Need your advice on TV tuner cards

[Knowledge Seeker]

Need your input. I would like to install a TV tuner in my PC. Which brand? And which model?
I do NOT want a USB interface but rather want a card that installs in the inside. I also know that different cards have different chips and that the chip is important but I do not know which chip is the best.
I have seen models from ATI, Hauppauge, Pinnacle, and Leadtek. There may be others. Was planning to wait until next year; however, Circuit City seems to have a good deal on a card this week (but is it the right one?)...http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/ATI-.../sem/rpsm/oid/96826/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Primary purpose is to just be able to watch TV on my monitor, but a close second is to capture video feed to my HD to play back later (either on monitor or on my actual TV).
May want to eliminate commercials but that is not mandatory and am not planning to do anything more complicated with editing.
Do not have a HD TV and will not have one for a couple of years, so I do not need HD capability.
Have a video card that is good enough, so I do not need a All-In-Wonder card (want to stay with separate cards for regular computing and tv).

My PC =
ATI Radeon 9600 XT Video Card
ViewSonic E790 monitor
Second monitor Samsung SyncMaster 192
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
Mobo: ASUS A7V8X REV 1.xx (Bus Clock: 133 MHz)
BIOS: Award Revision 1006 09/13/2002
Windows XP
2 X 256 PC2700 Installed Memory

So, what should I get? Or where should I go to find comparative reviews of the latest and bestest? Tom's seems... out-of-date.

 

[Rey]

I'd avoid the All-In-Wonder card like the plague. Been real happy
with my Hauppauge WinTV PVR 250. No experience with Pinnacle or
Leadtek.

Need your input. I would like to install a TV tuner in my PC. Which brand? And which model?
I do NOT want a USB interface but rather want a card that installs in the inside. I also know that different cards have different chips and that the chip is important but I do not know which chip is the best.
I have seen models from ATI, Hauppauge, Pinnacle, and Leadtek. There may be others. Was planning to wait until next year; however, Circuit City seems to have a good deal on a card this week (but is it the right one?)...http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/ATI-.../sem/rpsm/oid/96826/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

http://RadioGuy.com

 

[Angelfood MacSpade]

Need your input. I would like to install a TV tuner in my PC. Which brand? And which model?
I do NOT want a USB interface but rather want a card that installs in the inside. I also know that different cards have different chips and that the chip is important but I do not know which chip is the best.
I have seen models from ATI, Hauppauge, Pinnacle, and Leadtek. There may be others. Was planning to wait until next year; however, Circuit City seems to have a good deal on a card this week (but is it the right one?)...http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/ATI-.../sem/rpsm/oid/96826/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

I've used 3 TV tuner cards over the last 3 years and the one thing I
know for certain is that the inside of a computer is a very hostile
place for a TV signal. Typically with cable, you have some channels
that will show up quite well, some that will be poor and a few
channels that will be unwatchable. I am currently using a Leadtek
TV2000 and it has been the best of the bunch. The remote is especially
good.

For this reason (and the fact that I could use it with a laptop) is
why my next TV tuner will be an external USB 2.0 model. I have my eye
on the ATI TV Wonder USB 2.0 though I will likely wait until the
remote control version is available. It's picture quality is close to
that of a standalone TV - something you're not likely to experience
with any internal PCI TV card.

 

[Mikey]

Hi;
Very Good: MSI TVanywhere.
Goof proof with advanced (ceramic-based) tuner chip.
Totally compatible with nf* type boards and VIA's: can't say that 4 all brands.
Pix quality: 100%AAA+++
Highest quality of component.
I'm sold on it!

 

[J. Clarke]

Need your input. I would like to install a TV tuner in my PC. Which
brand? And which model?

First question--do you want HDTV or just analog? If HD your choices are
limited and expensive. For analog the Phillips chips seem to be the hot
setup. Take a look at and read up on the Compro Videomate TV Ultra (the
"Ultra" matters), which uses the Phillips chip and some technology from
high end TV sets and is reputed to give outstanding results.

The ATI TV Wonder Pro uses one of the more recent Conexant chips--it won't
suck but there are better choices.

I do NOT want a USB interface but rather want a card that installs in the
inside. I also know that different cards have different chips and that
the chip is important but I do not know which chip is the best.
I have seen models from ATI, Hauppauge, Pinnacle, and Leadtek. There may
be others. Was planning to wait until next year; however, Circuit City
seems to have a good deal on a card this week (but is it the right
one?)...http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/ATI-.../sem/rpsm/oid/96826/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Primary purpose is to just be able to watch TV on my monitor, but a close
second is to capture video feed to my HD to play back later (either on
monitor or on my actual TV). May want to eliminate commercials but that is
not mandatory and am not planning to do anything more complicated with
editing. Do not have a HD TV and will not have one for a couple of years,
so I do not need HD capability.

