Recommendation: TV Tuner?

Discussion in 'General Hardware' started by rox1co, Jan 31, 2006.

  1. rox1co

    rox1co Active Member

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    can you recommend a good TV Tuner? i want GOOD QUALITY because this will be my permanent TV on a 19" LCD Monitor

    i was thinking of getting a ALL IN WONDER Video Card (X1800XL AIW) but its a lil pricey but i may get it if i don't get any recommendations

    also is there a way to not have a AIW Card and use your Video Card as a TV? like if you're LCD doesn't support DVI, you can still have DVI quality with a DVI to VGA connector

    thanks
     
  2. daveid

    daveid Ancient Guru

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    i would not get another AIW card. they are cute, but mostly gimmicky these days as they don't even put there good tv chip in it. they use the 200 series with the 1900s, which is so far behind (quality wise) from the theatre pro 550, which is in the card i use.
    the important questions you need to ask yourself, and answer here to get a better answer, are...
    1. Do you plan on capturing video to playback later, or just viewing live tv?
    2. Is sharpness, or smoothness of the picture most important?
    3. Does HDTV come into play at all, or just standard broadcasts?
    4. PCI or PCI-Express?
    5. What operating system/frontend software do you plan on using?

    i don't think i understand your second question. if you are asking whether you can have a tv-tuner separate from a video card, and still output tv on your monitor, then yes of course you can. but if your lcd doesn't support dvi, you can't have the sharpness that dvi offers using an adapter.
    i have a theatre pro 550 pci adapter in my main rig, and an nvidia 6800gt as my video card, and i can watch tv, but i mostly record television, which is why i went with this card (hardware mpeg2 recording - offloads the cpu). that and i prefer a sharp picture to a smooth one.
    edit - btw - i used to have a 9800pro AIW card.. i can't recommend AIW's based on my experience with them. they use inferior tv-chips, and are generally less compatible with third party software.
     
  3. rox1co

    rox1co Active Member

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    yes to all 5 of your questions

    i would love to record 24 and Smallville and i do want HDTV quality

    i plan on getting a ViewSonic 19" or 19" WideScreen and i don't want anything lacky

    thanks bro :) i'm gonna check out that Threatre Pro 550

    and its all PCI-E with Windows XP Pro

    ps. i wanna be able to use my Computer for both Gaming and TV viewing, i won't have 2 separate PCs
     
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2006
  4. daveid

    daveid Ancient Guru

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  5. orenda635

    orenda635 Ancient Guru

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    PCI-e would be a good choice. Sometimes I get pops when I'm recording TV shows directly to DVD. Both the tuner and the X-FI use so much PCI bandwith.

    Don't buy a Prolink card BTW. Quality is ok but its nothing to brag about. Not as good as the tuner in a TV.
     

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