HDTV tuner for PC

[yiranhu]

Hi all,

Can yo guys give me a recommendation on a good HDTV tuner card to choose for a PC? I'm looking for something cheap (<100)...

The only ones I saw so far are the ATI HDTV Wonder and something from ADS...
Is HDTV Wonder an okay card? (I can buy beyond TV software if necessary). Compusa seems to have it for pretty cheap...

PS. What is the diffrence between HDTV Wonder and Theater 650?

Thanks all!

 

[Navid]

Over the air reception depends on many factors. Where you are located with respect to close stations and if you are surrounded by high-rise buildings are a few of those factors. There are those who can only get one station!

This is a useful site for stations and setup. http://www.checkhd.com/aw/welcome.aspx

You will need software to use it. The software that comes with ATI HDTV Wonder is really bad.
But, you can use this instead.
http://watchhdtv.net/default.aspx

Some say that the newer version (650 I think) offers better image. I cannot comment on that.

If you get a unit that has QAM (Fusion may be), you may be able to get HDTV from basic cable. Then, you will not have to worry about aligning your antenna to the stations you want to watch. However, how many unencrypted channels are available through your cable provider varies from place to place.

 

[videopho]

Originally posted by: Navid
Over the air reception depends on many factors. Where you are located with respect to close stations and if you are surrounded by high-rise buildings are a few of those factors. There are those who can only get one station!

This is a useful site for stations and setup. http://www.checkhd.com/aw/welcome.aspx

You will need software to use it. The software that comes with ATI HDTV Wonder is really bad.
But, you can use this instead.
http://watchhdtv.net/default.aspx

Some say that the newer version (650 I think) offers better image. I cannot comment on that.

If you get a unit that has QAM (Fusion may be), you may be able to get HDTV from basic cable. Then, you will not have to worry about aligning your antenna to the stations you want to watch. However, how many unencrypted channels are available through your cable provider varies from place to place.

The ATI HDTV Wonder is a dinosaur and you should avoid it as I just rid of mine finally for a chump change.
The Kworld ATSC 110 is what you may consider since it's cheap and get good review (go to amazon site for better reviews there).
I picked this tuner up before xmas for $32 (AR).

 

[yiranhu]

cool...
Can Kworld be used to watch Satellite TV? (Not HD). Also I see that this tuner doesn't have a hardware encoder... Is that important? If it doesn't have hardware encoder, what kind of format does it save video as? Can I still record shows and etc in MPG2 in real time using the CPU?

Also no antenna...Is that important?

 

[Peter]

Digital receivers do not need to encode the video, since it is already encoded when received. Hardware encoders are only necessary for analog inputs, and even then only if your system can't cope with the raw stream's amount of data.

 

[yiranhu]

Originally posted by: Peter
Digital receivers do not need to encode the video, since it is already encoded when received. Hardware encoders are only necessary for analog inputs, and even then only if your system can't cope with the raw stream's amount of data.

Sorry for being obtuse but frankly this HDTV stuff confuses me. HDTV is always digital right? (lol I really don't know)... If that is the case, then what format will HDTV come in? MPEG2?

 

[videopho]

Here is the Ad link
posted by me recently.


the 650 is the current ATI gen or 2nd ATSC for tuner card.

 

[yiranhu]

650 looks good... I just don't want to pay 130 dollars for this thing...
BTW, antennaweb says I have several DTV stations in my area in yellow. So does that mean I can probably use a simple antenna with Kworld first to see if I like the quality?

If not, what's a good antenna to use? I don't want to pay more than 25 dollars for an antenna...

 

[bigsnyder]

The ATI 650 is very good card, but not perfect. The signal strength meter always reports only one
bar despite the quality of signal. If you are not sure where to point your antenna, then this can be
a problem. I have had no problems with mine (using MCE 2005) other than the signal strength meter.
Analog reception is very good and it will capture external sources through one of the purple ATI input
boxes. Here is a couple other suggestions:

VBox Cat?s Eye 164e - Dual HDTV/Analog Tuner (PCIe only?)
Divco FusionHDTV5 RT Gold - HDTV Tuner with QAM reception and MCE compatible remote (PCI and PCIe)

One more thing about the 650, some people report that this thing is picky about antennas.
I use an outdoor directional antenna (no amplication) without problem.

C Snyder

 

[GimpyFuzznut]

I've heard great things about the Dvico cards.

Can anyone recommend a card that will be good for watching and recording a signal from a set-top box (via s-video ideally). Just want to plug it in the card and get it to work with MCE (and get a blaster to change the channels). No HD because its unavailable here unless you shell out the dimes to the cable co.

 

[grimlykindo]

I use and love my ATI HDTV Wonder - I have never had any problems with it, but apparently alot of people have.

I comes with a RF remote that controls just about any program in windows and an antenna that picks up EVERY HDTV station in my area (Twin Cities, MN)

I don't have cable or anything - So the over-the-air HDTV is more important to me than most people

 

[Crucial]

http://www.hdtvtunerinfo.com/

http://www.hdtvtunerinfo.com/besthdtvtuner.html

I just ordered the Cats Eye 150 from amazon for $65. I am replacing an HDTV Wonder with it.

 

[geoffkin]

I don't have an HDTV, but I want to be able to watch a certain broadcast HD only channel on my regular TV. So I just need an antenna and an HD receiver box, right?
We have an old Dish network box, is it possible to get that to work for watching my off the air HD channel, even if I am not subscribing to any Dish services at the moment?