TV Tuners

[Duque]

I have been reading alot about different internal tv tuner cards. I am seeing alot of associated heat problems and since I will have sli 285s next and a quiet (somewhat warm) case, I need one that won't get hot. Picture quality is also important as I've also read about distortions with some cards. I will be connecting cable from a coaxial wall outlet. Any suggestions on a card would be appreciated, since I can't find a standout winner after searching newegg reviews. Thanks.

 

[r_manic]

I link to Newegg but I'm not basing my suggestion on the reviews there. Rather, a brief visit to a friend's house using said TV tuner in his gaming rig. No problems so far, according to him:

Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1800 MCE Kit 1128 PCI-Express x1 Interface
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116015

 

[Duque]

No one on this forum owns or can recommend a tv tuner?

 

[Wolfshadw]

A lot of people used to recommend the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1800... until the Hauppauge Hybrid 2250 came out. LOL

Personally, I use an AVerMedia AVerTV PCI-E Combo on my Window MCE 2005 system and I've not had any problems.

-Wolf sends

 

[Mousemonkey]

Compro E800.

 

[Duque]

Thank you for the suggestions. Is the only real difference with the 2250 dual channel recording?

 

[Wolfshadw]

Not having either card and just looking at a comparison, it appears that's the only difference. I could be wrong, though.

-Wolf sends

 

[leon2006]

This what i use right now on my setup. This is the most stable HW and SW among the HD-Tuners that i have tried. If you are after HD quality this card will work.
This Tuner have accessories to control your cable box or satelite box.
Haupppage 2250: I got it from newegg but it seems to be out of stock when i check it. Wait for a few days it may come up again. Below is the path to happuage webpage.

http://www.hauppage.com/site/products/data_hvr2250.html

I have recorded HD TV shows on this card and it works well. As long as you have a drive space it will keep recording HD-TV shows as you program.

Some of the big HD-TV shows that i have recorded (Extended shows) are SUPERBOWL, Grammy Awards Nights, Olympics Basketball games of the US.....

The biggest Tv-Recorded file that i have to date is ~ 27Gbyte... An hour of HD-Movie or TV show is ~ 4-5 Gbyte.

You can still use your PC while the TV tuner is recording.

Take not of your personal peference if you want analog or HD-digital or both.

HD Tuners that i have tried....
AIT 650 PCIE: Great HD and Analog Tuner: ATI Driver is not stable and this don't work on Vista-64 Utimate Windows Media Center. With some patches from Microsft it will.... I parked this card.

Hauppage 1800/1600: HD is great but Analog TV is poor. Software is stable and work well on Windows Media Center.

Pinnacle PCIE HD-Tuner: Hardware is good. Software is behind and fixes are slow to come by.

I tried the above tuners on the following video cards....
- ATI 3879 512
-ATI 4670 512
- 8800GT OC 512
- GTX 280 OC
- ATI 4890 XOC

 

[leon2006]

Coorections on video card that i tried on the TV Tuners:

3870 512
4870 512
8800GT OC 512
GTX 280 OC
4890 XOC

As long as you get your video card running the Tuner card runs. The tuner card software tends to be more of the problem.

Downside of 2250: It has only one Input.... As i stated personally i don't care since i'm only interested on HD channels. So think of what you want and need.