Actually, if you have a computer monitor then you potentially have an
HDTV--the screen will be small but it will be sharper than you would ever
have imagined TV could be. But once you've lived with HD for a bit you're
going to be spoiled.

 

[JLC]

Need your input. I would like to install a TV tuner in my PC. Which
brand? And which model?
I do NOT want a USB interface but rather want a card that installs in the
inside. I also know that different cards have different chips and that
the chip is important but I do not know which chip is the best.
I have seen models from ATI, Hauppauge, Pinnacle, and Leadtek. There may
be others. Was planning to wait until next year; however, Circuit City
seems to have a good deal on a card this week (but is it the right
one?)...http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/ATI-.../sem/rpsm/oid/96826/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

I have the simple Hauppauge Win TV card and I'm very happy with it. It's
cheap and works great.
I run a VCR into it that is hooked up to my Digital Cable box. I output the
signal through my 9800pro to my TV using the S-Video jacks when I want to
watch something I've taped on my TV instead on my PC. Works very well. I had
a ATI TV wonder card before the Hauppauge and I like the Hauppauge much
better. JLC

 

[Nigel Barker]

I'd avoid the All-In-Wonder card like the plague. Been real happy
with my Hauppauge WinTV PVR 250. No experience with Pinnacle or
Leadtek.

I'll second that vote for Hauppauge WinTV PVR250. Hauppauge have been in the TV
card business for quite a few years & there is good support. There is also a
flourishing user community who hang out in the forums at www.shspvr.com There
are also many 3rd party applications both freeware & commercial that support the
PVR 250.

 

[NoNoBadDog!]

My experience has been just the opposite...

ATI Radeon All-In-Wonder cars perform admirably( I have 3 in 3 different
computers), while the Hauppage delivered absolutely horrid results (tried 3
cards in 2 computers, so I know it was not a case of bad card or bad
computer). The Pinnacle is limited and the Leadtek is overpriced, but I have
heard good things about it from the few I know who have one.

Bobby

 

[Lee]

JLC, you didn't tell him about the dark scenes!

I am happy with my WinTV 150, this has the same encoding hardware as
the 250 and 350 I believe, only it was a fraction of the cost.
Although it causes me no problems (except having to very occasionally
restart the PC to stop the choppy picture), I am looking around for a
card with improved encoding capabilities. When the light level drops
you lose a lot of detail and depth of colour, large parts of the
picture become solid when there should be detail, enough to ruin a
scene, for me anyway.

I was wondering if anyone had compared nVidia's NVTV cards to the WinTV
range, if so, is there any improvement?

 

[FLY135]

JLC, you didn't tell him about the dark scenes!

I am happy with my WinTV 150, this has the same encoding hardware as
the 250 and 350 I believe, only it was a fraction of the cost.
Although it causes me no problems (except having to very occasionally
restart the PC to stop the choppy picture),

Hey Lee, when the picture becomes choppy do you also lose all sound on your
PC? That's the biggest quirk I have with the 150 card. It seems to mostly
happen when I mess with timeshifting. Other than that It's the best $70
Tv/Tuner capture card I had yet. I love the MPEG editor for chopping out
the commercials.

 

[Lee]

Fly, no the sounds stays in sync with the choppy picture. Do you have
the same problem with dark scenes?

 

[FLY135]

Fly, no the sounds stays in sync with the choppy picture. Do you have
the same problem with dark scenes?

I haven't had a chance to look into that issue. Since I'm recording only
stuff off TV I don't have an A/B comparison. Do you know if it obeys
Macrovision? I could try pausing a DVD and do the A/B.

When I get the choppy picture I also lose sound. Not only in the WinTV app
but all PC sound. Funny thing is that when I shutdown, the shutdown sound
plays.

 

[Lee]

Decoding is fine. The quality of the DVD playback is top notch (I use
the nVidia software MPEG decoder with a FX5700 VGA card).

The problem I think lies in the encoding (WinTV card) as everything is
encoded and written to disk before being decoded and squirted out the
VGA card the same way a DVD is.

I would have thought this would effect whatever was being recorded
regardless of the source, internal tuner, SVideo in or Composite in.

I have not managed to get round the choppiness problem except for
routinely restarting the PC, rather that waiting for it to go wrong in
the middle of a film.

 

[J. Clarke]

I'll second that vote for Hauppauge WinTV PVR250. Hauppauge have been in
the TV card business for quite a few years & there is good support. There
is also a flourishing user community who hang out in the forums at
www.shspvr.com There are also many 3rd party applications both freeware &
commercial that support the PVR 250.

