TV Tuner or TiVo?

[Coldkilla]

What's better? A good quality TV tuner card or Tivo?

Questions:
1. Can Live TV be on your PC?
2. Quality Differences? If I burned something from the TV Tuner to watch on TV, how is the quality?
3. TV tuner HDD required space large?

TV Tuners are appealing because they don't cost anything monthly, and the cheapest TiVo I can get is if I prepay 300$ for 3 years for 8 some dollars a month.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Tivo is a much cleaner solution. It will also be much more stable than an HTPC.

And you're an IT tech?

 

[nismotigerwvu]

More headaches with the tv tuner but plenty of upside to pretty much having free reign over the files once they are saved and no running cost.....tuner for power users and tivos for casual users

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: nismotigerwvu
More headaches with the tv tuner but plenty of upside to pretty much having free reign over the files once they are saved and no running cost.....tuner for power users and tivos for casual users

you can easily transfer the files off a tivo to a computer and vice-versa.

 

[Coldkilla]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
Tivo is a much cleaner solution. It will also be much more stable than an HTPC.

And you're an IT tech?

My job doesn't require me to know about TV tuners and therefore I don't take the time or rather, don't have the time to be reading on this tech.

 

[nismotigerwvu]

Originally posted by: Coldkilla

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
Tivo is a much cleaner solution. It will also be much more stable than an HTPC.

And you're an IT tech?

My job doesn't require me to know about TV tuners and therefore I don't take the time or rather, don't have the time to be reading on this tech.

Then by all means go with a tivo or a dvr from your provider, there will be headaches with any HTPC setup

 

[nismotigerwvu]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: nismotigerwvu
More headaches with the tv tuner but plenty of upside to pretty much having free reign over the files once they are saved and no running cost.....tuner for power users and tivos for casual users

you can easily transfer the files off a tivo to a computer and vice-versa.

I know this...but its kinda missing the point....someone who wanted free reign over the files would on the average be savvy enough to get a better experience from a good tuner (like a hd homerun + analog tuner) setup for less $. Someone who didn't care about this would much much happier (on the average) with the slick interface and stability of a tivo.

 

[Z80]

I have had TV tuners/HTPC, Replay TV and Tivo. Tivo is by far the best way to go for convenience, ease of use and functionality. Nothing comes close to Tivo's "season pass" and Internet connection features. Download movies for 99 cents from Amazon! Show photos, play music and watch videos that reside on your PC's at home or anywhere on the Internet!

 

[ObscureCaucasian]

I find the Media Center+Tuner+ Xbox 360 or similar extender to be a very convenient solution (and very easy to setup as well). The biggest plus to this is if you record TV, it is accessible to any extender on the network and not just on the screen you recorded.

For the record I have used some generic DVRs, but not a Tivo before.

 

[nismotigerwvu]

Originally posted by: ObscureCaucasian
I find the Media Center+Tuner+ Xbox 360 or similar extender to be a very convenient solution (and very easy to setup as well).

Exactly what I use to compensate for my HDTV's AWFUL scaling/general display of SD content.