What's the BEST Video/TV Tuner combo card?

[Mist3rMischi3f]

Hi all...I'm new here, so don't hurt me...too much

I wanna get a new TV tuner card to replace my ancient STB Desktop TV/FM/VIVO card. I also wanna make an upgrade from my old Radeon 7200 32DDR graphics card; thus I figure a nice combination would be one of those combo cards. I know of the Radeon All-In-Wonder series, and the Geforce's Visiontek Xtasy Everything series. Are there any other good ones? I'm not looking to spend more than $200 on such a card setup, and I don't need a Geforce 4 series card, though my pants moisten at the thought of it

So...any ideas? Thanks in advance!

 

[Rand]

If your not concerned with gaming performance the Matrox G450 eTV is a nice card.

 

[Mist3rMischi3f]

<< If your not concerned with gaming performance the Matrox G450 eTV is a nice card. >>



G'ahh! Matrox...*shudder*...I definitely need gaming performance, which my Radeon had in spades for a while now...now I need to step up!

Thanks for the suggestion though...

 

[Peter]

Well then get any of the Radeon AIWs. You get dual-head VGA+DVI, TV in and out, and as much 3D performance as you want. Choose the model that suits you best. The "Rage Theater" chip's TV quality is unparalleled anyway.

regards, Peter

 

[rbV5]

<< Well then get any of the Radeon AIWs. You get dual-head VGA+DVI >>



None of the AIW series cards feature dual head (dual display only, unfortunately), but I agree that they are the cream of the crop. My AIW 7500 was a significant performance upgrade from my DDR SE VIVO Radeon, and are under $150, for a little over $200 you can pick up the 8500dv now which would be another step up in performance.

 

[Mist3rMischi3f]

Thanks Peter, rb75...
I'm leaning toward the 8500DV...but, just to have an idea-where does it stand next to a Geforce 3 Ti200-powered Visiontek Xtasy Everything?

 

[Athlon4all]

Anandtech recentley compared a bunch of Video Card/TV Tiuner AGP cards, and the AIW really is da best and all of them use the same software, just different grades of performacne.

<< but, just to have an idea-where does it stand next to a Geforce 3 Ti200-powered Visiontek Xtasy Everything? >>

With the latest R8500 drivers, the R8500 is between a Ti 200 and a Ti 500, however the R8500DV is slower than a normal 8500, but there is the AIW 8500 128Meg. I'd look at the Anandtech article, on the front page. But, here's the core/mem clocks of the Reg 8500, the AIW 8500DV, and the AIW 8500 128Meg:

R8500:275/275
8500DV: 230/190
AIW 8500 128Meg: 275/275

Now not only does the 8500 128Meg cost $100 more than the 8500DV, but it also uses a Analog TV Tuner (the 8500DV uses a Silicon based one), and it has no firewire ports (8500DV has 2). You make the call. Good luck!!!

EDIT: here's the TV Tuner/Video Card Roundup

 

[Peter]

ATi's own as well as the Hercules 7500 and 8500 AIWs are Hydravision enabled, VGA/DVI and TV can show different content. However, they indeed have DVI-I and TV outputs only. The older ones can't do that, since the original Radeon chip as well as the Rage 128 and Rage 64 chips weren't multihead capable.

I think I've seen another 3rd party AIW that had VGA and DVI and TV outs ... will check if I find that again.

regards, Peter

 

[Mist3rMischi3f]

Alrighty...methinks I'm gonna go get that Radeon 8500DV...if I can outfit it with a better HSF, I think I can overclock enough to get to the normal R8500 area...thx for all the help, guys!

 

[athlonator]

Another vote in favour of the Radeon is that it come with the Guide Plus+ software. This in itself adds a great value to the card.

I don't know if you have used this before, but you can find some information about it on the manufacturers page. Link

It is an incredibly cool, interactive TV Guide.

 

[BlueFlem]

Get the AIW. But don't take my word for it.

If you go to www.avsforum.com you will notice that the AIW is the prefer card for these guys.