USB HDTV tuner working under Vista 64-bit

[NightlySputnik]

Hello, here's my problem.

I want an HDTV USB 2.0 Tuner card that will works under both Windows XP home edition (32bit) AND Vista Home Premium 64-bit. My new system is dual-boot and I want that card to work under both OS.

I looked around and saw the ATI TV Wonder 650 that seems OK, but it's only PCI. With PCI on it's way out (for the last 4 years ), I don't want to go this way, so using USB looks much more safe in the long term, unless ATI has an USB version that I'm not aware of.

Anybody here can suggest any good product. I'll use that to search which one will be the best fro me. My price range goes (can$, about 5% from US$) from 100 to 175$, max 200$. All I need is for it to be able to record TV (both regular and HD, 1080P ideally), and put my old tape to DVD. I have all that is needed to clean the resulting tape.

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[eric54]

You know the tuner you mentioned is only for ATSC or over the air HDTV (resolution is 1080i), so unless you buy the antenna you need for ATSC hdtv viewing you won't be needing it. Nonetheless Hauppauge has a 1600 series tuner that includes an ATSC HDTV tuner and it works in both vista 64bit and windoes xp. Sticking with hauppauge will net you the best result as they and microsoft were in bed together from the get go. Just ensure you but a tuner that is "Vista PREMIUM Certified" as vista ready just means there are 32 bit vista drivers and not 64 bit, and you will NOT be able to operate a tuner with 32 bit vista drivers.

Hope this clears things up a bit for you. I would not recommend an ATI tuner as I used to have one and the software is painful to install or update. Hauppauge automatically gets detected in vista and is ready to use in WMC right away. Keep in mind you should check Hauppauge's website to verify which tuners have Vista Premium Support. I have the Hauppauge 1600 and it is fantastic, I wholey recommend this tuner over ATI any day.

 

[eric54]

The Hauppauge 950 USB hybrid hdtv tuner would be your answer. It is vista premium ready so you will be able to use it on xp and 64bit vista. http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_hvr950.html is the link to more product info.

 

[NightlySputnik]

Thanks, but I don't like the fact that it seems to only have coaxial input and no other ones. I'll look into it anyway, thanks a lot.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

ATi does have a TV wonder 600 USB model coming out slated for September, with support for Svideo and Composite input;

http://ati.amd.com/products/tvwonder600/usb/index.html

I like the Hauppauge solution, but since I can't get ATSC here in CowTown I'm looking to replace my current USB TV wonder with something I can hook up to my external tuners as well. The ATSC tuner though will be nice for when I visit the family in Toronto and Ottawa or travel to Vancouver, but otherwise I'm in no rush so I'm waiting for the quality showdown between the Hauppauge and the ATi, since I can always swap between two solutions if the ATi doesn't match the quality of the Hauppauge.

The reason I wouldn't go with the Hauppauge right now, is no hardware MPEG encoder so CPU utlilization is just as high as my current model. Same situation with the ATi 600 USB though, so no improvement fro either.

Other options for you from smaller companies with other inputs are;

The DViCO FusionHDTV5 which has both ATSC capability and Video-in;
http://www.fusionhdtv.co.kr/eng/Products/HDTV5usb.aspx
They mention VISTA support in their FAQ but not on the spec page.

The FujiPlus (I wouldn't recommend really);
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815132001

 

[NightlySputnik]

Thanks Great Ape, it's always nice to ear from you.

The DViCO looks very interesting, especially with hardare encoder. It's not that my C2D E6600 at 3.0GHz with 4GB of memory would have much problems with it, but my laptop Celeron 370 will surely see the difference.

It's just too bad upcoming ATI USB TV Wonder doesn't have a hardware encoder ...

I'll just wait for the end of the summer I guess, unless I can find a store here in Montreal selling the DViCO solution.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Yeah and now that I saw the HP HDX Dragon just go online for sale in the US, I might not need one of these since it has a truely built-in ATSC tuner w/ Svideo/Composite x-jack adapter. So I might not need to worry about it anymore.

Anywhoo, I hope you can find something in Mtl, but you may have to order it online (either that or 401 road trip to T.O. or go 15 south into Plattsburgh).