Good TV Tuner?

[Blitersety]

I'm looking to buy a nice high-quality tv tuner for my pc but for a mid-range price... preferably 70.00 USD or lower. If you can recommend one for 30.00 that would be great though lol! I'm just asking if anyone here who has used one can recommend it to me if they liked it because I don't really trust newegg's customer reviews.

Secondly, will I need to plug in an aux audio in cable for the sound? For example one tv tuner on newegg had an "aux in" audio cable that needs to be plugged into your soundcard but I'm using onboard sound so I was wondering where on my P35-DS3R mobo I would plug that into.

Thanks in advance!

 

[eyeCpc]

The older tuner and video capture cards needed a patch to the line-in jack on sound cards since they lack their own onboard audio chip. That's no longer seen with the tv tuner card used here by AVerMedia.

Their A180 MCE Edition model's software will run on Vista as well as XP making that about the first card found for both versions. I never go by reviews seen at vendors anyways here. I simply look over specifications on items being considered as well as prices.

When seen for $89.99 at newegg I simply shop around for a better price and behold... $79.89 from another reliable vendor. Product Details

 

[Blitersety]

That looks like a nice card but it says you need windows xp media center edition to use it... I unfortunately only have XP home edition. Thanks for clearing up the thing about the audio cable.

 

[peterhuang913]

Newegg.com - Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 PCI Interface 1045 Tuner Card - Retail

 

[Blitersety]

^ Thanks for the link, I may indeed end up getting that one, it looks great except for its input is analog-only so i'd have to buy a converter when 2009 rolls around.

I just thought of something. Will any of these tuners work with my dish network tv? they all say cable-ready but none of them cite any compatibility with the satellite tv we get here.

 

[eyeCpc]

That looks like a nice card but it says you need windows xp media center edition to use it... I unfortunately only have XP home edition. Thanks for clearing up the thing about the audio cable.

The last build here saw the 1500 MCE Pro run everything well on both the Home and Pro editions while refusing to run on Vista. This is why I was ready to jump on the model having the right Vista ready type software.

On the new build I no longer have Pro but the Home version on one drive with Vista as a stand alone on the ide until I eventually add a new larger sata in. The actual application seen on XP Pro upgraded to MCE which is what MCE is with the media center added into it is that the card will be seen in the media center there. Some cards won't be seen in the media when trying them out.

 

[peterhuang913]

^ Thanks for the link, I may indeed end up getting that one, it looks great except for its input is analog-only so i'd have to buy a converter when 2009 rolls around.

I just thought of something. Will any of these tuners work with my dish network tv? they all say cable-ready but none of them cite any compatibility with the satellite tv we get here.

Your satellite TV comes from a dish to a box to the tv, just set it from dish to box to card with the video cable.

 

[Blitersety]

Originally posted by peterhuang913
Your satellite TV comes from a dish to a box to the tv, just set it from dish to box to card with the video cable.

Originally posted by eyeCPC

The last build here saw the 1500 MCE Pro run everything well on both the Home and Pro editions while refusing to run on Vista. This is why I was ready to jump on the model having the right Vista ready type software.

On the new build I no longer have Pro but the Home version on one drive with Vista as a stand alone on the ide until I eventually add a new larger sata in. The actual application seen on XP Pro upgraded to MCE which is what MCE is with the media center added into it is that the card will be seen in the media center there. Some cards won't be seen in the media when trying them out.

Oh okay thanks for clearing those things up

 

[eyeCpc]

AVerMedia surprisingly does have great cards while many go for the Hauppauge brand. The old 98-ME, 2000/XP video capture cards lasted while needing a patch into the sound card for audio.

If you do end up with a Creative X-Fi series sound card instead of onboard sound the sound card will pick up and tend to amplify the audio chip on any pci type tuner card installed. The Smart Volume Management switched off if enabled will eliminate the buzzing complaint sometimes made on that line of sound cards.