which video card, tv tuner?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Hi,

Here's the system:
Asus K8V-X mobo
AMD athlon 64 3000 cpu
256 DD400 ram

This is a new build for my sister who constantly changers her mind! Anyway,
the above is bought. Next case:
She wants a tv turner in it.

I have no video card for it yet, and I have no expeience with tv tuners in
computers at all. Can anyone recommend a video card / TV tuner combo for
the system. I'm guessing they make combo cards, and if so, would buying
seperate cards be better? The local screw driver shop said they can get me
a tv tuner card for $60. They charged $450 for the CPU (retail box 3 yr
warrenty w fan, etc.), mobo, and kingston memory.

Thanks for your ideas.

Allen

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"!Allen Lasting" <bogus@nowhere.net> wrote in message
news:HO6dnQ8nfrX8hj_cRVn-rw@comcast.com...
> Hi,
>
> Here's the system:
> Asus K8V-X mobo
> AMD athlon 64 3000 cpu
> 256 DD400 ram
>
> This is a new build for my sister who constantly changers her mind!
> Anyway, the above is bought. Next case:
> She wants a tv turner in it.
>
> I have no video card for it yet, and I have no expeience with tv tuners in
> computers at all. Can anyone recommend a video card / TV tuner combo for
> the system. I'm guessing they make combo cards, and if so, would buying
> seperate cards be better? The local screw driver shop said they can get
> me a tv tuner card for $60. They charged $450 for the CPU (retail box 3
> yr warrenty w fan, etc.), mobo, and kingston memory.
>
> Thanks for your ideas.
>
> Allen

It's tough to recommend cards not knowing what your sister wants to do with
it. But she definitely wants separate cards. The following would be a good
match for the hardware she already has. -Dave

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-125-128&depa=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-180&depa=0

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

!Allen Lasting wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Here's the system:
> Asus K8V-X mobo
> AMD athlon 64 3000 cpu
> 256 DD400 ram
>
> This is a new build for my sister who constantly changers her mind! Anyway,
> the above is bought. Next case:
> She wants a tv turner in it.
>
> I have no video card for it yet, and I have no expeience with tv tuners in
> computers at all. Can anyone recommend a video card / TV tuner combo for
> the system. I'm guessing they make combo cards, and if so, would buying
> seperate cards be better? The local screw driver shop said they can get me
> a tv tuner card for $60. They charged $450 for the CPU (retail box 3 yr
> warrenty w fan, etc.), mobo, and kingston memory.
>
> Thanks for your ideas.
>
> Allen
>
>

Get a separate tuner card. For one, you can upgrade one or the other
without having to do both. Second, for an 'all-in-one' you're restricted to
getting only those that are 'all-in-one', which limits the features you can
get, especially in GPU performance. Lastly, the all-in-one combo cards
usually use special chipsets that restrict you to using their software
packages.

If you get a PCI card using the BT8xx chipset there are many excellent
freeware programs, as well as drivers. See here for drivers and supported
cards:

http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/index.html

If all you want to do is slap a TV picture on the CRT then just about any
old card will do, as long as there are drivers for it (being BT8xx
compatible sure helps in that department).

From there you start thinking of additional features. If you want to
record TV (freeware Personal Video Recorder software, etc) then you want to
look into MPEG capability. Do you want an FM tuner as well? What about a
remote control? S-Video input for external device video capture, or does
RCA input satisfy your needs?

http://www.videohelp.com/ has a capture card (includes tuners) section with
user reviews. Note: those complaining about drivers and software could
likely solve a lot of those problems with freeware drivers (the advantage
of using 'standard', or 'popular', components).

