Which TV Tuner Card?

H

HotL3@D

[H]ard|Gawd
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Oct 5, 2000
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Hey everyone. I'm kidna new to this so i thought i'd look to the good ole' H for suggestions... I searched, and couldnt come up with a definitive answer..

Anyway... I'm looking at getting a TV tuner card just for watching TV on my computer.. Nothing for big HTPC purposes, just something decent for watching TV. I want it to have decent quality and have the ability to record decent quality clips if i want. Any suggestions.. Oh yeah, i'm trying to not spend over $50.00...
 
I can't speak to the quality of the linked-to ATI card, but I have their lower end TV tuner and I'm not fond of it at all. For casual TV watching it's decent, but for anything that you need quality for--tickers on news channels, sports scores, and the like--you're going to have problems.

I bought an Adaptec VideOh! USB 2 tuner a while back, and aside from some flakiness (which Adaptec told me was defective hardware), I was rather pleased with it.

Mind you, nothing compares to my new toy, the Hauppauge PVR-250. Of course, I'm using it in a soon-to-be-finished MythTV box.
 
So, that's probably the best bang for the buck??
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Yeah

I can't speak to the quality of the linked-to ATI card, but I have their lower end TV tuner and I'm not fond of it at all. For casual TV watching it's decent, but for anything that you need quality for--tickers on news channels, sports scores, and the like--you're going to have problems.
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Thats because those are software based card and we all know that software based encoders suck. The E-Home Wonder is a hardware based card much like the 250 but it uses the "Blackbird" reference design like a "Rosalyn" from Hauppauge.
http://htpcnews.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3929
 
You can't go wrong with Hauppauge!
Stay away from software based encoders like CrimandEvil says.
 
OPUS1 said:
You can't go wrong with Hauppauge!
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I have a wintv pci and it blows. You can go wrong with hauppauge. Their pvrs are good I hear though. I would reccomend spending a little extra to get a nice card.
 
djskankho said:
I have a wintv pci and it blows. You can go wrong with hauppauge. Their pvrs are good I hear though. I would reccomend spending a little extra to get a nice card.
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Not sorry at all for buying the 250. If you must go cheaper, want hardware encoding, then def get an Ehome wonder with the Roslyn chipset like CrimeandEvil says. Another option built upon the Blackbird chip is the new Leadtek PVR-2000, at only $70 you get hardware encoding, FM tuner, and the chance to be our little guinea pig Linkie

Leadtek TV cards were budget winners in the past, hopefully this new card carries on that tradition.
 
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