What's the Best TV Tuner Card

[vinegarjoe]

Hi All,

I'm sure someone has asked this before but I couldn't find a relevant thread. What's the best tv tuner card out there? I want to be able to watch and record multiple channels at once, and turn my old pc into a really nice htpc. I'm basically switching my old gaming rig to the HTPC.

e4800 cpu
DFI LP x38 dk t2rb mobo
4gig of ddr2 ram
radeon 4870 512mb grphx card (i know it's way to loud for htpc, but i might switch out for a different card or build a sound box for the htpc and use a rf remote)

There's plenty of room in my case and i can run the tuner card in reg pci, pci-e 1x, 4x, or 16x. If ya'll could give me options in different price ranges that'd be good too. I know Hauppage is supposed to be really good, but which one???

Thanks

oh and i have a Laser Disk player and would like to be able to dump my LD's onto dvd or bd. why dont i just buy the dvds or bd you ask? because some of the LD's are directors cuts that are unlikely to be released with the same cut on dvd aka It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

http://www.hdtvtunerinfo.com/besthdtvtuner.html
http://go.redirectingat.com/?id=1402X558040&site=tomshardware.co.uk&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newegg.com%2FProduct%2FProduct.aspx%3FItem%3DN82E16815116037&sref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomshardware.co.uk%2Fforum%2F267086-15-best-tuner-card
http://go.redirectingat.com/?id=1402X558040&site=tomshardware.co.uk&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newegg.com%2FProduct%2FProduct.aspx%3FItem%3DN82E16815100015&sref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomshardware.co.uk%2Fforum%2F267086-15-best-tuner-card

 

[Wolfshadw]

If you're currently using a set top box from a cable company, I'd suggest swapping it out for a cablecard and one of these products. I'm currently using the Ceton InfiniTV4 card.

Ceton Corp InfiniTV4
SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime
Hauppauge WinTV DCR-2650

-Wolf sends

 

[jtennison]

If you're currently using a set top box from a cable company, I'd suggest swapping it out for a cablecard and one of these products. I'm currently using the Ceton InfiniTV4 card.

Ceton Corp InfiniTV4
SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime
Hauppauge WinTV DCR-2650

-Wolf sends

At this point in time, I would choose the Ceton InfiniTV4 card if you can afford it. This software/firmware is more mature. If you are looking for less expensive, read the SiliconDust forums for a while, to make sure they are getting the reported problems fixed.

For any of the cablecard tuners, most of the activation problems turn out to be the cable company's fault, not the tuner manufacturers.

I have been using a ceton tuner for about 3 months now, and love it. No problem in installation or activation (with Comcast).

 

[aoommen]

I had the same question, just wanted to check what did you end up using and how is it working for you? I do not have cable and we don't watch a lot of TV, but I would like to have a card on my new HTPC build I'm planning for recording a few shows and maybe if I end up getting cable in the future!

I don't know whether I should be using a PCI-e card or a USB one, any recommendations.

Here is the rest of the build:

Case Antec Fusion Remote Black
PSU Corsair AX 430W ATX
MB ECS A75-M2 Socket FM1 mATX
APU AMD A6-3650 Llano 2.6 GHz
RAM Corsair Vengance 8 GB
ODD Samsung 12X BD ROM & DVD Writer
OS Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
SSD Patriot Pyro 60 GB SATA III (OS only)
HDD 3TB Hitachi Deskstar 7200 RPM SATA III - 3 TB (Storage)
Remote Logitech Harmony One (not planning to use the case remote)

 

[vinegarjoe]

well I ended up getting the hauppauge 2250 but haven't gotten it working the way i want it yet..... we'll see just havent had time.

 

[aoommen]

well I ended up getting the hauppauge 2250 but haven't gotten it working the way i want it yet..... we'll see just havent had time.

Thanks for the reply...! So I take it that you have installed the card and switched on the system and isn't very happy with what you got out of the box and is planning on tweaking it, right?

Any luck with that yet? I bought the same from Amazon for around $100 but haven't set it up yet either! Same reason as yours, no time, but planning on doing it this weekend, hopefully!

I have heard it has a problem working with Win7 - 64 bit OS's, what OS are you using? Had any issues yet when you set up?

Thanks for the help again! Sorry about all the questions! I still have some time before my return time frame expires, so trying to make up my mind whether this was worth the money!

 

[ledishis]

Long time ago when old windows-XP was ruling you were able to use two channels. Say, have you tried to do capture from four devices at once ????