PCI AIW card

[bosox188]

K my mom wanted me to put a little tv in my room just so I have something else at night to do instead of be on the computer, but my dad said we could just get a tv tuner card for the computer. I don't wanna take up the agp slot obviously, as I'm getting the 6800 for xmas. So what's the best (fastest like for games cause I'd be taking the 5200 out) AIW card I can get for pci? So far I can only find the All in wonder VE (radeon 7500) for pci. Anything better? 8500? 9000 maybe? Remember, pci.

 

[blahblahblah]

Meh, I'm not a fan of tv tuner cards. Buy a TV.

Would explain, but I've to go.

 

[bosox188]

Well I dont really care too much about it, but I'd like the TIVO features and everything, I really did want to have an AIW card but there isn't gonna be a personal cinema 6800 or x800 aiw it looks like or it'd be too expensive, but now I have a chance to. But I just thought of this, the only pci tv tuner card I can find is the all in wonder ve, I'm convinced that's all there is. But I just realized that once I get my new card for xmas, if it's a 6800 that means I'll have to have Catalyst drivers for the AIW VE, and Forceware drivers for the 6800. That could be bad. Does anybody know if it will be a big problem? I could just uninstall the drivers though.

 

[blahblahblah]

I thought I said I was going...

There are many different brands of TV Tuners. I hate them all.

I'm going again.

 

[bosox188]

Ok, you can go. I'm hoping somebody else responds.

 

[JimmehH]

I hear the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 350 is the best for that sort of thing.

Have a look for it at your preferred retailer (eg newegg.com or ebuyer)

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_350.html

 

[JFry]

Hehe sorry I can't be more help as I know nothing about tv-tuners, but I just think this is funny. Does your mom really think watching tv is a good alternative to sitting on the computer? At least with a computer you get a slight chance of learning something.

 

[bosox188]

She doesn't understand much about computers, and she doesn't know I'm learning anything (I know a ton about computers now and I could build my own system, in April-May when I joined I knew nothing). But it's just at night when I have nothing else to do besides be on the computer, she figures that it's better than sitting right in front of the monitor, she thinks I need to rest my eyes.

 

[blahblahblah]

Ok, you can go. I'm hoping somebody else responds.

I'm back :naughty:

Here's whats up. TV tuner cards suck. My biggest complaint is the resolution. A typical monitor runs at 1024 resolution while a typical tv runs at a resolution just north of 480. The visual quality takes a massive nose dive in my opinion.

Even when I backed far away from my monitor, I still prefered the image quality from my tv than coming from my tv tuner.

Then there are other problems. Like having another remote (I already have 4, I don't need another one to control my tv tuner). Or driver conflicts. Or problems using features that are supposedly included with your tv tuner. And recording programs suck with tv tuners.

I've just had generally bad experiences with them. If I had to choose between a tv and a tv tuner card, get the tv.