Some questions about TV tuner cards.

[johnyeah]

Hey all,

I was planning to buy a TV tuner card for my comp (so I can watch/record cable programs), however, I've never bought one before and I have a few questions.

1. What are things to look for in a TV tuner card? What are the more important specs?
2. Any recommendations for a tuner card at a good price?
3. What are some common problems people have with the TV tuners?

I'm running Windows XP Pro still, never made the switch to Vista (I hope that's less compatability problems).
Here's my system setup:

Hanns.G HG-281DJB 27.5\" @ 1920*1200
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 @ 3.60 ghz w/ CoolerMaster GeminiII
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R ATX
PowerColor Radeon HD4870 512mb @ 770 mhz and 900 mhz
Seagate 7200.11 500GB
Hitachi Deskstar T7k500 500GB
Gskill DDR2 1066 (2 * 2GB) @ 5-5-5-15 2.1V
Asus 18x DVD Burner SATA
OCZ StealthXstream 600W
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4
Raidmax Smilodon ATX Mid Tower
Logitech Cordless Wave Keyboard and Mouse
Windows XP PRO SP3

 

[Wolfshadw]

1) Make sure the card you get supports ATSC (OTA-digital) and ClearQAM (cable)
2) I see a lot of people recommend the Hauppauge WinTV HVR 2250 dual tuner. I have this AverMedia AVerTV PCI-E tuner in my Windows XP MCE 2005 system.
3) Most of the problems I hear about concern the included software being buggy or having a poor interface. Since you're not running a Media Center OS, you're going to have to use the included software or some other 3rd party app.

Your system is more than enough to handle a TV Tuner card.

-Wolf sends

 

[geofelt]

There is some good info here:
http://www.hdtvtunerinfo.com/index.html

I use the avermedia M780 which works well with vista home premium media center. No other software is needed.

 

[johnyeah]

Thanks a lot for the inputs. I really appreciate them.

 

[johnyeah]

Oh and one more question, how good are the remotes that come with the avertv tuner? or the A780? Does it even work with XP?

 

[Wolfshadw]

The White Box TV Tuner I have did not come with a remote. I picked up a stand-alone MCE Remote and Keyboard for my living room system.

For the bedroom (running Vista) I have this Pinnacle MCE Remote and this NMedia PC Keyboard

The MCE Remote Control, I give a 5 out of 5 stars. Comfortable to hold, easy to use. Scrolling through 150+ movies and 900+ songs is a breeze.
The Microsoft MCE Keyboard gets 4 out of 5 stars. The nub for mouse control is a pain and would have been better served with a trackball.
The Pinnacle Vista Remote Controll gets 4 out of 5 stars as it tends to "go to sleep" too soon and needs a number of button presses to wake up.
The NMediaPC Keyboard gets 3 out of 5 stars only because it's default setup has the 1/3rd of the keys mis-represented. The keyboard reverts to this faulty setting every time if goes to sleep and takes a function key combination to return to the correct settings.

-Wolf sends