I think I found my next HDTV Tuner card

[SunnyD]

Found this while browsing a catalog I received in the mail this afternoon. It seems to be just about everything I want in a HDTV tuner card, plus the bonus of supposedly supporting Vista 32-bit and 64-bit out of the box, with a PCIe form factor.

Sure AVer isn't a top tier name, but I had one of their old tuner cards a while ago and it was amazingly good, even though by the time I acquired it it was no longer supported.

Features:
NTSC, ATSC and Clear QAM tuner
PCI-Express 1x
Hardware MPEG-2 Encoding
Windows XP MCE Support
Windows Vista Premium Support
32/64-bit Driver Support
Low profile design (should fit in a half-bracket, unknown if it comes with one)

The only thing it doesn't have is an FM tuner - who cares! The only real drawback I'd say is the lack of dual digital tuners, but honestly I can survive without it. And at a price point of about $75, it looks like it has everything it needs to beat off ATI and others (aside from a decent PVR software package). edit - According to some of the datasheets, it does have an FM tuner as well. I question this though, as some of the datasheets simply look like templates used from previous models of cards.

 

[nullpointerus]

That sounds like a great internal HDTV tuner. Finally, something to use up the PCI-E slots!

The HDHomeRun is a comparable external solution with dual HD tuners and ethernet. I'm not absolutely sure whether drivers are required, but they probably are required to make the LAN device look like a Windows tuner device. But it's a lot of cables and could be quite messy compared to an internal solution.

 

[vhx]

This is kind of a dumb question, as I have no clue about TV tuners. But can HDTV tuners still support tuning standard def TV? Resolution would probably be a lot less I assume though.

 

[krotchy]

Originally posted by: vhx
This is kind of a dumb question, as I have no clue about TV tuners. But can HDTV tuners still support tuning standard def TV? Resolution would probably be a lot less I assume though.

NTSC = Standard Def Analog Tuner
ATSC = High Def Digital Over the Air Tuner
QAM = SD/HD Digital Tuner for tuning unencrypted cable/satellite channels.

 

[Mem]

I'm very happy using my USB 2.0 DTV Dongle Leadtek Winfast tuner,full Vista support including 64 bit and Windows Media Centre,link.

I forgot to say HDTV support too .

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Mem
I'm very happy using my USB 2.0 DTV Dongle Leadtek Winfast tuner,full Vista support including 64 bit and Windows Media Centre,link.

I forgot to say HDTV support too .

Does it have a QAM tuner?

 

[FiLeZz]

how do you know if your cable provider does Clear QAM channles?

Will the tunner tune in channles above 125channles?

as all my hd channles are in the 1000's range?

 

[Stoneburner]

I have the same question as filezzz but for dishnetwork...

 

[deeznuts]

Originally posted by: FiLeZz
how do you know if your cable provider does Clear QAM channles?

Will the tunner tune in channles above 125channles?

as all my hd channles are in the 1000's range?

Don't know about the second two questions but I think cable providers are required by FCC to allow unencrypted HDTV local channels over cable.

 

[gunblade]

Actually, it has dual tuner and does support dual ATSC streams.
Rumor has it that Avermedia is working on the standalone apps to tune QAM streams. Don't know when to expect it tho.

It is reasonably priced too, about $90 from Amazon.

 

[jasonja]

I don't think they are required to pass QAM if they also have analog channels. My CableCo also appears to move things around. One day they work, next day nothing.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: FiLeZz
how do you know if your cable provider does Clear QAM channles?

Will the tunner tune in channles above 125channles?

as all my hd channles are in the 1000's range?

My HD channels are in the 1000's too, however that's with a HD DTV box. Straight cable clear QAM puts the channels elsewhere, if I really wanted to I could hook it to my Vizio and tune about a dozen HD channels with it's internal QAM tuner.

Originally posted by: gunblade
Actually, it has dual tuner and does support dual ATSC streams.
Rumor has it that Avermedia is working on the standalone apps to tune QAM streams. Don't know when to expect it tho.

It is reasonably priced too, about $90 from Amazon.

Wow, dual HD tuners? But again, it's ATSC, not dual QAM tuners?

 

[pctwo]

I'm still waiting for the holy grail: a good dual tuner ATSC (don't care about analog) DVR capable card that costs $150 or less. I may just get rid of cable and save myself $$$, since honestly most of the stuff I watch (read: record) are OTA.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: pctwo
I'm still waiting for the holy grail: a good dual tuner ATSC (don't care about analog) DVR capable card that costs $150 or less. I may just get rid of cable and save myself $$$, since honestly most of the stuff I watch (read: record) are OTA.

Then apparently this is the card you want, as one of the posters mentioned it does have dual ATSC tuners.

 

[Viper GTS]

I got mine last night, I can verify that it does come with a 1/2 height bracket. I didn't have time to play with it much but I downloaded BeyondTV & it seems to work quite nicely. Just pulling OTA at the moment since I didn't have a coax splitter handy, I'll try QAM this weekend.

Viper GTS

 

[jimbofoxman]

What about this version, it has dual Digital

http://www.aver.com/mpd/combopcie_mce_spec.html

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
I got mine last night, I can verify that it does come with a 1/2 height bracket. I didn't have time to play with it much but I downloaded BeyondTV & it seems to work quite nicely. Just pulling OTA at the moment since I didn't have a coax splitter handy, I'll try QAM this weekend.

Viper GTS

Where did you order from and how much for? I'd love to hear if it's pulling QAM on both inputs!

 

[allies]

Whoa... nice deal... though I just got in a fender bender which put a $600 dent into my wallet. That $600 could've gotten me G80 SLi+ one of these tuners! (even though I don't need either of these at the moment, I much rather would have that than to fix my car )

 

[gunblade]

Originally posted by: jimbofoxman
What about this version, it has dual Digital

http://www.aver.com/mpd/combopcie_mce_spec.html

It is the same card: M780.

I don't think QAM demodulation will work without the software support.

Given the price and features, I am surprised that I just heard of it.