TV Card I need help please.

wnm0 · 11 Apr 2009 at 18:05

As title I need a little help as I want to use my computer as an htpc now its in a nice case and I don't know what TV card should I get or should I worry more about the graphics card, I am on a budget so graphics wise it would have to be 8800 type or up to £100. Do I need a tv card (Noob) as we have bt vision our tv has pc input and is a 37inch panasonic viera, Any help really appreciated thanks.

MumboJumbo · 11 Apr 2009 at 20:57

Are you looking for digital or sky? Its very hard to find what tv card to get but i heard nothing but praise for compro and use one my self. I use the E700 but i recon there is no doubt better now for a similar price. The one i have however was a great buy.

wnm0 · 11 Apr 2009 at 21:37

Thanks for the reply mate Iwill look into one of those.

MumboJumbo · 11 Apr 2009 at 22:35

no worries, i find compro are one of the better driver makers as well. So shouldn;'t be any problems when windows 7 rolls around.

Katoom · 11 Apr 2009 at 23:04

I have been using 2 compro cards for years, an E700 and a single tuner one. Have had no probs with vista and my single one was ok with W7. (didn't try the E700 though).

fobose · 12 Apr 2009 at 10:25

I had a compro e700 and found it absolutly awful using the supplied software. It crashed constantly and was unusable so I sent it back within about 3 weeks of trying all sorts with it via help from compro's support, which was also crap (very slow response).

That said, I have heard it works flawlessly if your using it in media center so I am going to be picking up another one/newer model for my HTPC.

Ghost-Reaper · 12 Apr 2009 at 11:00

I have a E700 too and have found it very reliable. I was having problems with a hauppauge model because of having more than 4GB of ram.
Just using it through media centre so I haven't used the supplied software.

wnm0 · 12 Apr 2009 at 11:55

Cool this has deff made my mind up,Cheers guys i appreciate the advice..

Katoom · 12 Apr 2009 at 12:13

No need for a 8800 either, just get a cheap passive card.

Bob Wya Jnr · 12 Apr 2009 at 16:36

All you need GPU wise is something like:
ATI 4350
or the Nvidia equivalent...

I personally bought a really cheap USB DVB-T stick after seeing all the bad reviews for TV cards/sticks at 30.00(+). It works well enough for me, under Windows XP and Vista Ultimate (64-bit), but can't comment on Windows 7 Support obviously.

Bob

MumboJumbo · 12 Apr 2009 at 16:37

fobose said:
I had a compro e700 and found it absolutly awful using the supplied software. It crashed constantly and was unusable so I sent it back within about 3 weeks of trying all sorts with it via help from compro's support, which was also crap (very slow response).

That said, I have heard it works flawlessly if your using it in media center so I am going to be picking up another one/newer model for my HTPC.

yaeh you should never really use supplied softwaer with any of theese tv cards. They aare aways awfull. I find wmc pritty good.