Best TV tuner card under $35

The cheapest... quality isn't going to vary a great deal between soft-encoding cards, and most of them use the same chips anyway (BT848/878) so can use these drivers http://sourceforge.net/projects/btwincap

If you want a name brand, hauppauge are normally reliable - try to find a WinTV Go
 
So what else would be good in lower price range.
 
CrimandEvil said:
From above, you just have to watch out for the crappy software that they ship with them.

It's not hard to find these for around $20: http://www.newegg.com/OldVersion/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=15-116-626&depa=0
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I've online found one place and it's for $17.99 with no remote. Where can I find another one?

On a side note if I bought this card or another one w/out a remote would a ATI All-in-wonder Pro RF Remote someones selling on ebay work for it? Or whats another remote under $20 that would?
 
Yes it would, the old Hauppauge remote really sucks anyways (the new one is okay).
 
CrimandEvil said:
Yes it would, the old Hauppauge remote really sucks anyways (the new one is okay).
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so wheres this hauppauge for $20? Cause I don't trust the other retailler that has it for 17?
 
Those software cards really do suck a lot. And this isn't even the pretentiousness of a computer hardware fanatic forum. My old happauge would completely lock up my computer all the time and I had to adjust obscure settings in the bios to even get it to work. The picture quality was pretty terrible as well.

If you want to pay shipping I'd be glad to send it to you. But, I don't think you really want it and you probably shouldn't want to by a new wintv go either. Waste of money...
 
djskankho said:
Those software cards really do suck a lot. And this isn't even the pretentiousness of a computer hardware fanatic forum. My old happauge would completely lock up my computer all the time and I had to adjust obscure settings in the bios to even get it to work. The picture quality was pretty terrible as well.

If you want to pay shipping I'd be glad to send it to you. But, I don't think you really want it and you probably shouldn't want to by a new wintv go either. Waste of money...
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Which Hauppage did you have? Is the PVR-150 not software based? alright bumping my price range to $60 now what do you guys got?
 
PVR 150 uses hardware to encode to mpeg. system utilization stays lower. the quality is decent too. if you aer going to use more than one tuner, hardware is a must.
 
Glow said:
Which Hauppage did you have? Is the PVR-150 not software based? alright bumping my price range to $60 now what do you guys got?
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I think it's a WinTV Go but it's about 4 years old now. Not that the software cards have changed all that much. I can give you more detail when I get home from work.

Definitely get a pvr-150. It's the cheapest decent tuner you can get. I suggest buy.com and if you can find a 10% off coupon or something like that, it will fall right at $60.
 
I suggest spenidng the extr $8 and support PCalchemy, one of the few stores that has the cool HTPC stuff we want as a community.
 
Which is better Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150MCE or Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150?
 
MCE has a FM tuner and is cheaper. the non MCE includes a crappy remote and some crappy software. I say go MCE.
 
Are these all hardware based or no?
Hauppauge WINTV-GO-PLUS PCI
Leadtek TV2000XP/EXPERT PCI Interface TV/FM Tuner
KWORLD VS-LTV7131R(RF W/FM)
SABRENT SBT-TVFM PCI Interface TV Tuner Video Capture Card FM Radio
COMPRO VideoMate TV PVR/FM

Which would you say are the best?
 
Those aren't hardware based and they would all be about the same quality wise (although some may degrade quality by using cheaper parts).
 
I can tell you I'd go with one of the first two just because of the companies that make them. WTF is KWORLD? I know the TV2000XP comes with a remote that looks fairly nice - that would be a plus for me. Another thing to look for is stereo sound versus mono.
 
alright so the Hauppauge 150 sounds to be the best so far. But what programs to use with it SageTV or BeyoundTV? Any other programs like these free? cause if all this stuff adds up to 150 I might as well get an N6 instead. I saw that SageTV had a new beta out are u able to just run the Betas? This software looks good but I need something a lot less than $60.
 
I have the leadtek one TV2000 Expert XP. Its not bad except the audio only works if u can plug the card into an aux or cd in on ur sound card or onboard sound. But because u have to plug it in this way the volume in the PVR software that comes with it and on the remote dont work. It is however stereo sound. Another problem i am having with it is that to record video with sound u need to set it in the PVR software to the cd in line, but the software will not detect any other input except SPDIF. I have emailed leadtek about it they have not answered me. I try to send them an email everyday . Other than that its good.
 
well an N6 won't record TV, it just tunes it. If you are just looking to watch TV, then there are free apps that will do that. mediaportal and wintv are the first that come to mind.
 
GB-PVR or Moediaportal are the only free TV apps I know of. Sage, BeyondTV and Meedio all have free trials as well.

You cannot run the sage beta as a trial - you need a full version.
 
fore1337 said:
[H]ard Forum
Hauppauge WinTV-GO TV Tuner Capture Card $18 shipped
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=942951

edit: it's only $17.99 if you're outta state, ;) oh yeah, and these cards work great with MythTV.
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these are software based aren't they? How are they compared to the pvr 150s?
Which is the best or why or is there not much difference? Streamzap PC Remote, or ATI remote wonder?
 
*bump* need to get ordered soon as possible so need answers thanks
 
Glow said:
*bump* need to get ordered soon as possible so need answers thanks
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I am in your same postion so I too await opinions and suggestions. :)
 
Glow said:
these are software based aren't they? How are they compared to the pvr 150s?
Which is the best or why or is there not much difference? Streamzap PC Remote, or ATI remote wonder?
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Best TV tuner card under $35
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if you can't afford to compare. $35 limit, you should be happy with any hauppauge card mang.
 
fore1337 said:
if you can't afford to compare. $35 limit, you should be happy with any hauppauge card mang.
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Glow said:
alright bumping my price range to $60 now what do you guys got?
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Can someone answer the questions a few posts up please
 
either go cheap as hell with the $18 card or get the hauppauge PVR 150 from pcalchemy
 
IDversusEGO said:
or get the hauppauge PVR 150 from pcalchemy
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only one i would buy, but still $5 more then your $60, and then you got shipping fees. search ebay for this card.
 
Is there that much of a difference between the 150 and the WinTV-GO TV ?
And which is better or are they about the same between the ATI remote and the streamzap?
 
There's a big difference between the 150 and the WinTV Go. The 150 will use < 20% processor usage while watching TV - the WinTV will be more like 60-70%. Also, the picture looks much better on my 150 than it ever did on my old Win TV Go.
 
Well I did it
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150MCE & Streamzap PC Remote on their way.
Tried to order the 150 from buy.com but no matter what I did the page wouldn't do anything it would just give me a white page like it messed up I paid little more at newegg but at least newegg isn't worthless.
 
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