Whats the best HDTV tuner card?

undertheradar

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 26, 2004
Messages
1,792
Ive been looking around at the All-In-Wonder cards.... this one is new...
ATI Theater™ HD 750
http://www.amd.com/us/products/pctv/tv-theater/Pages/tv-theater.aspx

Was interested in this one, but it got some mixed reviews once released:
ATI TV Wonder™ HD 650

And there is this:
http://www.amd.com/us/products/pctv/all-in-wonder-cards/Pages/all-in-wonder-cards.aspx

What I want to do...
I have a blue-ray drive, 2TB of Samsung F3's, and a Creative X-Fi... I want to be able to record TV, pause live TV, etc... like a TiVo, as well as any of the other capabilities typically done on a HDTV card (dont know if any DVD/blu-ray stuff should be handled here). I would like a remote if possible, but its not a must (wireless keyboard and mouse are just as good). I was on board with a PCI-E card for this, but it looks like most are going USB anyways...???

Should I be looking at ATI, Hauppauge, ??? Any suggestions are appreciated... Im in muddy water here it seems.

Is this a good one?
http://shop.amd.com/Diamond-TV-Wonder-HD-700687667/amd/write-reviews-html

http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-TVW75...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1270095057&sr=8-1
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Do you care about cable TV tuning. My sig rig is equiped with everything you mentioned BD, etc. but I'm on USB tuners for Windows 7 for OTA HD, analog cable, and ClearQAM.
 
I have a Hauppauge HVR-1250 and a couple ATI Theater Pro 650's. HD from Clear Qam and OTA is going to look great no matter what TV tuner you have. Standard def looks better on the ATI cards than the Haupphauge, but that's not saying much. Alot depends on the quality of the input signal for SD.
I prefer the 1250 over the ATI, it's generally more stable and dropped frames are rare compared to the ATI offerings.
I mostly use my a Hauppauge HD PVR now since I can record just about anything with it in good quality and it works nice with my Comcast box. It also has DVR functions but I've never used it that way so I can't tell you how good that works.
 
I dont get anything standard def that I dont get in HD... so HD only, and only over the air, no cable. It looks like the 1250 is only for cable? I think I would have to get the 1850?

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/prods_hvr_internal.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116015

Or, are their any disadvantages to getting one in USB form?

http://www.amazon.com/Hauppauge-Win...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1270105336&sr=8-1

Is the PCI version going to encode better and be better for playback?
 
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
I have a couple of Pinnacle 801e Pro Stick tuners and they work very well over the air with an indoor antenna. They are a bit old and there may be something out better. Since I have 3 GPUs I don't have room in my sig rig for PCI-E tuner.

But they still are working great in Windows 7, I watch most of my TV from my sig rig, which isn't a lot but during March Madness I have been watching a lot more lately. WAY better quality than any stream over the net. Painless to install and setup.
 
For HDTV you need a cablecard tuner unless you just want to get over the air HD (QAM).

I've been using an ATI Cablecard tuner for almost a year now and love it....using it with Comcast who provide the cablecard itself free of charge.

http://www.amd.com/us/products/pctv/tv-wonder-tuners/Pages/digital-cable-tuner.aspx

I got mine from Cannon PC but it appears they are sold out now and its listed as "end of life".

There is a new one thats better made by CETON and coming out at the end of May. Its a true PCI card (the ATI one had a 4 pin floppy power connector and internal USB).

http://hd.engadget.com/2010/03/30/ceton-infinitv-4-cablecard-tuner-review/

CETON on top and ATI below....

infinitv407lg.jpg
 
I have the TV Wonder HD 650 PCI-E 1x, but no HD source til the end of the month. For SD, it beats the snot out of my old Leadtek TV tuner. The colours were off on the Leadtek. Mostly in the red spectrum. As in reds were purplish pink not red.


The 650 is vibrant, accurate, and works great with WMC. I'm new to using WMC instead of the included software, and I am loving it. So simple. Having the remote I can lay back on my bed and just use my PC for dual watching.

I'm getting a real HD TV as well as the HD box at the end of this month, so I can finally try the HD side of this card then. (Months after purchase.)
 
I'd like to do that but living where I do it's not a viable option. I'd be lucky to get 1 maybe 2 signals from somewhere in Washington if the wind was blowing right. :D (I live on Vancouver Island.)
 
Back
Top