Check http://www.pricewatch.com for prices. You can get a basic PCI TV
tuner card for as little as 20 bucks (free shipping), if that's all you
need. See here http://www.softwareandstuff.com/CRD10186.html

 

[Jimbo]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

!Allen Lasting wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Here's the system:
> Asus K8V-X mobo
> AMD athlon 64 3000 cpu
> 256 DD400 ram
>
> This is a new build for my sister who constantly changers her mind! Anyway,
> the above is bought. Next case:
> She wants a tv turner in it.
>
> I have no video card for it yet, and I have no expeience with tv tuners in
> computers at all. Can anyone recommend a video card / TV tuner combo for
> the system. I'm guessing they make combo cards, and if so, would buying
> seperate cards be better? The local screw driver shop said they can get me
> a tv tuner card for $60. They charged $450 for the CPU (retail box 3 yr
> warrenty w fan, etc.), mobo, and kingston memory.
>
> Thanks for your ideas.
>
> Allen
>
>

I highly recommend the WinTV-PVR 250 or the 350 which adds an FM
tuner. It comes with all of the software you need to capture, edit and
author. It will even capture copy protected VHS tapes.

Good luck, jimbo

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

buy seperate cards. you may never need a new tv tuner but you'll likely want
to upgrade the video card sometime.

check the capture card section of www.videohelp.com for a tv tuner.

"!Allen Lasting" <bogus@nowhere.net> wrote in message
news:HO6dnQ8nfrX8hj_cRVn-rw@comcast.com...
> Hi,
>
> Here's the system:
> Asus K8V-X mobo
> AMD athlon 64 3000 cpu
> 256 DD400 ram
>
> This is a new build for my sister who constantly changers her mind!
Anyway,
> the above is bought. Next case:
> She wants a tv turner in it.
>
> I have no video card for it yet, and I have no expeience with tv tuners in
> computers at all. Can anyone recommend a video card / TV tuner combo for
> the system. I'm guessing they make combo cards, and if so, would buying
> seperate cards be better? The local screw driver shop said they can get
me
> a tv tuner card for $60. They charged $450 for the CPU (retail box 3 yr
> warrenty w fan, etc.), mobo, and kingston memory.
>
> Thanks for your ideas.
>
> Allen
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

jimbo wrote:

> !Allen Lasting wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Here's the system:
>> Asus K8V-X mobo
>> AMD athlon 64 3000 cpu
>> 256 DD400 ram
>>
>> This is a new build for my sister who constantly changers her mind!
>> Anyway, the above is bought. Next case:
>> She wants a tv turner in it.
>>
>> I have no video card for it yet, and I have no expeience with tv
>> tuners in computers at all. Can anyone recommend a video card / TV
>> tuner combo for the system. I'm guessing they make combo cards, and
>> if so, would buying seperate cards be better? The local screw driver
>> shop said they can get me a tv tuner card for $60. They charged $450
>> for the CPU (retail box 3 yr warrenty w fan, etc.), mobo, and kingston
>> memory.
>>
>> Thanks for your ideas.
>>
>> Allen
>>
>
> I highly recommend the WinTV-PVR 250 or the 350 which adds an FM tuner.
> It comes with all of the software you need to capture, edit and author.
> It will even capture copy protected VHS tapes.
>
> Good luck, jimbo

That's a good choice, especially if one wants to also do video capture
(PVR) because it includes a hardware MPEG1/2 encoder, which greatly reduces
CPU loading. It's also the most widely supported.

http://www.htpcnews.com/main.php?id=pvr_card_id_guide

 

[Andy]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

DVICO FusionHDTV3 Gold T
http://www.copperbox.com/lite/htpc.php

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 12:01:24 -0500, "!Allen Lasting"
<bogus@nowhere.net> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Here's the system:
>Asus K8V-X mobo
>AMD athlon 64 3000 cpu
>256 DD400 ram
>
>This is a new build for my sister who constantly changers her mind! Anyway,
>the above is bought. Next case:
>She wants a tv turner in it.
>
>I have no video card for it yet, and I have no expeience with tv tuners in
>computers at all. Can anyone recommend a video card / TV tuner combo for
>the system. I'm guessing they make combo cards, and if so, would buying
>seperate cards be better? The local screw driver shop said they can get me
>a tv tuner card for $60. They charged $450 for the CPU (retail box 3 yr
>warrenty w fan, etc.), mobo, and kingston memory.
>
>Thanks for your ideas.
>
>Allen
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Is PRV in your future checkout:

http://mythtv.org/