Posted: 11/8/2008 11:34:04 AM EDT
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Does anyone have experience with the TV Computer Tuner Cards? Which brand works the best? I see they have the USB and on board style cards. Any recommendations?
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I have 3 tuners:
1) An old Dell internal PCI dual tuner 2) An Adaptec USB dual tuner 3) a HDHomeRun Ethernet dual digital (QAM) tuner The first two are plug and play in XP (and should be the same in vista), the last one is more complicated to get running as it works over my network to any PC and displays HD digital TV (only the channels sent unencrypted by my cable company). If I were to buy a new internal one today for regular (non-HD) TV I would probably go with the AVerMedia AVerTV Combo PCIe (assuming my motherboard has a spare 1x PCI Express connector). |
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im using an usb unit from avermedia IIRC and looks good on the kids machines. Im at work bu i can post the product number when i get home. Easy to set up/ good software? I am wanting to consolidate desk space by adding another LCD monitor and dropping the old small tv on the desk. It would kill two birds with one stone. |
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gonna make a suggestion..
look into slingbox.. you put the box on your network and broadcast the video to various pcs, pdas and smart phones.. i use it at home to send video to my laptop that sits on the side of desk. slingbox now has a HDTV version. it also has a 30 minute delay too so you can go back 30 minutes.. picture is as good as any tv card and of course i get all 500 stations instead of whats just broadcast. when im outta town.. i watch my home sat setup with it. i even have run a laptop in my car with a evdo card and watched tv while parked.. |
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gonna make a suggestion.. look into slingbox.. you put the box on your network and broadcast the video to various pcs, pdas and smart phones.. i use it at home to send video to my laptop that sits on the side of desk. slingbox now has a HDTV version. it also has a 30 minute delay too so you can go back 30 minutes.. picture is as good as any tv card and of course i get all 500 stations instead of whats just broadcast. when im outta town.. i watch my home sat setup with it. i even have run a laptop in my car with a evdo card and watched tv while parked.. I have seen those used. I am not looking to broadcast it though. I just have regular digital cable so it isn't something that I want to see out and about.  When AT&T U-Verse gets here (early next year - they are running the fiber now) then that may be something to consider, but for now i just need the TV function.
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here it is.. ya it was brain dead simple to setup.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815100035 So with the AV cable you can run camcorders into the computer? yup! I have my PS1 hooked to it too.. Then that's the ticket I think! Thanks! Another reason why Arfcom is the king. |
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here it is.. ya it was brain dead simple to setup.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815100035 So with the AV cable you can run camcorders into the computer? yup! I have my PS1 hooked to it too.. Reading the New Egg reviews, can you pick up the HD TV channels off of the air and cable? Then that's the ticket I think! Thanks! Another reason why Arfcom is the king. |
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I did a lot of research in the past month and settled on the Hauppauge WINTV-HVR-1600 Model 1178. It was the best for me because it doesn't take any crap from Macrovision Protection, works on Windows and Linux, has a very popular following and top market share, so you know it's well supported and it was like $80 through newegg. Can tune in either standard definition NTSC or high definition ATSC QAM and has s-video and composite in for doing video transfers from old VHS tapes, etc. It's a PCI model.
What is important too, is it's got a powerful onboard video processor, so when video comes in, it's done mostly on the card rather than burdening the main system processor. Also comes with an easy to use remote, spits nickels and gives blowjobs (and swallows) when you ask it to. Are you still paying attention? Software that comes with it is OK. Could work better since it's a little clunky, but the hardware is da bomb. Hauppauge Website BTW, my experience with USB cards is they're a little underpowered, since they do the processing in software rather than hardware and off-load a lot of the processing onto the main processor, so you sometimes get a picture where the sound and picture are not synced and the lagging can be noticable. |
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I did a lot of research in the past month and settled on the Hauppauge WINTV-HVR-1600 Model 1178. It was the best for me because it doesn't take any crap from Macrovision Protection, works on Windows and Linux, has a very popular following and top market share, so you know it's well supported and it was like $80 through newegg. Can tune in either standard definition NTSC or high definition ATSC QAM and has s-video and composite in for doing video transfers from old VHS tapes, etc. It's a PCI model. What is important too, is it's got a powerful onboard video processor, so when video comes in, it's done mostly on the card rather than burdening the main system processor. Also comes with an easy to use remote, spits nickels and gives blowjobs (and swallows) when you ask it to. Are you still paying attention? Software that comes with it is OK. Could work better since it's a little clunky, but the hardware is da bomb. Hauppauge Website BTW, my experience with USB cards is they're a little underpowered, since they do the processing in software rather than hardware and off-load a lot of the processing onto the main processor, so you sometimes get a picture where the sound and picture are not synced and the lagging can be noticable. So the ATSC is the digital tuner from the air HD channels? Does it do digital cable too or is that set only to the Charter  boxes?
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Hauppage! brand is great. Includes plug-ins for Coax, Satellite, HD and 1 or 2 others...
Plugs into a PCI slot (which most computers have plenty to spare) and then it comes with a plug for an IR adaptor and a remote... Works great with Windows Media Center... Runs ~$140-160 Quoted:
I did a lot of research in the past month and settled on the Hauppauge WINTV-HVR-1600 Model 1178. It was the best for me because it doesn't take any crap from Macrovision Protection, works on Windows and Linux, has a very popular following and top market share, so you know it's well supported and it was like $80 through newegg. Can tune in either standard definition NTSC or high definition ATSC QAM and has s-video and composite in for doing video transfers from old VHS tapes, etc. It's a PCI model. What is important too, is it's got a powerful onboard video processor, so when video comes in, it's done mostly on the card rather than burdening the main system processor. Also comes with an easy to use remote, spits nickels and gives blowjobs (and swallows) when you ask it to. Are you still paying attention? Software that comes with it is OK. Could work better since it's a little clunky, but the hardware is da bomb. Hauppauge Website BTW, my experience with USB cards is they're a little underpowered, since they do the processing in software rather than hardware and off-load a lot of the processing onto the main processor, so you sometimes get a picture where the sound and picture are not synced and the lagging can be noticable. Yeah, that 
Mine probably cost more because I bought it at CompUSA on Black Friday 
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