TV Card of the PC.

clone · 28 Mar 2006 at 11:14

Daughter wants a TV card in her pc any ideas what one to get?

Thanks

NeptuneUK · 28 Mar 2006 at 11:17

what to put an aerial in and watch terrestrial tv?

looked through these and not decided yet?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/TV_Cards.html

only experience ive had with TV cards is that i used to have a Hauppauge WinTV thingy with an older PC, but i never really used it.... probly in the attic or something lol. it worked though. bit useless because the TV was in the same room as the PC hehe

jellybeard999 · 28 Mar 2006 at 11:19

ive the compro T200...

works a treat, use it on MCE

Freeview TV too

NeptuneUK · 28 Mar 2006 at 11:20

all these TV cards look the same to my untrained eye anyway

clone · 28 Mar 2006 at 11:28

Aye she wants it to watch normal tv as she is going from laptop to pc,and i know nothing about these cards

Eliminos · 28 Mar 2006 at 12:44

I have a Hauppauge and the software that comes with it (WinTV) is incredible un-userfriendly. It forgets to load the video every now and again, and occasionally forgets its a TV card and needs the drivers re-installing.

Not a very good card IMO.

lumocolor · 28 Mar 2006 at 15:50

Whats your budget?

clone · 28 Mar 2006 at 19:44

Looking for a goodish one dont need to be the best,it`s so that my kid can get her tv out of her room and move a pc desk in :rolleyes:

I like the look of the usb one.

TheCrow · 28 Mar 2006 at 22:08

If u can manage not to take up a usb port, as nowadays u need them for everything!!! (printer, camera, phones, router/modem, flash stick, mouse, keyboard.....etc - n thats just the usfull USB devices)

When i asked i was pointed to the Hauppauge WinTV Nova-T PCI Freeview TV Tuner (GX-024-HA) - but this had other surcamstances surounding it so not sure if its the best for just watching. + its digital may be a good or bad thing for u.

clone · 29 Mar 2006 at 07:38

As long as i can replace the tv of some sort she is happy,as her room is only small and she can`t have both tv and computer in there.

n3x · 29 Mar 2006 at 08:46

ive got the nova-t and theres nuthing wrong with the card itself. The problem is its software is completely pants but use it with mediaportal or mce or powercinema (which is what i use) and its great!

Only prob is its digital only so hard to pick up the channels unless uve got a decent ariel.

The Terratec Cinergy 2400i is supposed to be really good aswell if uve got a spare pci-e slot.

leezer3 · 29 Mar 2006 at 10:47

Personally, I'm very fond of the Lifeview series of cards- They're based on the same chipset as the rest of the cheap ones, but come with a decent software bundle & the reception seems better than others I've tried. (You must have the latest drivers, the originals were awful)

Only problem is that the decent models can be a pain to get hold of

(By that I mean the dual tuner models, can seem to find plenty with either analouge or digital only, but not those with both)

-Leezer-

lumocolor · 29 Mar 2006 at 11:53

Budget = Old Nova-T (£40 ebay) Works perfect with Techno trends software.
Best = Nebula DigiTV

grahamjenks · 29 Mar 2006 at 11:59

Avoid the Pinnacle TV tuners - perfectly good hardware - shockingly bad software in terms of setting it up and badly featured compared to other options.

Also when recording shows you can only watch them in pinnacle.

The Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1100 is supposed to be pretty worthwhile - but is isnt internal

Baron_Samedi · 29 Mar 2006 at 16:07

Sorry to but in, but stay well clear of the Terratec devices - the tuners even though they are branded as Thomson do not appear to be terribly sensitive

I quite like the Freecom usb stick - the supplied software is no great shakes but it is less prone to noise pickup than my Nebula and you can find BDA drivers that will allow you to use third party TV software.

BigDom · 29 Mar 2006 at 16:50

Baron_Samedi said:
Sorry to but in, but stay well clear of the Terratec devices - the tuners even though they are branded as Thomson do not appear to be terribly sensitive

I quite like the Freecom usb stick - the supplied software is no great shakes but it is less prone to noise pickup than my Nebula and you can find BDA drivers that will allow you to use third party TV software.

With the Beta Drivers the 2400i seems to work well. I mostly use Nova-T's but the 2400i was handy in a PC which at the time didn't have a spare PCI slot and works well.

Jotun · 29 Mar 2006 at 19:21

I was looking at similar things but decided against them and got a monitor with a tv tuner built in. I was looking to get a flat screen anyway, and means I don't need to have my PC on to watch tv (as i assume you do with tv cards). Might be worth considering if you're considering a new screen at some point.

Baron_Samedi · 29 Mar 2006 at 21:54

BigDom said:
With the Beta Drivers the 2400i seems to work well. I mostly use Nova-T's but the 2400i was handy in a PC which at the time didn't have a spare PCI slot and works well.

Glad the beta drivers worked for you, but I had problems with hardware not allowing XP to start and the Powercinema software not picking up all the available channels even after the upgrade

BigDom · 29 Mar 2006 at 22:02

Baron_Samedi said:
Glad the beta drivers worked for you, but I had problems with hardware not allowing XP to start and the Powercinema software not picking up all the available channels even after the upgrade

I did have problems upgrading, I had to re-install XP to get it to work.

bbreezeuk · 29 Mar 2006 at 22:19

Baron_Samedi said:
I quite like the Freecom usb stick - the supplied software is no great shakes but it is less prone to noise pickup than my Nebula and you can find BDA drivers that will allow you to use third party TV software.

I have this usb freview thing and the software is terrible, can u tell me where to get the third party drivers so i can use it with power cinema 4 thanks