TV Tuner?

Icabus

Junior Member
Nov 16, 2011
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So my Dad's almost 5 year old computer got taken out by a recent lightening strike and he is looking to have me build him a replacement. He had a TV Tuner in the old computer and would like to still have this ability on his new computer. Now I have build many computers in the past so I am fine with that, but I was wondering if people had any recommendations on Tuner Cards? I took a quick look on Newegg this morning, but not sure how I feel about the options I saw on there. And the items that showed up on AMD.com seem to send mixed specs as well.

I am thinking about going with an ASUS MoBo and and AMD A8 APU, (or I may give him some of the parts of my computer as I have been thinking of upgrading too) but that is not definite at this point. Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks,
Icabus
 

tweakboy

Diamond Member
Jan 3, 2010
9,517
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www.hammiestudios.com
As for top of the line Tuner cards or HD Tuner cards, go with Hauppage

You can find ATI Tuners but the drivers will give you hell and it has bugs, definetly stay away from the red devil on this one. gl
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
16,323
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As for top of the line Tuner cards or HD Tuner cards, go with Hauppage

You can find ATI Tuners but the drivers will give you hell and it has bugs, definetly stay away from the red devil on this one. gl

I tend to agree. I've had the PVR-250 (three of them) and the PVR-500-MCE. But those won't help you in an HD world. In fact, even the "touted" drivers bringing the PVR-500 up to Win-7 compatibility don't work.

I also had the Avermedia M780. After four years, the HD tuner (it's a dual, hybrid card) went on the fritz, so I replaced it with the Hauppauge HVR-2250.

Unfortunately, the 2250 only has a single coax input. And our new HD set-top-box only has coax output in 480p SD. So again . . . . if you want HD, you'll be limited to either OTA broadcast HD, or SD from a cable provider.

Best of all possible worlds is a card like the Hauppauge Collossus if it has HDMI input. Ceton InfiniTV also has HDMI input.

If the OP's computer in question -- his father's -- is hooked up to a LAN, then something like the $230 SiliconDust HD HomeRun PRIME triple-tuner set-top-box might work for him, requiring a CableCARD (and rental) from his cable-TV provider. But I don't think he said what sort of TV provider he has.

If his dad only gets TV "over-the-air," then something like the 2250 would be great for HDTV. If it's a cable subscription service with premium channels, then he'd have to survey the options based only in part on what I've said here. The HomeRun PRIME box also has a USB plug -- likely capable of being connected to a single PC that way.

And . .. by the way . . . .the Collossus isn't a "Tuner." It can be used for DVR capability, and you'd have to see whether or not it would record "premium" content.
 

ther00kie16

Golden Member
Mar 28, 2008
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Throckmorton

Lifer
Aug 23, 2007
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They're all garbage. Slow tuning, poor recording capability, crappy software, etc. You'd think they'd be good at this point, but nope.
 

ther00kie16

Golden Member
Mar 28, 2008
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They're all garbage. Slow tuning, poor recording capability, crappy software, etc. You'd think they'd be good at this point, but nope.

Don't agree with you there. Had an old ati aiw card that was great until ati drivers brought its doom. Fast tuning and good recording software out there.

My friend has a 4 yr old Hauppauge USB that works great too with win 7 media center. And there are nothing except good reviews for the HDHomeRun network tuners.
 

Icabus

Junior Member
Nov 16, 2011
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So my dad is pretty simple. He likes to just sit back in his chair and watch TV from his office. I could set it up to record shows, but that is not anything he would typically take on himself. They have Comcast Cable Services at their place with some premium channels. These are all good points that I will bring up this weekend while I am down there visiting.

Thanks for the advice everyone.
 
Mar 10, 2005
14,647
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They're all garbage. Slow tuning, poor recording capability, crappy software, etc. You'd think they'd be good at this point, but nope.

he's exactly right. after all these years, still crap.

if your dad wants to watch cable tv on the pc, get one of these:
http://cetoncorp.com/

unlike the others, this is a cable box inside your pc. also unlike the others, the directions are easy, it works like it's supposed to, and the results are great. wmc is the best windows-based tv software out there, and it's already included with the os.
 

blckgrffn

Diamond Member
May 1, 2003
9,676
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www.teamjuchems.com
HD Homerun is supposed to be great and you don't have to worry about PCI/PCIe slots, etc and can even have two different PCs use it.

The Prime has cable card too and seems to be generally cheaper than the Centon while bringing the # of tuners up to three. Its $210 + tax @ Microcenter right now.

I am using an HVR-1600 and an HVR-1250 in W7 MCE for ClearQAM, works fine for me.
 

WT

Diamond Member
Sep 21, 2000
4,816
59
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I picked up a Hauppauge 1800 OEM on flEbay for $22 shipped. The same seller still has these things available. It's been running well with a Vista HTPC I use, altho I really wished I had S-Video available on the card.