Downside is that you only get compressed video out of it and that only using
the compression algorithms built into the chip they use. At this point
somebody generally says that you "just turn off compression in the driver",
but it's not that simple because there is no pin on the chip that provides
an uncompressed output and there is no pin on the chip and no command that
it recognizes that turn off compression. In otherwords, it's hard-wired
for specific compression algorithms and the algorithms aren't upgradeable.

While it's a very nice board for many purposes, one should be aware of these
limitations.

 

[Lady Chatterly]

Decoding is fine. The quality of the DVD playback is top notch (I use
the nVidia software MPEG decoder with a FX5700 VGA card).

The problem I think lies in the encoding (WinTV card) as everything is
encoded and written to disk before being decoded and squirted out the
VGA card the same way a DVD is.

Everything you write ends up sounding like it's coming from a
self-centered paranoid schizophrenic (no insult to self-centered
humans or paranoid schizophrenics intendend).

I would have thought this would effect whatever was being recorded
regardless of the source, internal tuner, SVideo in or Composite in.

WAIT! Hold that delete button. A few questions and thoughts,
admittedly not original but hopefully apropos...

I have not managed to get round the choppiness problem except for
routinely restarting the PC, rather that waiting for it to go wrong in
the middle of a film.

If you are going to play the devil's messenger, please make certain
you get your facts straight.

 

[Parko]

So, what should I get?

Two tin cans and a piece of string!

 

[Lee]

Oh, Ms Chatterly! Don't stop there, I was just starting to enjoy it.

 

[FLY135]

Decoding is fine. The quality of the DVD playback is top notch (I use
the nVidia software MPEG decoder with a FX5700 VGA card).

The problem I think lies in the encoding (WinTV card) as everything is
encoded and written to disk before being decoded and squirted out the
VGA card the same way a DVD is.

You didn't quote my post but if you are refering to my DVD reference I
simply meant that if I recorded from the DVD player I could pause and A/B
compare the dark parts of the scene. No big deal because it probably won't
record Macrovision anyway.

Another interesting quirk with this card is confirmed by technical support.
You can't modify the bitrate and resolution settings except by creating a
*new* profile. After the profile is created you can't modify it. And there
is no support for deleting a profile. You can probably do it in the
registry but this is a silly user interface error. There response was that
they don't support the advanced menu. I have no idea why setting the
bitrate of the recorded MPEG should be an unsupported *advanced* feature.

Still for recording TV shows this card is much better than my Pinnacle PCTV.

 

[Jerry G.]

I am using the ATI Radion 9000. I got it when it first came out. I find it
to be working okay for me. I had no problems with it. There are higher end
models that will give more options.

I've also heard good things about the Hauppauge, and the Pinnacle.

--

Jerry G.
=====

Need your input. I would like to install a TV tuner in my PC. Which brand?
And which model?
I do NOT want a USB interface but rather want a card that installs in the
inside. I also know that different cards have different chips and that the
chip is important but I do not know which chip is the best.
I have seen models from ATI, Hauppauge, Pinnacle, and Leadtek. There may be
others. Was planning to wait until next year; however, Circuit City seems
to have a good deal on a card this week (but is it the right
one?)...http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/ATI-TV-Wonder--PRO-Remote-Control-Edi
tion--100-703147-/sem/rpsm/oid/96826/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Primary purpose is to just be able to watch TV on my monitor, but a close
second is to capture video feed to my HD to play back later (either on
monitor or on my actual TV).
May want to eliminate commercials but that is not mandatory and am not
planning to do anything more complicated with editing.
Do not have a HD TV and will not have one for a couple of years, so I do not
need HD capability.
Have a video card that is good enough, so I do not need a All-In-Wonder card
(want to stay with separate cards for regular computing and tv).

My PC =
ATI Radeon 9600 XT Video Card
ViewSonic E790 monitor
Second monitor Samsung SyncMaster 192
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
Mobo: ASUS A7V8X REV 1.xx (Bus Clock: 133 MHz)
BIOS: Award Revision 1006 09/13/2002
Windows XP
2 X 256 PC2700 Installed Memory

So, what should I get? Or where should I go to find comparative reviews of
the latest and bestest? Tom's seems... out-of-date.

 

[JLC]

JLC, you didn't tell him about the dark scenes!

I am happy with my WinTV 150, this has the same encoding hardware as
the 250 and 350 I believe, only it was a fraction of the cost.
Although it causes me no problems (except having to very occasionally
restart the PC to stop the choppy picture), I am looking around for a
card with improved encoding capabilities. When the light level drops
you lose a lot of detail and depth of colour, large parts of the
picture become solid when there should be detail, enough to ruin a
scene, for me anyway.

I was wondering if anyone had compared nVidia's NVTV cards to the WinTV
range, if so, is there any improvement?

I've never had any problem like you describe with my card. JLC