Dual TV-Tuner

nitrobass24

[H]ard|DCer of the Month - December 2009
Joined
Apr 7, 2006
Messages
10,465
Ok heres the deal I am looking for a Dual tuner card for my pc so i can watch and record tv. I am not building an htpc system but i have a newer pc with plenty of power. The only dual tuner card I know of is the Nvidia card but it is only for the Windows MCE operating system. I am running Win XP Pro. The card also needs to use hardware decoding/encoding opposed to software decoding/encoding. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
nitrobass24 said:
The only dual tuner card I know of is the Nvidia card but it is only for the Windows MCE operating system.
No it's not, you only need software that supports the card (SageTV and Beyond TV spring to mind).

Just so you know MCE is just XP Pro with a PVR app grafted onto it, very little is actually different.

Theres also the PVR500 but honestly for the money NV's DualTV card is the better buy.
 
CrimandEvil said:
Just so you know MCE is just XP Pro with a PVR app grafted onto it, very little is actually different.

Theres also the PVR500 but honestly for the money NV's DualTV card is the better buy.

If so then why is XP more expensive?

And doesnt sage tv and beyond tv cost money; so would it really be a better buy? Im not really concerned with price so i guess my question is which is better hardware?
 
Well either way you're going to be paying money for both a tuner and software, it's just that with the DualTV card you're getting better hardware/image quality. It's not like the PVR500 comes with software for it (you have to buy both a decoder and a PVR app for it compared to the DualTV which comes with cables you might need and a decoder).

XP Pro costs more because MS wants it too.
 
I use the Nvidia DualTV in Windows XP Pro with SageTV. Best combo in my opinion.
 
sleepeeg3 said:
cuz it does more... MCE has limited abilities.

uhh like what?

WinXP MCE is WinXP PRO w/ the MCE application, its just a marketing scheme
 
Pro can join domains, MCE can't. That's all I know for sure. And MCE can join a domain anyways, but it is a really hard hack to pull off... takes forever.
 
Keetha said:
Pro can join domains, MCE can't. That's all I know for sure. And MCE can join a domain anyways, but it is a really hard hack to pull off... takes forever.
but MCE is meant for homes anyway so no one in hte right mind would want to join a domain in their home
i mean you must be doing some really hardcore stuff to need a domain server of your own in your home

MCE = XP Home cuz the domain thing is the only difference for home and pro as well
as far as i have seen
 
Soparik2 said:
but MCE is meant for homes anyway so no one in hte right mind would want to join a domain in their home
i mean you must be doing some really hardcore stuff to need a domain server of your own in your home

I don't think that is true at all. I have a big family and a lot of computers at my house. I have a domain set up so my dad (through me) can prevent my younger brothers from doing things they shoudn't be (porn). I also have accounts set up so everyone that uses different computers can always have their icons and stuff the way they like it (roaming profiles) and then of course we all have home drives. Also, DHCP reservations are nice so the IPs never change and I can have my shortcuts to MSTSC set up with everything entered in beforehand so it's easier to remotely manage the computers.
Anyways, I believe I'm in my right mind (and many other people who do the same thing) and that this is not hardcore.
 
Keetha said:
Anyways, I believe I'm in my right mind (and many other people who do the same thing) and that this is not hardcore.

you are in your right mind, but that is business level stuff. The majority of home computer users don't have multiple computers and if they do, they have specific PC's that they use and don't worry about roaming profiles. I think when we spend lots of time on the [H] and around our PC literate friends we get disconnected from what the masses do with their PCs. I do a little free lance PC support on the side and have seen some setups we wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole. I constantly get people asking me to fix their p2 dell and I refuse.
 
IDversusEGO said:
you are in your right mind, but that is business level stuff. The majority of home computer users don't have multiple computers and if they do, they have specific PC's that they use and don't worry about roaming profiles.
Yup, hell I don't much care for roaming profiles either (I would just perfer to store all the media on one PC and I don't much like people messing around with my system).

But MCE does let you join a domain in the beginning, the problem is you lose the ability to use MCE extenders (which doesn't suck as much, the only one worth a damn is a 360). Personally I would rather setup another small PC for "extender like" work and maintain the domain if thats important to you
 
Back
Top