What tuner card to get? AIW or Hauppauge?

[TheLizardMan]

A guy at work that I know what's to build his first computer. His main reason for wanting a computer is to use it like a tv. so he needs a tv tuner. other than that he wants to burn dvds, cds, watch movies and listen to music.

His budget for a video card is around $150 or so. The 9600 AIW fits that budget just well. The Hauppauge PCI Digital is a nice card, but paired up with a AGP video card goes over his budget. But the Hauppauge PCI TV/FM Tuner Card paired with a AGP video card doesnt.

So first off what is the better way to go for a n00b. AIW or the Hauppauge PCI TV/FM Tuner Card?

Now out of those, how much better is the Hauppauge PCI Digital satellite TV card? Basically what will it do that the other two cards cant do.

ATI AIW RADEON 9600 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-bit, CATV/Video Out/Video In, 8X AGP, Model "ALL-IN-WONDER 9600" w/ REMOTE -RETAIL $163.00
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=14-102-345&depa=0

Hauppauge PCI Digital satellite TV, satellite radio Receiver, Model "WinTV-Nexus-s" -RETAIL $169.00
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=15-116-618&depa=1

Hauppauge PCI TV/FM Tuner Card, Model "WinTV-dbx(WINTV401)" -RETAIL $71.00
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=15-116-606&depa=1

THANKS!

 

[Schadenfroh]

what kind of video card does he have now?

 

[adam123]

I owned the PVR350 and AIW 9000 in the last year. If you want to use the PC primarily as a media PC (recording and watching a lot of TV on it) I say get the PVR250 for the hardware encoding. The downside to this is that you will still need a video card which will set yo back another 150 but, your machine will be much better for it.

 

[adam123]

I owned the PVR350 and AIW 9000 in the last year. If you want to use the PC primarily as a media PC (recording and watching a lot of TV on it) I say get the PVR250 for the hardware encoding. The downside to this is that you will still need a video card which will set yo back another 150 but, your machine will be much better for it.

 

[IeraseU]

Since his 'primary' use is as a media center, then I recomend the Hauppauge card without hesitation. Actually I recomend a BeyondTV (software), Firefly remote + Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 250 bundle. This is pretty much the 'cream of the crop' when it comes to a PVR or multimedia PC setup. After that, he can just get a $50 video card with good 2d quality (assuming he is not interested in gaming).

More about Beyond TV here:
http://www.snapstream.com/Products/Products_PVS3.asp

More about the Firefly remote here:
http://www.snapstream.com/Products/firefly/


As for the AIW cards....I personally love them, but they are 'not' intended for a video editing/multimedia enthusiast. Although a nice solution, these boards are really targetted at a more gaming centric user that wants video editing/multimedia 'on the side'. In other words, someone that is neighter a gaming nor multimedia enthusiast, but has a casual interest in both (more geared towards the gamer I'd say). Oh, and the AIW 9600 XT is a better buy imo, since it is the only AIW card that includes the Remote Wonder II in the box (excluding the yet to be released AIW X800 XT).

 

[rbV5]

The idea that AIW is not intended for video editing/multimedia enthusiast is incorrect in my experience.

My experience currently using both AIW and hardware tuner solutions is that each has its own place.

In a nutshell, the hardware card + software (I use SageTV2.0 + eHome Wonder(s)) has the edge for PVR use. In other words, it is a great solution for scheduling recordings, has support for multiple tuners and for recording it uses lower resources so it can be built on a less powerful platform. They do one thing very well...MPEG.

The AIW cards using MMC do everyting else very good. Its scheduler keeps it from being a top PVR solution, but for watching TV and capturing video its as good as any capture card, and better in many cases.


For video editing, the tuner card you have is of no consequence as its not used in any video editing workflow at all. Your graphic card is the player in editing and an AIW card is as good as any.

 

[IeraseU]

Originally posted by: rbV5
For video editing, the tuner card you have is of no consequence as its not used in any video editing workflow at all. Your graphic card is the player in editing and an AIW card is as good as any.

This is assuming the capture from the AIW card is equal to that which is captured with a card that has a hardware encoder. I do not think the AIW card's 'software encoder' is as efficient as a dedicated hardware encoder (such as those found in the Hauppauge cards). At the very least you will suffer much greater CPU usage and at worst some lost frames. If you are using for example a fireware card to capture, (in which case the source material is captured digitally) then I am mostly in agreement with your statement.

Additionally I have found the tuners in the AIW cards to be of very good quality, but still a notch below that found in dedicated cards (perhaps this will change with the digital tuner to be featured in the AIW X800 XT). The AIW cards also make it somewhat difficult to use 3rd party software (as if for dedicated HTPC use)

I'm not knocking the AIW, I just bought and love the AIW 9800pro, but if I were more serious about multimedia I would not look towards an AIW solution. By definition alone, a 'jack of all trades' solution (this is really what the AIW is) is probably making some sacrifices in order to excell at a broad range of utilities. Still as far as 3d performance + Multimedia it's clear that AIW cards are the undisputed champ. They have not really had a serious threat from Nvidia or anyone else for years. I think for about 95% of users, the features the AIW has will probably exceed what they need (or want), but for that 5% that is really into multimedia......then I think I would recomend a dedicated tuner/capture card in conjuction with a videocard among other things (dv capture card, software, remote, ect).

 

[TheLizardMan]

Thanks for the replies.

So will this card work fine with the WinTV-PVR 250 card?

AOpen nVIDIA GeForce FX5200 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 64-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "FX5200-DV128"

Also I noticed that there is a WinTV-PVR250MCE model. Is that basically the WinTV-PVR 250 with a FM tuner? If so I would like that feature then.

It would be nice to get the WinTV-PVR 350, but IMO for what my friend needs, the 350 is a bit of an overkill since its priced a tad bit too high.

exactly what is the difference between the 250MCE and 350 model?


At the end I just might tell him to go with a 9600XT AIW since its cheaper then the pvr250 and a primary video card.

thanks!

 

[rbV5]

This is assuming the capture from the AIW card is equal to that which is captured with a card that has a hardware encoder.

Whether its a hardware encoder or software encoder doesn't relate to the quality of the capture itself. AIW cards have feature advantages over most PCI capture cards with AGP bus capture and 12bit ADC's. In addition hardware filtering 0n r300+ and much greater codec support over any hardware solution. I have used both hardware cards and AIW cards, and I will put captures from my AIW against any analog real-time captures from any card.

By definition alone, a 'jack of all trades' solution (this is really what the AIW is) is probably making some sacrifices in order to excell at a broad range of utilities.

Sure "probably" is a good answer LOL, maybe you could point out the "actual" sacrifices that were made. Hardware cards are by definition "one trick pony", they do MPEG encoding with little CPU usage very well. You may assume that an AIW sacrifices components, but the fact is that in many ways it uses superior specs over any PCI analog tuner cards.

You say you have an AIW 9800pro, are you saying that it has inferior analog capture quality to (did you say you also use a hardware card?) Thats not what I see.

In either case, a case can be made for either a hardware or software solution. If you are going to use a specific software like SageTV or BTV, get a card that is supported and go from there. The Hauppage cards will probably require additional 3rd party software (or get it bundled). The AIW really will be ready out of the box, and easier for a beginner to set up. The Hauppage (or similar) will make a better PVR, but more difficult to set up properly.

A middle of the road software card like the leadtek would be a good cheap choice that could be added to any system.

That hauppage digital card you could only consider if you knew what exactly to do with it (I doubt it)