Tv tuner recommendation?

  • Thread starter Thread starter sofasurfer
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sofasurfer

I just bought a TV-PCIRC and found out that it sucks. Now I see that
everyone on the internet already knew it sucked. But its the only one I
could find in the stores around here.

So, in my searching on ebay I found a "3-in-1" tuner. Looks like a
better deal. But I hope someone out there can tell me if it really will
give me a better picture.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MEWA:IT&viewitem=&item=260072489039&rd=1&rd=1

The TV-PCIRC picture is very fuzzy. I've been reading about video and
have trouble sorting out what characteristics I really need to watch
for.

My pc...
AMD Duron 2.1gig
137gig hard drive
512mg (will be adding more soon)
WindowsME(Don't say it. Its worked fine for me for 5 years)
Nvidia Geforce 4 mx440(May buy a better graphics card soon)
 
sofasurfer said:
I just bought a TV-PCIRC and found out that it sucks. Now I see that
everyone on the internet already knew it sucked. But its the only one I
could find in the stores around here.

So, in my searching on ebay I found a "3-in-1" tuner. Looks like a
better deal. But I hope someone out there can tell me if it really will
give me a better picture.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MEWA:IT&viewitem=&item=260072489039&rd=1&rd=1

The TV-PCIRC picture is very fuzzy. I've been reading about video and
have trouble sorting out what characteristics I really need to watch
for.

My pc...
AMD Duron 2.1gig
137gig hard drive
512mg (will be adding more soon)
WindowsME(Don't say it. Its worked fine for me for 5 years)
Nvidia Geforce 4 mx440(May buy a better graphics card soon)
Click to expand...
Your system should be fine. The main drawback to ME is it only supports
FAT32 which has a 4GB file size limit. Used to know exactly how many minutes
it would allow but have been away from it too long. Basically you will not
be able to capture some movies in one file. The NTSF file system of W2K and
XP don't have that limitation and aren't nearly as prone to crashing.

Specs on the card look ok. Wildcards are how good is the quality, software
and support. Probably could get an equivalent ATI(sans the FM) for $15-20
more. Digital TV seems to have analog prices dropping.

Have never seen the TV-PCIRC so can't say about it's picture quality. NTSC
video is equal to 800X600 at best and is interlaced. Displaying it at a
higher resolution magnifies the picture and the problems plus a PC monitor
is progressive. IOW NTSC's quality isn't very good. Displaying it in a
window of that size will give the best indication of it's PQ.

If your displaying it on a TV, you know what it should look like.
 
Captain said:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MEWA:IT&viewitem=&item=260072489039&rd=1&rd=1
Your system should be fine. The main drawback to ME is it only supports
FAT32 which has a 4GB file size limit. Used to know exactly how many minutes
it would allow but have been away from it too long. Basically you will not
be able to capture some movies in one file. The NTSF file system of W2K and
XP don't have that limitation and aren't nearly as prone to crashing.

Specs on the card look ok. Wildcards are how good is the quality, software
and support. Probably could get an equivalent ATI(sans the FM) for $15-20
more. Digital TV seems to have analog prices dropping.

Have never seen the TV-PCIRC so can't say about it's picture quality. NTSC
video is equal to 800X600 at best and is interlaced. Displaying it at a
higher resolution magnifies the picture and the problems plus a PC monitor
is progressive. IOW NTSC's quality isn't very good. Displaying it in a
window of that size will give the best indication of it's PQ.

If your displaying it on a TV, you know what it should look like.
Click to expand...

Don't spend too much time or money on NTSC. In Feb 2009 all the
stations go dark. Of course, they're currently running their digital
transmitters. It looks WAY better than NTSC - so much so that I just
got the 3rd HDTV Wonder to record mostly HD, all off-air.

GG
 
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MEWA:IT&viewitem=&item=260072489039&rd=1&rd=1

Don't spend too much time or money on NTSC. In Feb 2009 all the
stations go dark. Of course, they're currently running their digital
transmitters. It looks WAY better than NTSC - so much so that I just
got the 3rd HDTV Wonder to record mostly HD, all off-air.

GG
Click to expand...
Agreed but cable and other video sources will be around for a long time.
Also a DX9 compliant video card will be needed for HD. At up to 9GB/HR, NTSF
and a large HDD are also a must. Uh...come to think of it you have to use XP
for the HDTV Wonder, at least. If not for these major changes and the fact
it would consume most of his system's resources would have suggested it
instead.
 
I just bought a TV-PCIRC and found out that it sucks. Now I see that
everyone on the internet already knew it sucked. But its the only one I
could find in the stores around here.

So, in my searching on ebay I found a "3-in-1" tuner. Looks like a
better deal. But I hope someone out there can tell me if it really will
give me a better picture.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MEWA:IT&viewitem=&item=260072489039&rd=1&rd=1

The TV-PCIRC picture is very fuzzy. I've been reading about video and
have trouble sorting out what characteristics I really need to watch
for.

