Recommendation for TV Tuner

R

retardude48

Gawd
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Oct 30, 2007
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Looking for a tv tuner to plug into my board. Looking to watch and record tv shows. Looking for something less than or around $100. I need pretty good quality playback. Also, I hear an onboard encoder is better b/c its less taxing on cpu....so that will a must too.

My mobo is an Asus P5N-E
 
It’s not quite that easy, there are 4 or 6 650 cards/tuners from ATI.

If all you need is a feed from an antenna you will need a tuner with ATSC support. Analog is gone in a few months, no more extensions. So you are really buying a digital and digital HD card.

On the other hand, if you have cable most cable companies are dropping their analog signal as well and replacing that with QAM. Many new cards support “Open QAM” which will allow you to receiver whatever channels your cable company doesn’t encrypt, typically 30 to 40 channels.

This ATI does, or says it does the job:

http://www.amazon.com/ATI-Wonder-65..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1DT07MAJ7ZKPBQ1EG34D

I have had the best luck with Hauppauge cards.

http://www.hauppauge.com/

In either case, at the moment two things to keep in mind. Digital, or Digital HD is no longer an option. Second, drivers from every company are a problem. MS has been promising a Clear QAM driver for quite a while now, so far, no joy. It looks like if MS does do a driver it will be for OEM computer vendors, not after market install. That driver would be an extension for Media Player or MCE only.

I’m going to wait a bit, I don’t need another analog tuner so I see no need to buy a card with that attached. All this should change right after Christmas, the drivers and cards should be more mature as far as the newer tech is concerned.

Luck man;)
 
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BillR said:
It’s not quite that easy, there are 4 or 6 650 cards/tuners from ATI.

If all you need is a feed from an antenna you will need a tuner with ATSC support. Analog is gone in a few months, no more extensions. So you are really buying a digital and digital HD card.

On the other hand, if you have cable most cable companies are dropping their analog signal as well and replacing that with QAM. Many new cards support “Open QAM” which will allow you to receiver whatever channels your cable company doesn’t encrypt, typically 30 to 40 channels.

This ATI does, or says it does the job:

http://www.amazon.com/ATI-Wonder-65..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1DT07MAJ7ZKPBQ1EG34D

I have had the best luck with Hauppauge cards.

http://www.hauppauge.com/

In either case, at the moment two things to keep in mind. Digital, or Digital HD is no longer an option. Second, drivers from every company are a problem. MS has been promising a Clear QAM driver for quite a while now, so far, no joy. It looks like if MS does do a driver it will be for OEM computer vendors, not after market install. That driver would be an extension for Media Player or MCE only.

I’m going to wait a bit, I don’t need another analog tuner so I see no need to buy a card with that attached. All this should change right after Christmas, the drivers and cards should be more mature as far as the newer tech is concerned.

Luck man;)
Click to expand...

Yea, I hear drivers are a pain especially in ATI's lineup. Hmmm, maybe I should wait till after the holiday season to pick one up. I think there will be more products coming out for aftermarket tuners b/c of the whole analog transition. But if some good prices come around during black friday, I will sure to pick one up.

What else should I look for in tv tuner? On board encoder/decoder....pci interface.....etc?
 
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Hauppauge HVR 1600

I have the same board and this tuner works perfectly.

Edit: its great because it has both analog and digitl inputs. I get crystal clear OTA HD and solid analog cable from my cable box. Its a little tricky to get the drivers to work perfectly but once they do it works really well.
 
avermedia m780 pci-e combo tuner is a good one. I own one and WMC picks it up no prob.

But I am subscribed to Comcast Basic cable which I think only has analog cable, so quality is ok .

Is it possible to decrypt encrypted channels ?
 
wolf2009 said:
avermedia m780 pci-e combo tuner is a good one. I own one and WMC picks it up no prob.

But I am subscribed to Comcast Basic cable which I think only has analog cable, so quality is ok .

Is it possible to decrypt encrypted channels ?
Click to expand...

Yea, good question. Anyone have an answer to this. I go to college and by next semester they will offer HD channels that require a box to decrypt. Do different cable providers have different decrypter boxes? I hear you can buy something that will able to decode it.....any further info on this?
 
Hauppauge is way better. the quality that Hauppauge offers beats the rest.
avermedia is pretty good. ATI is so-so.

Avoid Kworld: their rebates are JUNK=Scam, product support is lacking. Had one kworld product...caused endless BSODs; plus didn't get my rebate.
 
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1800 here. Software V5 that came with it was buggy. Half the time it would lock up and I had to restart. I downloaded V6 and no problems plus its faster.
 
I have the ATI TV Wonder 650 and it works great with Windows Vista Media Center. The key is the proper antenna for good off the air reception. (See www.antennaweb.org).
I recommend the single (hybrid) tuner models such as the new Visiontek Mobile HDTV USB stick for ~$80 @ Best Buy (LINK).

g/l
 
ATi products are always a good and safe decision
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i personally have this one. Vista View™ Saber DA-1N1-E but if it were to crap out i would get the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 a PC editors choice.

i had the 650 the picture wasn't that good as my vista view and it made a strange noise while watching certain commercials.
 
I'm using the Pinnacle PCI card (dad gave it to me after he stopped using it). Drivers installed automatically, works great with Vista Media Center, picks up every HD channel in my area, basically zero issues.
 
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