TV card or screen with tv tuner?

[aj2k2001]

hey, im looking to play tv on/through my computer as 2 screens (including one as crt monitor and the other as a rather large 21" television)is just taking up too much space! the 2 options i have; is to either buy a tv card for my computer and play tv through whatever screen is attached to it. this also easily allows picture-in-picture, which will be essential. Or i can buy a new tft lcd screen which also has a tv tuner. i was just wondering what would be the best option as i have heard that tv cards are not that good. but looking at the small choice available to me of tv tuner enabled screens, the contrast quality tends to be low (500:1). my budget is about £300-£350. my computer is relatively new; 2.4ghz, 2gb ram, 200gb hard disk and running on windows xp. it would be helpfull if anyone has pro's and con's of either option. im hoping to get a 19"/20" screen for which ever option. thank you very much for your help.

 

[U-Toast]

Getting a TV tuner gives you more options as you can hook it up to different screens.

You should look at Hauppauge tv tuner cards. They are all around the best ones. If you need a lot of channels, you may even look into buying 2 cards to put in your computer as each card can only support a certain number of channels.

 

[aj2k2001]

thank you for the quick reply. at the moment and probably for the foreseable future i wont be getting more than 1 screen. and also i read somewhere that the Hauppauge win tv 350 wasnt very good with multiple screens. although i did like the look of what i read about it, and as im not going 2 be using 2 screens for a while this would pose no problem. i suppose im just thinking about ease of use and it meaning i'll have to hav the computer on to watch t.v and how much will it be like a tv. i.e. using teletext and being able to use a remote to change channel and how reliable is it. thanx

 

[ace418]

I recommend an ATI All in wonder card, you get a tv/fm tuner plus sweet graphics. They made a X1900 All in wonder which runs about $440, I'm not sure what that is in pounds though. It even comes with a remote. Its sweet, but it depends on if you have a PCIEx16 slot or not. Otherwise you may have to settle for a ATI all in wonder X800XT AGP, or a PCI TV tuner card and a video card that has a video out

 

[aj2k2001]

its about £400. just looked it up. looks awesome, but havent got enough funds for that! for some reason ide prefer to get a screen with a tuner in it. but im not sure why! suppose at the end of the day i just want good quality tv that feels like using a tv (or close to!) on a good quality screen that also has picture-in-picture. think i might be aiming for too much....

 

[ace418]

there are a lot of options you can take. It seems to me that you would be happy having a TV that you can hook your computer up to, not the other way around.

 

[aj2k2001]

yeah, im just worried about the quality. i saw someone else that did this and the quality was shocking and also i want to be able 2 watch tv at the same time as im on the computer (picture-in-picture) i think this can only be done with the right screen and not with just software. but to be honest i hav no idea!

 

[aj2k2001]

ive just gone back to review the tv tuner card
any views on this one?

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=45466