TV Tuners

[ericwalker87]

I built a computer a year ago with excellent help and suggestions from here. Now i want to ditch the cable and use the PC to watch and record the over-the-air channels. I'd like to spend $80 or less on a TV Tuner. I was looking at this as a possibility:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116028

and this USB tuner looks pretty good too:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116034

I assume the internal card may be better quality. Also, I was wondering about watching and recording something else simultaneously. Any suggestions?

 

[Ken g6]

I built a computer a year ago with excellent help and suggestions from here. Now i want to ditch the cable and use the PC to watch and record the over-the-air channels. I'd like to spend $80 or less on a TV Tuner. I was looking at this as a possibility:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116028

and this USB tuner looks pretty good too:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116034

I assume the internal card may be better quality.

I have the non-Q version of that USB tuner. (So it doesn't work on Cable.) It works very well, but it gets pretty hot, so I don't leave it plugged in most of the time. It also occasionally does weird stuff to the Linux USB controller, but if you're in Windows there's no need to worry about that.

Also, I was wondering about watching and recording something else simultaneously. Any suggestions?

You can watch something you've already recorded while recording something else, with the right software. To tune in two different channels you need either two tuners or a dual-tuner card. (The latter aren't cheap.)

 

[paperwastage]

use Antennaweb to determine what kind of antenna you need...

the included mini antenna with the USB device works for ~5 miles, depending on the building interference etc.

Do you have Windows7/Vista Home Premium/Pro/Ultimate? the best TV viewing app IMO is Windows Media Center.

You need quite a bit of HDD space too..1.5-5GB per hour depending on the quality

I've used both USB and PCIe tv tuners... dont really see any difference in quality. If you are looking at OTA ATSC(digital) channels, there shouldn't be any difference in TV tuner quality, only difference in antenna quality

 

[ericwalker87]

I'm running windows 7 so i'll be using WMC. I've got plenty of HDD space as well.

 

[ericwalker87]

Anybody have experience with ASUS tuners? This seems like a great deal, but I can't find any reviews on it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16815293007R

 

[Slugbait]

This is from just the first page of Google results, there are probably more reviews than these:

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=339&Itemid=58

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1017/1/

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1648

http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=786

http://www.thinkcomputers.org/asus-my-cinema-ehd3-100-dual-hybrid-tv-card-review/

 

[Slugbait]

BTW, you're taking a risk on a newegg Open Box. I had a wonderful experience with a GTX460, but a few months later an Intel mobo came with just the board...nothing else, not even the original box.

 

[jaydeee]

I am just wondering if might like to consider external (box type) tv tuner? This is what I am using and so far it is so good that can use my monitor as ordinary TV.

 

[mfenn]

I built a computer a year ago with excellent help and suggestions from here. Now i want to ditch the cable and use the PC to watch and record the over-the-air channels. I'd like to spend $80 or less on a TV Tuner. I was looking at this as a possibility:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116028

and this USB tuner looks pretty good too:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116034

I assume the internal card may be better quality. Also, I was wondering about watching and recording something else simultaneously. Any suggestions?

I've got the older PCI version of that card and it works really well. I've never messed with USB tuners though, so I can't comment on their quality.