PCI TV Tuner (Cheap)

[aplefka]

Looking to spend maybe $35 on it, don't want to spend more than I have to. This'll mainly be for recording stuff to my hard drive. I've looked at several different ones at NewEgg, but I figured this would be the place to go to find a cheap, yet high quality tv tuner card. Thanks a lot, and sdible, I expect to see you post here shortly as it seems you're the man at this kinda stuff.

[RossMAN]

In this price range your choices are pretty limited.

 

Hauppauge WinTV-GO TV Tuner for $19.99 with free shipping.

 

Remember to check their retailer ratings before purchasing from them.

 

This is an excellent TV Tuner (hardware encoding) but almost double the price

http://forums.gottadeal.com/showthread.php?t=5717

[ActuaryTm]

As Ross mentions, that particular price point does not offer much in the way of options. A great entry level card is the WinFast TV2000 XP. Quite a long thread concerning this card on a to-be-unnamed hardware forum site.

 

You also may be able to shop around for a bit better price.

 

The PVR-150 Ross mentions is an excellent card as well, and Xp Media Center Edition compatible.

[aplefka]

I saw the one on the front page and may be able to work something out with my budget. I'm willing to pay more if it's going to last me a while and if it's gonna save me the time I take encoding stuff right now.

[ActuaryTm]

I'm willing to pay more if it's going to last me a while and if it's gonna save me the time I take encoding stuff right now.

Would definitely opt for a solution that offers hardware compression then, Alex.

[Scott]

Looking to spend maybe $35 on it, don't want to spend more than I have to. This'll mainly be for recording stuff to my hard drive. I've looked at several different ones at NewEgg, but I figured this would be the place to go to find a cheap, yet high quality tv tuner card. Thanks a lot, and sdible, I expect to see you post here shortly as it seems you're the man at this kinda stuff.

the man huh...

 

:)

 

I have a WinTV card, but it is an older one. It works great for viewing TV and such.

 

I agree that if the main function of the card is to record, you are better off going with hardware compression model.

 

The WinTV MCE 150 that was listed here recently is a good place to start.

 

If that is not an option, any of the software based cards will give you about the same results. I like the Hauppauge cards (WinTV). They use the DScalar code in their TV viewers which gives an excellent picture. In addition, they update their software often, and support legacy hardware quite well.

 

For instance, I bought my basic Hauppauge WinTV PCI card in 1998. It has been in every system that I have built since. The last drivers were released in December 2004, and the WinTV application was just updated. Not too shabby for a 7 year old piece of hardware!

 

Other than my floppy drive in my server, it is the oldest piece of hardware that is currently running in any of my systems.

 

That being said... given the history of the Haupauge support, I would go with the WinTV-Go card if you absolutely have to stay at that price point.

 

I just checked their site, and it looks like they now support DivX recording right out of the box. Not bad.

[i-bystander]

Very useful thread - bookmarked for future reference.

[aplefka]

Divx?

 

I encode in Xvid now, gives about 6 more kB/s rates at a slightly smaller file size than Divx 5. But still, anything will save me time as right now I have to record the game to my camera, then capture from my camera to my hard dive and have Pinnacle encode it in whatever MPEG2 encoder it uses, then I have to edit and render the edited version, then go in and set it up to encode with Gordian Knot. The whole process takes up about 15-18 hours, but I'm hoping to cut that in half with a tv tuner, plus I can watch TV in my room

 

Thanks for the help guys, I talked to my dad and he's gonna loan me some money later in this week so I can buy the 150MCE card. Now where can I find that remote that comes with the non-MCE version?

 

the man huh...

 

:)

 

I have a WinTV card, but it is an older one. It works great for viewing TV and such.

 

I agree that if the main function of the card is to record, you are better off going with hardware compression model.

 

The WinTV MCE 150 that was listed here recently is a good place to start.

 

If that is not an option, any of the software based cards will give you about the same results. I like the Hauppauge cards (WinTV). They use the DScalar code in their TV viewers which gives an excellent picture. In addition, they update their software often, and support legacy hardware quite well.

 

For instance, I bought my basic Hauppauge WinTV PCI card in 1998. It has been in every system that I have built since. The last drivers were released in December 2004, and the WinTV application was just updated. Not too shabby for a 7 year old piece of hardware!

 

Other than my floppy drive in my server, it is the oldest piece of hardware that is currently running in any of my systems.

 

That being said... given the history of the Haupauge support, I would go with the WinTV-Go card if you absolutely have to stay at that price point.

 

I just checked their site, and it looks like they now support DivX recording right out of the box. Not bad.

[aplefka]

So I was looking at the non-MCE version and it runs for about 20 bucks more. I'm tempted to go for that one, unless anyone can find me that remote for cheap somewhere else. I don't really quite understand though, what is the remote used for and how can you use a remote if there's no infrared in the front?

 

Edit: So I realized the BASE PRICE runs $20-$25 more, not the card/remote shipped. Now I'm looking at close to $100. Maybe I should check out Fry's or Circuit City or Best Buy for this tuner?