My pc...
AMD Duron 2.1gig
137gig hard drive
512mg (will be adding more soon)
WindowsME(Don't say it. Its worked fine for me for 5 years)
Nvidia Geforce 4 mx440(May buy a better graphics card soon)
Click to expand...


I bought one of these (not from ebay).

http://cgi.ebay.com/KWorld-TV-Tuner...68769566QQihZ020QQcategoryZ3761QQcmdZViewItem

and it's been working ok for me. Only glitch was I let windows UPDATE
try and update it's driver and had to reinstall the drivers on the CD.
I think I paid $14 at Fry's Electronics so no matter what, the most
I'll ever be out is the $14, unlike the endless driver conflicts I had
with my last ATI AIW system that cost much much more.
 
Captain said:
<[email protected]> wrote in message
Agreed but cable and other video sources will be around for a long time.
Also a DX9 compliant video card will be needed for HD. At up to 9GB/HR, NTSF
and a large HDD are also a must. Uh...come to think of it you have to use XP
for the HDTV Wonder, at least. If not for these major changes and the fact
it would consume most of his system's resources would have suggested it
instead.
Click to expand...

Sage TV supports many DTV tuners and OSs

http://www.sage.tv/requirements.html?sageSub=tv

Cable companies are phasing out the analog channels as they take up too
much valuable bandwidth.

GG
 
sofasurfer said:
I just bought a TV-PCIRC and found out that it sucks. Now I
see that
everyone on the internet already knew it sucked. But its the
only one
I could find in the stores around here.

So, in my searching on ebay I found a "3-in-1" tuner. Looks
like a
better deal. But I hope someone out there can tell me if it
really
will give me a better picture.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MEWA:IT&viewitem=&item=260072489039&rd=1&rd=1

The TV-PCIRC picture is very fuzzy. I've been reading about
video and
have trouble sorting out what characteristics I really need to
watch
for.

My pc...
AMD Duron 2.1gig
137gig hard drive
512mg (will be adding more soon)
WindowsME(Don't say it. Its worked fine for me for 5 years)
Nvidia Geforce 4 mx440(May buy a better graphics card soon)
Click to expand...

For NTSC capture, I've been very happy with Hauppauge -
specifically their 250 PCI and USB2 devices. Either of these
will work well with your hardware and OS, as their capture
software will break long broadcasts into specified chunks -
obviating the FAT32 limitation. I use this capability often
myself, even with NTFS, to eliminate DVD writing problems for
file segments of more than 2 gB.

Using these, even analog MPEG2 capture of digital TV plays back
very well on a high def (1080p) monitor from either the PC
directly or DVDs created for an MPEGISO capable player.

Hauppauge seems to me to have been late offering an ATSC product
in the U.S. They now have two
(http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/prods_hvr.html), a USB2 "stick"
NTSC/ATSC tuner which always outputs in MPEG2 at a max of 5
gBph - less than OTA/cable quality 1080i - and a PCI version
with separate inputs for NTSC and ATSC, which claims to only
convert analog to MPEG2 and records the OTA digital stream. The
PCI card also sports S-Vid and audio in, so you can capture
analog from other sources, such a VCR or STB. I did not notice
any comment regarding QAM, so this may be absent.

Sadly for you, neither of these "hybrid" products lists WinME as
a supported OS.

Here's another device
http://www.digitalconnection.com/Products/Video/fusion5usb.asp
which would probably work with your current system config and
offers QAM. I've never used one of their products. No mention
of NTSC that I can find, though.

Here's a vendor with several choices
http://www.cyberestore.com/index.php that cover the gamut.

In any case, ATSC capture combined with a 1080p supportive
graphics card (not expensive at all) would make for a very nice
presentation of captured material on to an HD monitor. With a
hybrid you'd also get support for NTSC as long as it's
available.
 
With all the recommendations in this thread, can somebody give a quick
overview of the different digital standards out there? If I get an
ATSC card, will I be able to watch digital cable without routing from
my digital cable box? What do I need to view over-the-air HDTV?
What's QAM?

I'm completely lost here, and since my cable company keeps threatening
to eliminate their analog signal, I may be buying some new hardware
soon.
 
Borderline Psycho said:
With all the recommendations in this thread, can somebody give a quick
overview of the different digital standards out there? If I get an
ATSC card, will I be able to watch digital cable without routing from
my digital cable box? What do I need to view over-the-air HDTV?
What's QAM?

I'm completely lost here, and since my cable company keeps threatening
to eliminate their analog signal, I may be buying some new hardware
soon.
Click to expand...

Yes an ATSC tuner will receive OTA with an appropriate antenna. 8-VSB is the
modulation used for OTA. QAM is the modulation used on cable. If you get
basic cable you can receive all your local stations, that allow their signal
to be carried, with a QAM tuner. No extra charge. In my area the NBC
affiliate isn't carried.

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/
 
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