Tv Tuner For A Pc

Bogle45 · December 25, 2007

I am wanting to find a TV Tuner for my PC. I would like to record shows on my computer as well as pause, fast forward, and rewind live TV. Does anyone have any recommendations? I was thinking I would like an external one. Does anyone have one of these?

Any ideas or comments are appreciated.

-Devil- · December 25, 2007

i have one of the external ones that plugs into USB .. and the cable line hooks up to it ... don't remember the brand .. but it came with some ATI software that lets me record and pause ... picks up digital and hd broadcasts as well (just have an external antenna hooked to it)

Bogle45 · December 26, 2007

i have one of the external ones that plugs into USB .. and the cable line hooks up to it ... don't remember the brand .. but it came with some ATI software that lets me record and pause ... picks up digital and hd broadcasts as well (just have an external antenna hooked to it)

Are you satisfied with it?

Does it look like a flash drive? Same size?

-Devil- · December 26, 2007

its a little larger then a flash drive ... and comes with a remote .. but i hardly use the remote ...

yeah i would say i am satisfied with it ... but the quality from it will depend mostly on the speed of your computer (video card, ram, processor, hard drive space) ...

my computer has a 22" lcd widescreen monitor ...

Zembonez · December 26, 2007

If you want a little better video quality than a flash drive. I have an ATI TV-Wonder PCI card in one of my PCs and it works great. It's a great TV tuner card... It also allows you to capture, edit, stop, and rewind video. It hooks right up to the cable and does a good job. Got mine from Newegg.com. I bought over $20.000 worth of equipment from them and they are great to deal with. It will only run you about 36 bucks plus cheap shipping.

Here is a link to an ATI tuner card

ATI TV Tuner card

Good luck and Happy New Year!

EDIT: Oh, yeah... almost forgot. You can hook up your Video Camera, VCR, etc to it and capture video on your PC with it as well... If that matters.

omegafiler · December 26, 2007

I tend to prefer the Hauppauge tuners over the ATI stuff. The Hauppauge driver/software just seems less buggy. Here is a link to the Hauppauage 950; it's the external USB HD version. Not much bigger than a USB memory key.

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_hvr950.html

You can find it fairly cheap on Amazon. Has inputs, regular SD TV, and HDTV. Software can pause/record/schedule TV recordings. Even comes with a small/portable nifty telescoping antenna that works surprisingly well. I keep it with my XPS notebook so I can watch TV when I'm traveling.

But if PCI is an option, those will work better, and faster. And there are better 3rd party apps for viewing/recording video than what ATI/Hauppauge gives you. SageTV and Snapstream, for example, are quite good. Which is very important if you expect it to compete with your standard DVR.

Zembonez · December 26, 2007

I tend to prefer the Hauppauge tuners over the ATI stuff. The Hauppauge driver/software just seems less buggy.

I agree that they make prett good stuff but if you are running Core Duo or X64 processors or Windows Vista, they don't work worth a darn... I prefer the ATI stuff for modern build PCs.

Bogle45 · December 27, 2007

How is the video quality with this item?

I tend to prefer the Hauppauge tuners over the ATI stuff. The Hauppauge driver/software just seems less buggy. Here is a link to the Hauppauage 950; it's the external USB HD version. Not much bigger than a USB memory key.

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_hvr950.html

You can find it fairly cheap on Amazon. Has inputs, regular SD TV, and HDTV. Software can pause/record/schedule TV recordings. Even comes with a small/portable nifty telescoping antenna that works surprisingly well. I keep it with my XPS notebook so I can watch TV when I'm traveling.

But if PCI is an option, those will work better, and faster. And there are better 3rd party apps for viewing/recording video than what ATI/Hauppauge gives you. SageTV and Snapstream, for example, are quite good. Which is very important if you expect it to compete with your standard DVR.

omegafiler · December 27, 2007

I tend to prefer the Hauppauge tuners over the ATI stuff. The Hauppauge driver/software just seems less buggy.

I agree that they make prett good stuff but if you are running Core Duo or X64 processors or Windows Vista, they don't work worth a darn... I prefer the ATI stuff for modern build PCs.

I haven't tried it on my x64 systems yet, but the XPS notebook is running 32-bit Vista, and it has a Core 2 Duo CPU. These are also the latest drivers/software though.

I do also have 2 other ATI HDTV PCI card's on 2 other Vista systems that I use for Media Center, and after a bit of tweaking, they also work just fine. But they can get rather unhappy if you start to introduce any other codecs on the system. That's one thing I liked about the Hauppauge - it didn't care what codecs were installed. But a lot issues like that can be resolved with newer drivers... but not always.

To Bogle45, HD/ATSC Video quality looks great on either one of them. A lot of it has to do with the software your running as well. So I'd say just pick which even one suites your needs. They aren't that expensive, and you always return 'em if they don't work out.

