What TV Tuner Card to Get

[Basie]

I was looking at the Hauppauge HVR 1600 PCI Tuner. It is on sale at Circuit City for $70.
It said it needed a PCI ver 2.3 and I have a Epox 8K3A+ MB which is about six years old.
Would that work Ok? Also, is there a big difference in Quality between a VGA and DVI hookup
to a LCD Monitor.

 

[endoftheline2]

I just bought the HVR 1600, but I am returning it because it doesn't support HD from my cable box. Just be aware that it only support HD via over the AIR HD broadcasts, and you need a good antennea in order to get those. It only supports analog cable.
Theres not that much difference in quality, just that VGA cannot support full 1080p. I understand it supports up to 1080i.

 

[sivart]

I have a 1 year old Fusion HDTV USB 'card' It has a few kinks, but works well and records unencrypted cable channels (QAM). I have burned some to HD DVD on a DVD-R (~40 minutes) and it looks identical to the original broadcast.

Edit: Link http://www.fusionhdtv.co.kr/ENG/

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: Basie
I was looking at the Hauppauge HVR 1600 PCI Tuner. It is on sale at Circuit City for $70.
It said it needed a PCI ver 2.3 and I have a Epox 8K3A+ MB which is about six years old.
Would that work Ok? Also, is there a big difference in Quality between a VGA and DVI hookup
to a LCD Monitor.

Biggest issue with using vga over dvi with a lcd monitor is what is called Phase.
The pixel clocks on the lcd monitor have to be in sync with the video card or you get moire effects. I would do dvi if you can. You can read more about it here:
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/clock_phase.php