 

[Blain]

Warning: Of all the items it takes to build a reliable TV PC...
The TV program gives people the most trouble. Get quality and save yourself hours headaches. :laugh:


you can't say you weren't warned...

 

[reicherb]

Originally posted by: Blain
I've used BeyondTV for over a year now and love it.

My TV card was a PVR-150 PCI, but now I run an HVR-1800 PCI express version.

I'm using and love Beyond TV. I've got an NVidia Dual TV (SD) tuner and an HVR-1800 (HD) tuner. The setup works great.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: Blain
Warning: Of all the items it takes to build a reliable TV PC...
The TV program gives people the most trouble. Get quality and save yourself hours headaches. :laugh:


you can't say you weren't warned...

For serious. If you're already running Vista Basic, there's no excuse whatsoever to not upgrade to Home Premium and get WMC. If you don't want Aero, just turn it off.

 

[Blain]

You're assuming that WMC and BeyondTV are equal...

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: Blain
You're assuming that WMC and BeyondTV are equal...

WMC is actually much better, IMHO, but to each his own.

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: Blain
You're assuming that WMC and BeyondTV are equal...

WMC is 1000000000000000000000000000000000000x better than BeyondTV.

 

[Blain]

Mr. Gates appreciates your support.