Bogle45 · December 27, 2007

I tend to prefer the Hauppauge tuners over the ATI stuff. The Hauppauge driver/software just seems less buggy.

I agree that they make prett good stuff but if you are running Core Duo or X64 processors or Windows Vista, they don't work worth a darn... I prefer the ATI stuff for modern build PCs.

I haven't tried it on my x64 systems yet, but the XPS notebook is running 32-bit Vista, and it has a Core 2 Duo CPU. These are also the latest drivers/software though.

I do also have 2 other ATI HDTV PCI card's on 2 other Vista systems that I use for Media Center, and after a bit of tweaking, they also work just fine. But they can get rather unhappy if you start to introduce any other codecs on the system. That's one thing I liked about the Hauppauge - it didn't care what codecs were installed. But a lot issues like that can be resolved with newer drivers... but not always.

To Bogle45, HD/ATSC Video quality looks great on either one of them. A lot of it has to do with the software your running as well. So I'd say just pick which even one suites your needs. They aren't that expensive, and you always return 'em if they don't work out.

Well I think I am going to go with a Hauppauge. I was originally wanting to get the USB type just for its versatilely of not having to limit it to just one computer. But if the PCI type works better I will probably go with that. I really just want to record shows on my computer that I might miss. I will then watch the recorded show on my computer. Maybe occasionally watch live TV on here. At least that is the plan right now. No plans to do any type of video editing and what not. Which Hauppauge product would you recomend?

Zembonez · December 27, 2007

I tend to prefer the Hauppauge tuners over the ATI stuff. The Hauppauge driver/software just seems less buggy.

I agree that they make prett good stuff but if you are running Core Duo or X64 processors or Windows Vista, they don't work worth a darn... I prefer the ATI stuff for modern build PCs.

I haven't tried it on my x64 systems yet, but the XPS notebook is running 32-bit Vista, and it has a Core 2 Duo CPU. These are also the latest drivers/software though.

I do also have 2 other ATI HDTV PCI card's on 2 other Vista systems that I use for Media Center, and after a bit of tweaking, they also work just fine. But they can get rather unhappy if you start to introduce any other codecs on the system. That's one thing I liked about the Hauppauge - it didn't care what codecs were installed. But a lot issues like that can be resolved with newer drivers... but not always.

To Bogle45, HD/ATSC Video quality looks great on either one of them. A lot of it has to do with the software your running as well. So I'd say just pick which even one suites your needs. They aren't that expensive, and you always return 'em if they don't work out.

I am always willing to be proven wrong. I must admit my experience with them was on an early production X64 machine that could have been set up before the latest round of drivers came along. Might have to try another one for my laptop just to see how well it works. If the video quality beats my ATI, I'm a convert. Prices are certainly right.

Thanks for the update.

BigJayDogg3 · December 27, 2007

***ThreadJackin***

Anyone have a USB type TV tuner that handles over-the-air HD signals and works with Vista? I need a USB tuner since I only have a laptop right now, and would much rather play with gadgets than buy another TV. So with that said, any suggestions.

With the remotes, can I just get one of those Logitec media center remotes and use that, or do I need to get a TV tuner that comes with a remote already. I would much rather get a universal media center remote if that is at all possible.

omegafiler · December 27, 2007

***ThreadJackin***

Anyone have a USB type TV tuner that handles over-the-air HD signals and works with Vista? I need a USB tuner since I only have a laptop right now, and would much rather play with gadgets than buy another TV. So with that said, any suggestions.

With the remotes, can I just get one of those Logitec media center remotes and use that, or do I need to get a TV tuner that comes with a remote already. I would much rather get a universal media center remote if that is at all possible.

The one I have does, Hauppauge 950. It's USB, runs on Vista, and does over the air SD and HD. It's also compatible with Media Center, but the included software works better. If you want to use it for Media Center, the faster PCI cards tend to work a little better.

EDIT: Regarding the remotes, in theory you could use the Harmony remote since the 950 does have an IR port built-in. Or you can buy the optional Hauppauge remote. I just haven't tried it yet.

Bogle45 · December 29, 2007

***ThreadJackin***

Anyone have a USB type TV tuner that handles over-the-air HD signals and works with Vista? I need a USB tuner since I only have a laptop right now, and would much rather play with gadgets than buy another TV. So with that said, any suggestions.

With the remotes, can I just get one of those Logitec media center remotes and use that, or do I need to get a TV tuner that comes with a remote already. I would much rather get a universal media center remote if that is at all possible.

The one I have does, Hauppauge 950. It's USB, runs on Vista, and does over the air SD and HD. It's also compatible with Media Center, but the included software works better. If you want to use it for Media Center, the faster PCI cards tend to work a little better.

EDIT: Regarding the remotes, in theory you could use the Harmony remote since the 950 does have an IR port built-in. Or you can buy the optional Hauppauge remote. I just haven't tried it yet.

Come on... no recommendations?