Vid Card / TV Tuner advice...

[bcassell]

Hi. I have an old system sitting in a back bedroom -- it's a Duron 900mhz / 512mb ram, and I just picked up a used 19" Viewsonic lcd display to put back there.. I would like to do 2 things: 1) Get a vid card with a DVI connector to use with the lcd, 2) Get a tv-tuner card so that the computer can be used as a TV, and I can ditch the old crappy TV that's sitting back there right now. This computer will basically be used for email/web/office ... and hopefully TV =). So, I was looking around and I came across this:

ATI All-In-Wonder 9000 Pro for $148.

I've never had any experience with the ATI all-in-wonder cards. Are they any good? Is $148 a good price? (It seems like it's a good bit cheaper than I could get a seperate DVI vid card + TV-tuner for). Anything I should know about? Thanks for any advice you can give me,

Bryan

 

[beatle]

I'd get a Radeon 7000 for around $35 and a Leadtek TV2000 Expert tuner for around $55. This will allow you to upgrade either of them down the road if you decide you want to play games, or if a newer, better tuner comes out and you want it.

 

[bcassell]

Well, I can say for certain that I'm not going to end up upgrading this machine down the road. It's pretty much a one-shot deal =).

Still, the Radeon 7000 + Leadtek TV2000 is considerably cheaper than the AIW. So, is the Leadtek tuner any good? I notice it has a remote, does the AIW have a remote? Any reason I would or wouldn't want either the Leadtek tuner or the AIW? Thanks again,

Bryan

 

[beatle]

The AIW would be faster than the 7000 for games, but since you said it wouldn't be used for games, it's kind of a moot point. The Leadtek has a great 10-bit tuner and excellent image quality, better than the AIW, I'd wager. I believe the AIW comes with a remote as well.

 

[heartsurgeon]

why spend that much money on a dead end system?

get this if you want a remote control..only 78 dollars. you don't really need a vid card with dvi to run the LCD, just run at native resolution, and you'll be fine...if you don't need at remote, get this instead, only $49.00

i use the ati tv wonder ve with a 20" lcd (dell 2000fp), running with a 16 meg ATI Rage 128 ultra (we're talking low tech and analog only output at 1600 x 1200)...couldn't be happier..(win 2000 pro, Dscaler to run the tv card) excellent tv image, even at full screen.

 

[bcassell]

Well, I'm set on the DVI. I've used both VGA and DVI with lcd extensively, and DVI is definitely worth it.

That said, is there any benifit to the ATI tuner cards over the Leadtek ones that previous posters have recommended? They seem to be considerably more expensive...

Bryan

 

[beatle]

Since a DVI capable card is only $38, I say why not? The cheaper TV2000 Deluxe has only an 8-bit tuner, but works with DScaler, which produces a crisper picture. The Expert would be my recommendation if you plan on doing any video capture with this rig. It's also inexpensive, only $50 shipped from mwave.

 

[heartsurgeon]

for casual tv watching, either full screen or in a window...i highly recommend the ati tv wonder ve. i run it with dscaler on a 1.6 gh pentium system
it works flawlessly. i actually have two of these on two computers!

i have captured some video from a hi-8 camera, and i have captured some tv..works ok.

no experience with other tv cards...can't comment. i picked the ati card because it was on sale/coupon for about $20.00 - couldn't resist getting it.

cruising the web and watching tv at the same time is the ultimate in multi-tasking time wasting...double your efficiency at doing nothing! it also means you won't leave your "back room" very often...

i will say that the wife has a 500 mghz pentium, and the tv tuner card cannot display full screen on her computer. a 900 mghz duron probably will be ok...but it could possibly be an issue.

 

[labrat25]

i will say that the wife has a 500 mghz pentium, and the tv tuner card cannot display full screen on her computer. a 900 mghz duron probably will be ok...but it could possibly be an issue.

my gf has a 533 Celeron and the TV Wonder VE works just fine full screen... don't know why you'd have any problems