HDTV capture cards, anybody use one?

  • Thread starter Thread starter SL
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SL

I see Ati has the above cards available. Are they all they are cracked up
to be? What benefit could I use it for with my specs:

9800 Pro
3 gig AMD
1 gig Ram
80 gig HD
Adelphia cable (HDTV is available)
20in. monitor with 5 inputs (YGB+H/V) model :HPA40333a



I ask as the quality and reliability of the TV Wonder series is hit or miss
and the quality was never quite 4 out of 5 star quality.

thanks all,
SL
 
SL said:
I see Ati has the above cards available. Are they all they are cracked up
to be? What benefit could I use it for with my specs:

9800 Pro
3 gig AMD
1 gig Ram
80 gig HD
Adelphia cable (HDTV is available)
20in. monitor with 5 inputs (YGB+H/V) model :HPA40333a



I ask as the quality and reliability of the TV Wonder series is hit or
miss and the quality was never quite 4 out of 5 star quality.
Click to expand...

As far as the picture quality goes HD is HD. But the HDTV Wonder doesn't
have a good reputation, and for cable there are the additional issues of
QAM decoding and encrypted channels. Ideally, find someone who uses
Adelphia and has an HD tuner board and see how it's working out for him.
 
I see Ati has the above cards available. Are they all they are cracked up
to be? What benefit could I use it for with my specs:

9800 Pro
3 gig AMD
1 gig Ram
80 gig HD
Adelphia cable (HDTV is available)
20in. monitor with 5 inputs (YGB+H/V) model :HPA40333a



I ask as the quality and reliability of the TV Wonder series is hit or miss
and the quality was never quite 4 out of 5 star quality.
Click to expand...

PCMagazine or PCWorld reviewed a few tuner cards this month. HDTV
cards were a mini-review. They did mention that the ATI card has
separate programs for digital and analog viewing, and you cannot run
both at the same time. The other HDTV tuner they reviewed kept crashing
it's software.
 
SL said:
I see Ati has the above cards available. Are they all they are cracked up
to be? What benefit could I use it for with my specs:

9800 Pro
3 gig AMD
1 gig Ram
80 gig HD
Adelphia cable (HDTV is available)
20in. monitor with 5 inputs (YGB+H/V) model :HPA40333a



I ask as the quality and reliability of the TV Wonder series is hit or miss
and the quality was never quite 4 out of 5 star quality.

thanks all,
SL
Click to expand...
Great picture. Software has been a PIA but working ok now. Main benefit is
HDTV/SDTV PVR for <$200. Forget the cable for HDTV it's OTA only. Antenna is
ok if your not to far or too close. I'm getting most stations at 40miles by
adding preamp. If too close multipath may be a problem. I'm reasonably happy
with it for the money.
HTH YMMV
 
I have one, HDTV Wonder, and it was a PAIN to get install,,
The analog tuner is crap, but the digital is good,,
Don't use your computer for anything if you're watching HDTV, it will slow
it down because it has to write to the hard drive,
If you record with the digital recorder, then you must use the library to
play and export to another format, Your choices are limited (mmc9.0) and
you can't change the preset's,

The first preset is 1920x1080 mpeg2 with ac3 audio, And I haven't been able
to get the audio in sync with the video with any video editor..

The second preset is 720x480 mpeg2 with mpeg 2 layer audio, the sound is in
sync with the video, but now the video is the wrong size that I want..

Don't think about using the audio of the second preset to match the first
preset, it still will be out of sync.

The other presets are not worth while..

Another bad thing is there is no video-out (With the card itself) to send
the video to a analog or digital tv.

My opinion is, if you just want to watch HDTV and you are very good with
computer, not a bad choice and most computer stores will have it,,

I wish I hadn't bought it,,

DrSpider



I see Ati has the above cards available. Are they all they are cracked up
to be? What benefit could I use it for with my specs:

9800 Pro
3 gig AMD
1 gig Ram
80 gig HD
Adelphia cable (HDTV is available)
20in. monitor with 5 inputs (YGB+H/V) model :HPA40333a



I ask as the quality and reliability of the TV Wonder series is hit or miss
and the quality was never quite 4 out of 5 star quality.

thanks all,
SL
 
I am using the DVICO Fusion-HDTV3-T (http://www.dvico.com) to watch and
record cable HDTV and OTA (over the air) HDTV. I can receive all
Comcast unencrypted cable channels and I can receive their local HDTV
channels. This card, like most others, stops at channel 125 which makes
all comcast channels above that out of range. For some reason the local
HDTV channels can be viewed with the Fusion HDTV3 T because Comcast
delivers them as channel 75.1, 75.2 & 115.1 when viewing with the card,
but when watching through a cable box on a regular TV the local HDTV
channels are 232, 233 & 234. This card supports many versions of QAM
also.
 
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