Might I suggest you review the reviews at www.videohelp.com (reviews on http://www.videohelp.com/c
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TV Tuner Card suggestions/comments/experiences/reviews/etc.
I am currently looking to buy a TV tuner card very soon. I want to stay at a reasonable price. Looking for one that is stereo sound and has the recording capability (PVR). FM turner is not necessary to be included with the card although nice feature to have. I basically am looking for a card to be able to watch cable TV and record shows while I am away from the computer.
I have looked a little at a few cards and little reviews ...Looking for more comments, suggestions, and experience in TV tuner cards. Not sure if the USB models are any better in quality versus the PCI cards …only thing I know is the USB is obviously easier installation wise.
I also wasn't sure if the P4 hyper-threading was a problem with any particular card?
The three cards I have looked at so far:
Leadtek PCI TV/FM Tuner card - WinFast TV2000 XP Expert Edition
Some specs:
-PIP
-10 bit video decoder with adaptive comb filter, give you high quality video output
-Time-Shifting: you can pause, rewind live television and instant replays. Take your breaks during a TV show or movie and never have to miss a scene again
-Make pre-scheduled recordings of TV and FM broadcasting programs, to achieve the features of Video & Audio On Demand (uses TitanTV EPG website)
-Multifunction Remote Control
-Support Stereo audio; enjoy your high quality Entertainment
New Full function Remote control. Easier, friendly fancy user interface.
-Watch high-quality TV with stereo in full screen or a scalable window
-Direct-Burn DVD
-181 channels
$52.00 at Newegg.com
http://www.newegg.com/app/
--------------------------
ATI PCI TV Tuner Card, Model TV WONDER PRO
Some specs:
-Watch TV on your PC in stereo
-125 channels
-Digital VCR and scheduled viewing
Set the time and channel of any TV program you want to watch and ATI-TV WONDER™ will notify you when it comes on
No time to watch it right away? The digital VCR can record the program to your hard drive so you can view it later
Includes real-time video compression software - capture more video in MPEG format than ever before, using the same amount of disk space
$64.50 at Newegg.com
http://www.newegg.com/app/
--------------------------
Leadtek personal digital video recorder PVR2000
Some Specs:
-Full 181 channels FM Tuner
-Time-Shifting w/ Hardware MPEG Encoder
-Real-time Hardware MPEG-I/MPEG-II encoding
-Silent PVR Functionality
-Recorder-initiated Resume:
Automatically "Wake-Up" the PC from power-saving Standby or Hibernate mode to capture scheduled recordings. Rest assured that your scheduled programs would be recorded, even if you leave the PC in Standby or Hibernate mode. Will resume your PC to Standby/Hibernate/ Turn-off mode after the task is completed
-Set Recording from TitanTV EPG website
-PIP
-10-bit Video Decoder
-Hardware MPEG-II Encoder
-High-quality TV with stereo in full screen or within a scalable window
-DirectBurn : Record your favorite TV shows or home videos to VCD or DVD directly
-Multifunction Remote Control
$110.50 at Newegg.com (would consider this card if it has major advantage over other 2 cards including quality – seems the one difference is the Real-time Hardware MPEG-I/MPEG-II encoding …not sure what this would buy me)
http://www.newegg.com/app/
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Answers
I was also wondering if I were to temporarily set my monitor setting to 800x600 when viewing tv, that the resolution would be better full-screen. I am assuming that if you have your monitor set to 1024X768 and the TV tuner card is optimal at a resolution of 720x576 that a fullscreen view will be grainy.
So is it your opinion that I shouldn't get a TV tuner card?
I am just trying to get a handle on what I can do to make the image quality the best it can be to make viewing tolerable. Most of the time I would only have the TV tuner window open a 1/4 of the screen while I am doing things in MS office.
I like the added feature of being able to record shows ...I have been looking at DVR's but the price is still too high.
If you are trying to use your TV as your monitor, then save your eyesight and don't bother. TVs will never look good - HDTVs might. But not standard TVs. If you try an LCD TV MAYBE - I haven't but CRT TVs, no.
If you're trying to turn your computer into an entertainment system, something you can watch Movie files, DVDs, play mp3s, make a DVR out of, THEN go for the capture card.
if u intend to use ur TV as monitor.. "NOT RECOMMENDED"... but u wanna use a TV Tuner in ur PC.. there is no problem at all... the resolution of ur monitor wont really affect the picture quality of TV. U can look for ATI RAdeon "ALL in One Wonder" card as well... it performs very gud as TV Tuner and AGP.
Vega? Are you talking about a video card?
I don't need a video card ...mine is just fine.....just a TV tuner card is what I am looking for. As I posted, I would like to be able to watch cable TV on the computer while I am doing work/bills/internet browsing/etc. and taking breaks. The PVR feature is a feature I would like for taping shows I might miss......which I am sure is far better video quality than my crappy VCR and a much cheaper alternative than buying a DVR which then costs a monthly fee. I realize that it won't be better visual quality than if I bought a new second TV, but the amount of things you can do with these tuner cards is an advantage.
I am currently looking at the Leadtek PVR2000 ...this one has a hardware decoder so the cpu resources are not gobbled up.
Here is the link to the manufacture's website on this card:
http://www.leadtek.com/mul
Any thoughts/comments/etc. on this card?
Thanks.....the answer I am looking for is near
ADKisoman,
No comment has been added to this question in more than 21 days, so it is now classified as abandoned..
I will leave the following recommendation for this question in the Cleanup topic area:
Split: stevenlewis, leew, rejeev_nice
Any objections should be posted here in the next 4 days. After that time, the question will be closed.
Rindi
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by: stevenlewisPosted on 2004-12-22 at 06:45:13ID: 12884115
also check out hauppauge
http://www.hauppauge.com/P