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TV Tuners

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A

AdvanS13

Member
​
Joined
Dec 10, 2002
Location
Hillsboro, OR
not sure if this is the right forum or not...

what's the best tv tuner out there? strictly talking about pci cards, not AIW's etc. i'm using it for a tv with an lcd, capturing is not really an issue. just want it for the tv tuner?

also im not worried about hdtv or any of that. just straight cable. any recommendations? i've heard of the ati wonder elite (550pro theatre chip), but a lot of the reviews on the net are saying its good, one its medicore, alot of reviews are jumbled at times.

thanks
 
the theatre 550pro chipset is the best out there IMO right now. Look at the Sapphire Theatrix, its around 75$ and has just as good picture quality as all the high priced hauppauges out there. Its the same as the elite only much cheaper. Comes with a remote as well.
 
I haven't had much luck with anything. One thing I CAN say is to avoid Avermedia cards, I've had 2 and they've not been too great. A lot of people like the Hauppauge PVR series cards as they work with most 3rd party applications like SnapStream etc......
 
i have just bought the happauge 150 from forum advice looks pretty good for the 90 dollar price tag
 
I have been using a WinFast PVR XP2000 for TV viewing on my second monitor. The quality is ok but not great like 640x480. It has a remote control and has worked ok for over a year now. This was only a $45.00 PCI card from NewEgg.

I would like one that might work with HDTV if possible and compatible with a Nvidia card such as a 7800GT
 
I'll 2nd the AVOID avermedia cards.

Really buggy software, was useless for telling it to record something later, usually would crash or just not record it.

I ended up ripping it out of my main PC, and put it in my super cheapo $5 motherboard PC to use in my basement to watch TV on. Which it still isn't that good at being that the remote is buggy and won't let me punch 2 numbers in for channels, so I end up having to manually skip past each channel.
 
And make that a third for no Avermedia :D

I just bought one from Fry's about a week ago and have been frustrated with it ever since (looses sync, timed recording software is absolutely buggy, somewhat misleading advertising, etc). /me is going to return it when I can convince somebody to make the drive up there.

JigPu
 
Thanks for the advice on the NO for Avermedia. My Winfast Leadtek works ok but the software is also difficult at times to install. The remote does work well.
 
I have used the hauppauge 250 for a bit and really like it. I dislike any of ATis tv tuners. The AIW are overpriced for what can go wrong. Brothers AIW 9700 has artifacts so he not only lost hs vid card but his tuner as well. Had nothing but problems with the pci ATi tuners. The software seemed to be buggy. The recording program would crash for no reason and the drivers were a pita to install. It once required me to reinstall windows before it would take the drivers.

The only thing I dislike about hauppauge 250 is the 2 second delay it creates because of its onboard encoding. It mean that you can NOT play console games using that card. Other than that I love the card.

JT
 
I have a Avermedia 1500MCe that I got for $26 off og eBay and it is 100X better than the Hauppauge PVR-150 I had before. The picture quality is excellent, looks exactly like a TV, no blocks or blurring, NO delay from when you hit a button to when it reacts, there is like a 2 or 3 second delay with the hauppauge. The UltraTV program isnt buggy for me. Maybe I just got lucky with it. But I agree the Sapphire Theatrix is a great card, if you dont mind spending $70+ on a tuner.
 
My main issues with the Avermedia products hasn't been with watching tv it's been with the recording/encoding quality and especially the file size.
 
I agree with that, the fiel sizes are REALLY big compared to the Hauppauge PVR-150 but I use Ulead DVD movie factory 4 and I can fit about 3 hours on a DVD and the quality looks fine to me. Plus AdvanS13 said that capturing was not an issue, he just wanted it for the TV tuner that is why I recommended it. If i hadnt got mine so chaep I wouldnt have bought it. I would have spent a little more and got a Sapphire card. But I am happy with my $26 card for now. :santa:

*one recommendation though, stay away from most of the eBay cards unless they are a well known brand, I bought one of the $15 cards one time, I cannot express how bad it was, and then my stupd self bought another generic one about a year later, another big mistake. All the generics are junk.*
 
nobody?anybod?

and if you do ya think either of those cards would interfear/be compatable with evga 7800gtx+evga mb?
 
I would go with the sapphire, its $36 cheaper and the acessories are much higher quality (remote, IR reciever). I havent hread much about leadteks TV tuners though.
 
I would recommend anytype of Avermedia, Hauppauge, Sapphire theatrix, or NVTV. (according to nearly every review I have read about the NVTV (nvidias tv tuner) it has the best image quality of any of them) I have never used one although I have seen screenshot and they look very impressive BUT they only work on Windows MCE, not XP or any other version.

If money is not an issue I would go with the Sapphire Theatrix because i have seen them in action and they have great picture quality, or the NVTV if you have Windows MCE. If you want to spend a little less I would go with the hauppauge or the avermedia. I have had both, I currently am using an Avermedia and I love it. Tech support is better with hauppauge as far as I am concerned though.

That is my opinion. If anyone has had problems with the above cards, please post.
 
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