Better TV tuner?

[jmcoreymv]

Which is a better tv tuner and why?

The AIW tuners (specifically the AIW 9600 Pro)
Leadtek TV2000XP Tuner
Any others?

 

[Agamar]

I like the separate tuner only cards.. That way you can upgrade the video independently

 

[jmcoreymv]

The separate upgradeability doesnt bother me, Im still using an original Radeon VIVO which is less than a <7200 i believe. I just want to know whats going to have the best quality and recording abilities.

 

[darklyte]

I am looking into the same thing right now and in addition to the ATI Models, and the Leadtek, also found the Compro VideoMate TV Gold Plus PCI TV Tuner Card interesting. The Compro has the ability to turn your computer on for a scheduled recording, and then shut it off afterwards.

I have not been able to find a decent comparison of these 3 models so I would love to see how they size up against each other too.

For the ATI card, I would go with the stand alone card not the one integrated with the GPU.

Any one have some advice when comparing these or a good link that has a comparison for these three?

1.WinFast TV2000 XP Expert
2. ATI TV Wonder Pro Remote Control Edition
3. Compro VideoMate TV Gold Plus

 

[chocoruacal]

Apples and oranges. If you need a fast vid card, get the 9600. If you need the best capture card, get a separate, cause its easier to upgrade. Browse the 10 bit cards at newegg...cx2388x and 713x. I have an Asus 7133 and love it. Picture quality is noticably better than my other card, leadtek xp/2000. I'd suggest the leadtek only if you're new to capture cards.

 

[brunswickite]

Originally posted by: Agamar
I like the separate tuner only cards.. That way you can upgrade the video independently

 

[ripthesystem]

go for the Leadtek TV2000XP Tuner... it's dependable and stable and does what it's supposed to.
Keeping your TV tuner and Vid card seperate will only lead to less stress in the future.

 

[Mavrick007]

I hear the MSI TV@nywhere Master Model MS-8606 Retail gives pretty good quality video since it has the Conexant chipset on it.
The Leadtek TV2000XP is also good as is the ATI TV wonder card. It just depends on what features you want and how much you want to pay cause
you can get an expensive card that doesn't work as good as a less affordable one.

 

[rbV5]

The AIW tuners (specifically the AIW 9600 Pro)

The AIW tuners aren't necissarily "better", but the Theater 200 used in the AIW 9xxx cards uses 12bit ADC's and an excellent software suite. It has hardware assisted MPEG capture and video soap. No standalone tuner matches the feature set, can run games at all, nor support component output of the AIW 9xxx cards.

 

[50]

What's the advantage of 10 bit tuners?

 

[JKing76]

Recording is better on the AIW because it's on the AGP instead of PCI bus.

I have an AIW 9700 Pro and it's fantastic.

 

[rbV5]

What's the advantage of 10 bit tuners?

More bits allows you to more closely represent the analog signal digitally.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: JKing76
Recording is better on the AIW because it's on the AGP instead of PCI bus.

I have an AIW 9700 Pro and it's fantastic.

Heheh I wouldn't worry about mpeg2 saturating the PCI bus, but that's not to say there won't be problems. I had some problems with my PCI Tuner when I first got my 9700pro. PCI Tuners send data to an AGP card via video overlay through both the PCI and AGP bus, which definitely introduces a potential for hardware conflicts. My tuner would basically flake out randomly and would sometimes lock my machine up when I tried to record. My problems were fixed @ Cat 3.2 and everything runs great now.

For stand alone tuners, I think the software package is just as important as the actual hardware. I've been using the Asus TV XP based on the CX23880 (10-bit) ADC for about a year and its been great. In comparison, the MSI TV@nywhere uses the same ADC, however, I've heard the IQ and software is much worse than the Asus. The Leadtek 2000XP Deluxe uses the older BT879 (I believe) which is an 8-bit ADC. They also released a "Pro" version that used the same 10-bit Conexxant found on the Asus, but I couldn't find it when I bought and its MSRP was almost 2x as much as the Asus at $140 or so. As rbv5 said, more bits = more accurate conversion/representation from analog to digital, similar to the ADC converters on a sound card (more bits = more accurate samples).

