What to look for when choosing a TV tuner?

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video (More info?)

Opticreep wrote:

> I'm looking to buy a TV tuner card for my Athlon 64. Although I'm not
> looking to spend a fortune on the best TV tuners out there, I would
> like to get a decent one. I'll be using it mostly to casually watch
> TV on a window in the desktop while I'm working on the computer, and
> also maybe to record stuff on my hard drive while I'm out.
>
> Any ideas on what features I should look for when I start browsing the
> web for product information?

If you're looking for an inexpensive board, look for a Phillips 7130 series
chip (7130, 7133, etc). Compro <http://www.comprousa.com/> is well
regarded--their entry level board is 35 bucks if you can find one and they
have a very nice board for about 80 with the same image-processing chip
used on some high-end television recievers.

If you're recording off the air or if your cable company has unencrypted HD
you might want to consider an HD-capable board--Dvico's boards work and an
Athlon-64 certainly has enough processing power to handle them--they go for
about $150 <http://www.copperbox.com/lite/htpc.php>.

--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

"J. Clarke" <jclarke@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:cllvqs0291r@news2.newsguy.com...
> Opticreep wrote:
>
>> I'm looking to buy a TV tuner card for my Athlon 64. Although I'm not
>> looking to spend a fortune on the best TV tuners out there, I would
>> like to get a decent one. I'll be using it mostly to casually watch
>> TV on a window in the desktop while I'm working on the computer, and
>> also maybe to record stuff on my hard drive while I'm out.
>>
>> Any ideas on what features I should look for when I start browsing the
>> web for product information?
>
> If you're looking for an inexpensive board, look for a Phillips 7130
> series
> chip (7130, 7133, etc). Compro <http://www.comprousa.com/> is well
> regarded--their entry level board is 35 bucks if you can find one and they
> have a very nice board for about 80 with the same image-processing chip
> used on some high-end television recievers.
>
> If you're recording off the air or if your cable company has unencrypted
> HD
> you might want to consider an HD-capable board--Dvico's boards work and an
> Athlon-64 certainly has enough processing power to handle them--they go
> for
> about $150 <http://www.copperbox.com/lite/htpc.php>.
>

John, does Hauppauge still use Philips tuners?