TV Tuner cards

flyriceflyrice
edited February 2005 in Hardware
So I'm thinking about getting one for my PC and I'd like to hear some suggestions. The newer ATI TV Wonder (I think that's what its called) is looking good, but I hear of a brand called WinTV by Happuage(sp).

Can you guys give me some recommendations, experiences, and/or suggestions? I'm googling too, but I like p2p opinions on it.

Comments

  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited January 2005
    The ATi TV tuner I've got is a turd. I suggest you get one of these:
    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-132&depa=0

    I've got one of those as well, and it's much better than the ATi, despite the fact that the ATi was like 2x the price...
  • MadballMadball Fort Benton, MT
    edited January 2005
    I use a Leadtek Winfast card. It works fine. I doubt it is the best, but is hasn't given me any problems in the 3 years I have owned it.
  • flyriceflyrice
    edited January 2005
    Go figure, it looked good and that's a ton of good reviews for it. It's also out of stock :mean:

    Anyone have experience with this one?

    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-180&depa=0

    I might go ahead and go for that one instead, unless you guys think its worth waiting for NewEgg to restock them (and how often do they restock things btw?)
  • flyriceflyrice
    edited January 2005
    Oh one more question. I noticed that the sys req says it needs at least a 16-bit sound card...can I use the onboard sound on my mobo and have this still function?
  • MadballMadball Fort Benton, MT
    edited January 2005
    onboard sound will work fine. That is basically the same card I have, minus the FM tuner. I never use the FM tuner.
  • flyriceflyrice
    edited February 2005
    OK, I got the Leadtek WinFast TV card like suggested and it's really nice. Decent quality (a little grainy, but that's fine), but when I try to record, I get no sound on playback. The volume and mute on the actual program do not change the volume. Any idea what's wrong? I tried to find a FAQ on the leadtek website, but could find nothing.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited February 2005
    change these two settings to whatever you've got the audio cable plugged into on the sound card
  • flyriceflyrice
    edited February 2005
    OK, this is gonna sound weird, but I don't have the Aux option in either menu. Here are my options:

    Audio-Out Control Line:
    Wave
    SW Synth
    Bass Boost
    Treble Boost
    Front
    Side
    Subwoofer
    Center
    Rear
    CD player
    Line In
    Microphone
    SPDIF
    Phone Line
    Render

    Audio Recording Line:
    Mono Mix
    Stereo Mix
    CD player
    Line In
    Microphone
    SPDIF
    Phone Line

    I'm using a headset only w/mic, no speakers at all on my rig.
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited February 2005
    flyrice wrote:
    So I'm thinking about getting one for my PC and I'd like to hear some suggestions. The newer ATI TV Wonder (I think that's what its called) is looking good, but I hear of a brand called WinTV by Happuage(sp).

    Can you guys give me some recommendations, experiences, and/or suggestions? I'm googling too, but I like p2p opinions on it.
    I had a happuage...... worste drivers ever

    I had the latest from there site
    and I got a bsod on xp daily (caused by there drivers)
    And when there program crashed ........ well u still had the image in and it covered everything. :bawling:
  • MadballMadball Fort Benton, MT
    edited February 2005
    You must have your Line In and Out set up right. Line Out from the Winfast card to the Line In on your sound card. I have to set the volume of the Line In pretty low or i get bad distortion. I got a grainy picture too, but I changed to a better quality coax cable and it got rid of it. It definetly takes some tweaking (and the latest drivers) to get what you want.
  • flyriceflyrice
    edited February 2005
    Ok, I figured it out (after doing some digging, I found a FAQ). It depends on where the sound connector is on your mobo. If it's on the mobo onboard sound and in the CD-IN line, change it to CD Player. If it's on the sound card, it should be set to AUX.
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited February 2005
    Just read an article over at AnandTech that talked about the Mac Mini and it's ability to be an HTPC. The article said the Mac Mini can use the firewire port on the back of a cable box to record the video stream. It didn't list any programs that can do the same for the PC, but I'm sure there are. It's worth checking out if you have a cable box with a firewire port.
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