Twinhan HDTV Tuner Card $29.99 plus $8 shipping

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: ivwshane
Damn, I totally misunderstood this🙁
This card is totally useless for me, I wanted something that would give me access to ota hdtv🙁

You are misunderstanding 😀

This card does OTA HDTV, that is, with an antenna.

QAM is transmitted over cable.

 

[StormRider]

Originally posted by: Pabster

Originally posted by: tfinch2
QAM is a tuner for unencrypted digital cable.

No QAM, no care.

Yeah, but what is unencrypted? Just the locals, and I could care less.

QAM is a non-issue IMHO. All the stuff you'd actually want to record is 5C encrypted and your expensive QAM-capable tuner will be rendered worthless.

Yeah, but I would love to experiment and see which channels are on QAM. It's not worthless to me because my OTA reception isn't very good. It constantly breaks up and makes viewing HDTV OTA not so enjoyable. However, if Comcast rebroadcasts those OTA HDTV channel on cable QAM, then I assume the signal would be strong enough so it doesn't break up when trying to watch OTA HDTV.

 

[zig3695]

qam would have been nice to have on my TV650 but the fact is that the cable company doesnt give you those unencrypted channels unless you buy the HD pack (about $25 more a month since you have to get the digital package too) so for me, qam means nothing.

as for antenna- do this. it works i have one myself- http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9613&st=0

 

[MisterE]

Originally posted by: zig3695
qam would have been nice to have on my TV650 but the fact is that the cable company doesnt give you those unencrypted channels unless you buy the HD pack (about $25 more a month since you have to get the digital package too) so for me, qam means nothing.

as for antenna- do this. it works i have one myself- http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9613&st=0

My cable company (Knology) provides the basic networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS) in QAM HDTV for free. No need to upgrade to HD pack or digital.

 

[Mir96TA]

I can't seems to get Local Analog Channels at all
I have Cable pluged into Cable Connection
it will not scan or pick analog Signals
Some time Digital TV gives me a error

 

[gar598]

I bought this item, but every time I attempt to install the drivers it freezes the system and from there I cannot access windows (in safe mode and regularly) - forcing me to reformat. This is on a 900mhz duron -with a decent board - any ideas?

 

[Mir96TA]

I return mine

 

[superHARD]

So can I use this in a PVR box (my TV come as basic cable from my cable company)

 

[Haui]

Remember, by the beginning of 2009, all analog signals will no longer be. FDA is mandating all to be digital or HD by Feb 2009.

 

[SimMike2]

If you have cable TV, QAM is very handy. First off, maybe you can't receive the OTA signal because of hills or other problems. So presto, you can get "free" HDTV via your cable signal. I guess if you think not getting all the major broadcaster signals, including lots of NFL in HD, or all of the major broadcasters evening HDTV lineups, you might have no use for QAM. I personally like all this stuff and would love the ability to record. Saying there is no good free QAM stuff is pure rubish. There are plenty of good reasons for QAM.

Since the OTA and QAM HDTV signals are virtually identical, getting a card that does both is something that would cost virtually nothing to the card makers. I think it might mainly be a software issue and not even hardware.

Saying QAM is useless is something that satellite users would say.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

>I bought this item, but every time I attempt to install the drivers it freezes the system and >from there I cannot access windows (in safe mode and regularly) - forcing me to reformat. >This is on a 900mhz duron -with a decent board - any ideas?

You're simply not going to be able to get this to work on a Duron 900 system. I would estimate that you truly need at least a 2 GHz system in order to use the card, since it does everything in software.

Even on my 2 GHz system, the HDTV is a bit too jerky. For HDTV, you probably need at least 2.5 GHz.

On the plus side, I was able to get it working fine by downloading an updated driver from the website, so it turned out to be a good purchase for me. The timer recording works great to record shows for my kids and my wife, so I finally stopped using my old VCR.

 

[Leros]

So what is the final word on this? A lot of you guys seem to be having trouble.

Is this card going to restrict me to using it with one piece of crappy software, or can I use it with Media Portal, SageTV, etc?