BobbyDouglas Posted August 22, 2005 Posted August 22, 2005 A comptuer with an ATI video card (no HDTV outputs), but it has a DVI output. The HDTV is the "Samsung LN-R238W 23" LCD TV" SKU: LNR238W I think it would be cheaper to get a tuner card on its own instead of upgrading the vid card as well. Any suggestions for this?
Malfoy Posted August 22, 2005 Posted August 22, 2005 Running windows get a HDTV wonder by ATI, its a stand alone tuner card. If you're proficient with linux, get a card from http://www.pchdtv.com/ they have windows drivers but they make no promises.
Brad Posted August 22, 2005 Posted August 22, 2005 Cheap: http://www.gottadeal.com/DirectDeal/11676Better but more $: http://www.copperbox.com/lite/popinfo.php?lc_code=FUSION-HDTV5-LITEBetter but more $$: http://www.copperbox.com/lite/popinfo.php?lc_code=FUSION-HDTV5-GOLDBetter but more $$$: http://www.gottadeal.com/DirectDeal/11489 Just depends what you want to spend.
RossMAN Posted August 22, 2005 Posted August 22, 2005 Better but more $: http://www.copperbox.com/lite/popinfo.php?lc_code=FUSION-HDTV5-LITE I bought this but haven't had time to install and play around with it yet. ups^ also bought this and seems to be happy with it.
Brad Posted August 22, 2005 Posted August 22, 2005 The difference between the 2 Fusion cards is for $50 more you get AV-out (composite and S-Video only) and an IR remote with USB receiver.
BobbyDouglas Posted August 22, 2005 Author Posted August 22, 2005 This one looks pretty sweet: http://www.buy.com/retail/Product.asp?sku=201695364&adid=17662 It lets you rec HDTV as well. Anything else before I go buy it? I'm off to read some reviews.
Brad Posted August 22, 2005 Posted August 22, 2005 Pretty much any of those cards will let you record HDTV. The other 3 I linked to are also compatible with Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 so you can have an HD PVR that way as well.
BobbyDouglas Posted August 22, 2005 Author Posted August 22, 2005 Well the HDTV has the HDMI (i think?) output, so the card I get would need to have that as well, correct? From what I read, the HDMI is just like DVI with audio, right? The "MyHD PCI HDTV Tuner / Decoder Card - QAM - MDP-130" doesn't seem to have anything that the cheaper ones have... The budget for the card is $200-$400.
Brad Posted August 22, 2005 Posted August 22, 2005 Yes, HDMI is basically DVI with digital audio. You can get a relatively cheap DVI-to-HDMI cable. However you don't need the HDTV card to have DVI - you can output from your video card's DVI output just as easily. The MyHD card can give you DVI out if you buy the $75 daughtercard: http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=201695304&loc= so you're getting close to $300 total. I'd rather buy the $99 Fusion card and use my video card's DVI output (or use the $200 difference towards a better video card if you need it)
BobbyDouglas Posted August 22, 2005 Author Posted August 22, 2005 Wait a sec, why would I need that add-on card? I thought I needed a HDTV tuner card with the HDMI connection on it, right? If I just use the VGA signal, will I still get the HDTV quality?
Brad Posted August 22, 2005 Posted August 22, 2005 tell me: - what you are using the PC for (as a HTPC, as a regular PC but want to watch/record HDTV, etc...)? - is the Samsung LCD TV going to be the only display you use? - what video card is in the PC now?
BobbyDouglas Posted August 22, 2005 Author Posted August 22, 2005 Just a regular PC wanting to watch/rec HDTV, the Samsung HDTV is going to be used, and the video card is some $150 ATI card (dunno what specific model).
Brad Posted August 22, 2005 Posted August 22, 2005 Well your first post said the video card has DVI out, so you should be able to get pretty much any of those cards (I'd recommend the $99 Fusion since it's cheap), and then output from the video card to your TV with a DVI-to-HDMI cable. Your TV also has a VGA input, so you could use a DVI-to-VGA adapter and do it that way. Finally, you can get a DVI-to-component video adapter that works with ATI cards and connect that way. Since your TV's resolution is 1366x768 and only 23", you might not notice much difference between either of the 3 methods.
BobbyDouglas Posted August 22, 2005 Author Posted August 22, 2005 Off to an HDTV newbie forum, be back later when I have a clue.
ups^ Posted August 22, 2005 Posted August 22, 2005 I bought this but haven't had time to install and play around with it yet. ups^ also bought this and seems to be happy with it.The picture quality is amazing. Be sure to update the software from the company's website. I was able to receive nearly twice as many channels after doing so. Aside from that, my only complaint is that there are too many tall buildings around me and it limits my reception! That's not the card's fault though.
BobbyDouglas Posted August 23, 2005 Author Posted August 23, 2005 Yeah, but what sucks is that you still can't receive all of the channels in HD, even if you are paying for them.
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