HDTV Tuner Card

[Milwaukee12]

I am currently looking for an HDTV tuner card for my pc.  I was just wondering what the cheapest HDTV card is?

[kevbeck122]

I'm selling my WinTV-D for $50, though it downconverts to 480i and isn't so great for recording HD content.

I just did some quick searches on a few cards.. DVICO and MyHD are probably the better ones:

ATI HDTV Wonder: $150
DVICO FusionHDTV 3: $150
MyHD MDP-120: ~$240

The DVICO card uses software decoding, so you need a pretty good system for it to work good.

[RJRobb]

I believe the ATI card does software decoding also.

CPU usage really depends on what's broadcast.  Audio affects it as much as the screen format.

EX: on my AMD 3200+ with ATI 9600Pro and Dvico FusionHDTV Gold 3/T

720p with Dolby 5.1 70-90% utilization
720p with Dolby 2.1 50-70% utilization
1080i with Dolby 5.1 40-60% utilization
1080i with Dolby 2.1 20-40% utilization
480i 10-20% utilization

Silent recording (without viewing) is low, in the 5-20% utilization range

[waterhead]

I just recently set up 2 separate computers with HDTV cards.

One has an ATI HDTV Wonder card (WinXP), the other has a pcHDTV card (Linux Fedora).

So far, the best and easiest to use is the ATI HDTV Wonder. At around $150 it is not too expensive. I have a dual boot system with Windows XP and Windows Media Center Edition 2005 (WinXP). It works fine on both systems.

The main difference is that in plain WinXP you can record using the ATI software in the .mpg format. The Windows MCE records using Microsofts own sofware, you also need a analog tuner installed to get the HDTV tuner to work in MCE.
The Windows MCE is great for viewing, as it seamlessly goes from analog staions to digital stations.

You will need to purchase Windows Media Center Edition 2005 from a retailer.They usually have a requirement that you also purchase parts to build a computer at the same time, but that may only be a Microsoft requirement and not inforced by all retailers. If you purchase your card(s) online, you can get MCE at the same time. I like newegg.com.

The Linux sytem is running Fedora Core 2 and using the pcHDTV card. I tried Fedora Core 3 first, but it didn' t recognize the card. It's price is similar to the HDTV Wonder ($150). It does seem a little buggy, but of course it's Linux. The main positive difference is that it receives channels 58.1 and 58.2 (41), but not 6.1. With 58.1 and 58.2 there are no problems and the picture is great!

I'm a new member, and this is my first posting. If any of you seasoned vets have advice, or if this topic is covered elsewhere, let me know.

[GBK]

I have an ATI HDTV card works great.  - $150
Also have Windows XP Media Center Edition works like a charm.. Although I wish I could have to HD tuners so I could watch and record two shows at once.

[Snard]

There's a new low-cost HD tuner card I just learned about today - see the subject line for the name. Here is a link to the manufacturer's product page:

http://www.aver.com/products/tvtuner_avertvhd_mce_a180.shtml

The list price on this card is $89.99, but online resellers like Newegg have it for a few dollars less.  There's been a lot of discussion on this card on AVS Forum, which would take too long to summarize here, but I'm definitely interested based on the low cost.

[GBK]

avermedia has one out but it's only for Windows MCE 2005 it's about $80 online.  I heard that that one and ATI HDTV wonder can coexist in MCE and give you 2 tuners for recording and viewing.

[Snard]

avermedia has one out but it's only for Windows MCE 2005 it's about $80 online.  I heard that that one and ATI HDTV wonder can coexist in MCE and give you 2 tuners for recording and viewing.

A number of people have been repeating the "this card only works in Windows MCE 2005" comment, based on the fact that the card is listed as being certified for MCE 2005. However, a number of people on AVS Forum have succeeded in getting the card to work under "plain" Windows XP Pro, specifically under SageTV. I don't have specifics at this instant, but I'll report as I have more information.

[GBK]

well I'm sure you can get it to work with other stuff, but since I don't have a direct knowledge of how well it works or if you need a hacked version of drivers I won't go on record saying that it works great that way.  Don't quote me on this but I heard that MCE does software decoding only which is why the cards are cheap.. so I'm not sure what significance if any that will have on people getting it for other uses.

[SugarRay]

Any word if Microsoft will sell MEC as a stand alone OS vs having to purchase a PC with it installed already? IE from HP?

[kevbeck122]

You can buy the OEM version of MCE 2005.. somewhere in the low $100 range I believe.

[GBK]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832102311

you can buy it for $130 Oem license mean you need to buy hardware with it... pretty open to interpretation.. get a bigger HD or something and it's all good.

[murdoc]

So this ATI card will only work with Windows MCE or will it work with XP?  I'm trying to choose between the HP 530J and the HP 630 Media Center.  

530J

630 Media Center

The video card is already going.  Ive chosen the AOpen GF6200TC DV64 with DVI out here

Thanks,
Jason

[GBK]

ATI wil work in Both in MCE only works as a ATSC (Digital Tuner) the analog portion is off.  In XP when you use the ATI software (pretty pathetic attempt at software if you ask me) you will have both Digital (ATSC) and Analog (NTSC)

[murdoc]

So I would be able to record in HD to the PC in both MCE and XP Pro?  Are there any MAJOR differences in MCE and XP Pro that would make one more favorable?