Which component do I need to replace?

[swbsam]

My new media center rig is running great (blu-ray plays fine, etc) but the tv tuning has been choppy as hell - it's brilliantly clear but stutters like crazy..

Is this a CPU issue or is it because the tuner card is a cheapy Avermedia (does not have a dedicated decoder on chip).

Here's my setup:

amd be-2300 (only 1.9g x2)
amd 780g chipset
AVerMedia AVerTVHD MCE A180

I should either upgrade the cpu or the QAM /ATSC tuner card, which one would smooth out the choppies?

Thanks!

 

[ViRGE]

That should easily be able to keep up; I would suspect it's the tuner card. What software are you using? Vista MC?

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
That should easily be able to keep up; I would suspect it's the tuner card. What software are you using? Vista MC?

Window's 7 MC

 

[ViRGE]

Well you certainly make things interesting for us. It's entirely possible that it's the fact that it's a beta OS, and I wouldn't be comfortable recommending any specific hardware replacement until that was disproven. I do suspect it's the tuner, but I think you should quickly install Vista and see if you have the same problem.

 

[Elixer]

Or more specifically, the drivers for the tuner are not up to shape yet.

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
Well you certainly make things interesting for us. It's entirely possible that it's the fact that it's a beta OS, and I wouldn't be comfortable recommending any specific hardware replacement until that was disproven. I do suspect it's the tuner, but I think you should quickly install Vista and see if you have the same problem.

Excellent advice - I'll do that this weekend.

I went ahead and RMAed the card anyways (grr to restocking fees!) and ordered a more proven 2-tuner Hauppaug (sp?!) card, since regardless of choppiness, 2 tuners would be nice.

Are you sure that my cpu is enough for the task? I still have a week to swap CPUs for just the restocking fee.

 

[Denithor]

X2 4850e or 5050e would certainly do a better job...

 

[ViRGE]

I would have gone for an HDHomeRun, it's expensive by I honestly haven't had that much luck with the Hauppauge ClearQAM tuners.