As chocoruacal mentioned, its worth checking out the new Asus 7133 TV Tuner based on the 10-bit Phillips ADC. The Phillips ADC was all the rage over at the Dscaler forums last I checked, but hadn't been implemented on many card at the time. The software suite is excellent (mostly rebadged Cyberlink stuff) and comes with an upgradeable OEM version of PowerDVD as well. It also comes with a nice remote, S-Video/component break-out box, and USB remote receiver. For @ $60 at Newegg, its a real bargain.

The ATI Theater 200 AIWs are very nice as well, however, you have to balance that with your upgrade habits. If you upgrade your GPU frequently, you may want to consider an independent TV tuner solution.

The last thing you'll want to consider is the quality of your cable feed. The way TV Tuners scale through interpolation (full screen is usually just interpolated from a fixed resolution lower than most people run their desktop, like 640x480) and the high resolution of PC monitors really amplifies any on-screen anomalies/poor signal symptoms, making your signal quality a key concern. If you're splitting your signal throughout your home/apartment, you'll want to make sure you're using quality splitters, preferably 900MHz or better. Also, if the primary feed is dirty, you may also consider installing a drop amp to boost the signal into your place before its split. Motorola sells a nice drop amp under the name "Cable Signal Booster" for @ $80 MSRP, but you can find it much cheaper on the web/Ebay for @ 40. I got one for $32 shipped last year and the difference in picture quality is extreme. Without the amp, it borders on unwatchable.....its crystal clear with it. I also put in a 2GHz 3-way splitter (Acoustic Research, cost me $12), which also helped a lot.

Chiz

 

[darklyte]

Many thanks Chizow, that is a very informative post.

 

[alexruiz]

Originally posted by: ripthesystem

Keeping your TV tuner and Vid card seperate will only lead to less stress in the future.

You obviously have never owned the pinnacle PCTV PCI tuner..... I hated that thing with a deep passion. It was the only combination of hardware/software that allowed me to crash at will an otherwise robust win2K install :|

Back on topic, how about the extrenal tuners? Is there a good or decent USB 2.0 tuner out there? Ability to display (capture) full frame at full speed is key (640x480, 29,97 fps NTSC)

 

[ripthesystem]

You obviously have never owned the pinnacle PCTV PCI tuner..... I hated that thing with a deep passion. It was the only combination of hardware/software that allowed me to crash at will an otherwise robust win2K install :|

How Ironic. I still own that card and have it in my win2k PC right now. Though the initial drivers for it were crapitty crap crap (technical term) their latest sets have improved things greatly and I've not had a bit of trouble with it.

Back on topic, how about the extrenal tuners? Is there a good or decent USB 2.0 tuner out there? Ability to display (capture) full frame at full speed is key (640x480, 29,97 fps NTSC)

My understanding was that it was not so much the card being key in this scenario as the HD and CPU speed. Could be wrong though.

 

[baraka]

Originally posted by: chizow
Heheh I wouldn't worry about mpeg2 saturating the PCI bus

I think the compression to mpeg2 is done after the data is transferred over the pci bus to the processor/memory. But I believe even the uncompressed data is far from saturating the pci bus.

 

[RSI]

I recommend the MSI TV@NYWHERE. It's what I have in my comp, no complaints.

 

[Speedy3D!]

If you're hardcore you might want to look into getting a fusion II or myHD tv tuners. They're digital and do HDTV OTA.

 

[alexruiz]

Originally posted by: ripthesystem

How Ironic. I still own that card and have it in my win2k PC right now. Though the initial drivers for it were crapitty crap crap (technical term) their latest sets have improved things greatly and I've not had a bit of trouble with it.

My understanding was that it was not so much the card being key in this scenario as the HD and CPU speed. Could be wrong though.

Talk about irony! I ditched the piece of cr@p and replaced it with a radeon 9000 VIVO... for video capture the rage theater chip stomped the conexant bt848 easily in quality....

For a external TV tuner, the interface MUSt be capable to sustain the transfer rate. USB 2.0 does it now, as USB 1.1 were limited in bandwidth.... but I don't know if the usb 2.0 tuner ahve 10 bits ADCs.....

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: Mavrick007
I hear the MSI TV@nywhere Master Model MS-8606 Retail gives pretty good quality video since it has the Conexant chipset.

The drivers stink, be warned, it won't surf channels on WinXP SP1 and I even RMA'ed it once to see if that would fix it, which it didn't. Look somewhere else before looking at this...