Are tv cards any good?
- Thread starter R1_155
- Start date
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nick25
Guest
What OS are you running mate? Some are only designed to work with MCE, like sweetspot cards. Did you want a capture card? There are a few twin digital tuner capture cards now available but some are really buggy. You can also buy USB ones that have mixed results. How much were you looking at spending?
yeah, i like tv cards.
I have a wintv PVR250 and it's great. Low cpu load and good recording. However, it's analogue only, but the software is ok.
There are tons of external tuners on the market - even as small as USB dongles. They are going for DVB-T now which means no hardware encoding as the stream comes down in Mpeg2 i think.
Hexus reviewed two compro ones and a terratec USB one - they looked good.
Also, if you want to use a PCIe slot, I think there's a theater (sic.) 550 card from powercolor with PCIe 1x.
You could get a x1900AIW which comes with TV - although not DVB-T.
I have a wintv PVR250 and it's great. Low cpu load and good recording. However, it's analogue only, but the software is ok.
There are tons of external tuners on the market - even as small as USB dongles. They are going for DVB-T now which means no hardware encoding as the stream comes down in Mpeg2 i think.
Hexus reviewed two compro ones and a terratec USB one - they looked good.
Also, if you want to use a PCIe slot, I think there's a theater (sic.) 550 card from powercolor with PCIe 1x.
You could get a x1900AIW which comes with TV - although not DVB-T.
Am going to get new machine would be running xp pro,the idea was because tv died to get new machine with dell screen 24 or 30 undecided.use the dell for tv and game console if i could,but it would have to be usb because no room in machine.Just thought be a good way to save a few quid if i could.
@nick25
What is MCE?
I take it a capture card is digital tunner?
If so then yes would need to be digital.thx
@chris ah1
What does DVB-T stand for? digital?
I'll look at hexus thx
@nick25
What is MCE?
I take it a capture card is digital tunner?
If so then yes would need to be digital.thx
@chris ah1
What does DVB-T stand for? digital?
I'll look at hexus thx
PHILIP1193
New member
R1_155 said:
mce is microsft media center, its a windows operatin system specially designed for media pcs, a DVB-T is a digital tuner mate, better picture ect
Phil
Very good they are...
I have used an Analog MSI one, which only cost bout £30 in the sale - lierally a TV replacement in terms of functions etc.
I currrently have the Nebula DigiTV DVB-T card, which is excellent in every way! Watching TV is like watching a DVD, but it will mean that you'll find it difficult to watch a normal fuzzy analog again. Also Digital is really bad if you don't have a good aerial/ reception. Instead of a fuzzy picture you get lots of blocky squares and random LOUD squeeks - which makes it very unwatchable.
I have used an Analog MSI one, which only cost bout £30 in the sale - lierally a TV replacement in terms of functions etc.
I currrently have the Nebula DigiTV DVB-T card, which is excellent in every way! Watching TV is like watching a DVD, but it will mean that you'll find it difficult to watch a normal fuzzy analog again. Also Digital is really bad if you don't have a good aerial/ reception. Instead of a fuzzy picture you get lots of blocky squares and random LOUD squeeks - which makes it very unwatchable.
I'm running 2 Black Gold DVB tuners in my MCE HTPC atm, never had any issues at all with them and the picture quality is amazingly good. They also do a BIOS flash prog so you can flash the ROM in them to work with MCE or standard XP!!!
I don't need that but the function is there if it's needed.
Boardy
I don't need that but the function is there if it's needed.
Boardy
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nick25
Guest
R1, quality is often improved as you can do 1:1 pixel mapping (more or less) and therefore upscale to the res of the set, there are various software tweaks that can improve this further - its similar to a good quality upscaling DVD player however if you plan to go with something like a 3007FPW then thats quite a bit ask scaling upto 2560x1600, a good quality dual link gfx will do but whether the picture quality will be that great I'm not sure. Most people use HTPC with LCD that are 1366x768 and the like.
When I said capture card I just meant one with recording features ala Tivo style.
When I said capture card I just meant one with recording features ala Tivo style.
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nick25
Guest
R1 did you want a twin tuner one? Do you have room for two cards as twin ones are more expensive than two singles.
I have found you generally get what you pay for as far as tv tuners are concerned.
I have found you generally get what you pay for as far as tv tuners are concerned.
jellybeard999
New member
I have found the Compro DVB-T card ive got is great for £34... no probs etc 
Faaip De Oiad
New member
Sorry for asking asking this in your thread 'R1 155' but I have wanted to know for a while now if it's possible to use these TV cards to capture TV from an NTL box (i.e. not terrestrial) as to watch/record MTV etc on my PC.
