TV CARD Choosing...Help!

[xraider5]

first post on these forums =)

I'm not sure what is meant when people say that some tv cards have built on encoders/decoders. I've read that some cards (while you watch TV) take up to 60% of your cpu usage. If there's a built in encoder it won't require the cpu resources?

Also, what are the differences between these two cards?

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-180&depa=0

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=15-116-606&depa=0

i seem to see that people prefer hauppauge cards..

also, ive also been meaning to upgrade my graphics card, so IF i get an all-in-wonder, how will the TV quality differ? will it be better? worse?

i guess basically my question is:
leadtek expert vs hauppauge pctv-radio vs all in wonder, which has BEST picture quality (tv)

 

[Willoughbyva]

I have an older ATI AIW 7500 and I really like it. Before I got this I used an Hauppage WinTV GO card and it had problems. I am really glad I got the AIW. I know hauppage makes more expensive / perhaps better cards than the one I had, but I am glad I have the aiw just the same. I might pickup a leadtech card when I upgrade my computer just to see how it is.

 

[Delorian]

I have the winfast 2000 xp deluxe and it works really well for such a cheap price (comes with a remote/fm tuner and a nice software suite). I would recommend this for a functional tv tuner. Not a perfect picture but unbeatable in the price range. Actaully looks better on my lcd monitor than on the tv nearby. Just remember to make sure if you use a cable splitter that it is rated very high and you may need a signal amplifier for a cable line to get a crisp picture.

 

[xraider5]

that's what im concerned about...it may not be a "perfect" picture, but im trying to get as perfect as i can in this price range, you know?

 

[Toner75]

I looked into tv-tuner cards before, and I now have the Asus TV/FM card. It is an excellent card. It comes with a USB remote control that can be used as a mouse! This card has the Philip 7134 chipset which is a 9-bit chip. Some other cards have a 10-bit Conexant chipset which theoretically have a slightly sharper pictures, BUT the noise will show up more. I find that the Philip 7134 chip has a better balance. Also, I know that MANY tuner cards have stereo sound problems (ie. it sounds like mono), and this Asus card sounds excellent. A good software for watching TV is Intervideo WinDVR, Dscaler, or ChrisTV using Dscaler plug-in. The quality is EXCELLENT, since these softwares act as line doublers /scalers. The quality is almost as good as my 32" Samsung LCD-TV.

The cards that have hardware MPEG2 encoders can record to mpeg2 in real time. That's the main adventage of these cards, but the quality of the MPEG2 is not the best u can get. If you want really good quality MPEG2, then u should get a card that can record in AVI(compressed) format, and then encode it with a better software encoder (ie. TMPGEnc, Cinema Craft, Canopus Procoder). BUt beware that softwares take a longer time to do it, although the quality is superior. The disadventage of the hardware encoder card is that they cannot record in AVI format or another other format other than MPEG1/2. If u want to record in MPEG4 (Divx, WM9, Xvid), then u are out of luck. And i think there are less 3rd party softwares for these cards, which is very important when u look for a card. If u watch TV with these cards, then it may not look as good as the ones without hardware encoder.

Some newer cards can turn on the computer acording to the recording schedule (even in an off state). If you want more info, i suggest u go to www.tv-cards.com forum.

 

[GreatBarracuda]

Why don't you get an ATI 9800 Pro All-in-Wonder? It's a little expensive but would fit in perfectly with your system. You could also play a few games with it

 

[Toner75]

When u look for tuner cards, look at what chipset they use inside. The quality of the picture depends on the chipset. Either Philips or Conexent, and each have different model chipset. I think the Leadtech/Winfast have problem with stereo sound problems, and they sound like mono. and they cannot use the remote as a mouse like the Asus TV/FM card. I don't recomend the ATI all-in-wonder, cos if you later want to upgrade your graphics card then u will have to throw away the tuner function with it. It's always better to keep the graphics card and the tuner card separate. I was choosing between the Leadtech card and the Asus, and personally, i think the Asus TV/FM card is better. If you will dub VHS tapes to the computer, then I suggest u stay away from the Conexent 10-bit cards, cos they will give u more noise. I believe Dscaler do not work with the Conexent 10-bit card last time i checked, but they may have a new version.

The hauppauge pctv-radio is crap, it uses the BT878 chipset (this is old technology), and it cannot even come close to the Philip 9-bit or the Conexent 10-bit cards. The only way u can get good quality with this card is using line doubler like Dscaler. I would stay away from the BT878 cards and the tuner cards w/ hardware MPEG encoder.