TV Card Recommendation?

Craig321

Craig321

Craig321

Soldato
Joined
2 May 2004
Posts
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I just found some spare TV ports in the loft direct to the aerial

Lets say a budget of around £100. Needs to be able to record/fast forward/rewind/pause decently (anything better or as good as Sky+ will do).

Also needs to come with a decent remote. I'll probably use Windows Media Center (Windows 7 64-bit) unless the software it comes with is decent.

Doesn't need analogue, just digital is fine. If it has a combo, then pointless bonus for me :D

Not sure if this is the right section.

Any recommendations?

Thanks
 
Craig321 said:
I thought freeview HD cards were already out? The £100 Hauppauge range?
Click to expand...

Nope, they missed the deadline to be ready for the world cup ~:/
Bunch of muppets

Personally i use:
1 x TBS 6980, PCI-e, dual tuner, dvb-s2 (for HD)
1 x Hauppage td-500, PCI, dual tuner, dvb-t (for dave :))

I would say wait for the DVB-T2 cards to come out, then either grab yourself a bargain on the old-hat DVB-T cards, or fork out for the T2s
 
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dave-lew99 said:
You can pick up DVB-T tuners (USB) for < £20, i have a hauppage one, that will suit you, otherwise wait for DVB-T2 tuners.
Click to expand...

I used a USB freeview tuner for a while and hated it, really rubbish quality and signal. Although, now that I've found these ports in the loft I might give it another go and see if it picks up anything decent this time.

BunnyKillBot said:
Nope, they missed the deadline to be ready for the world cup ~:/
Bunch of muppets

Personally i use:
1 x TBS 6980, PCI-e, dual tuner, dvb-s2 (for HD)
1 x Hauppage td-500, PCI, dual tuner, dvb-t (for dave :))

I would say wait for the DVB-T2 cards to come out, then either grab yourself a bargain on the old-hat DVB-T cards, or fork out for the T2s
Click to expand...

If freeview HD cards are coming out soon then I may as well wait for them, no point on spending £100 on a card that doesn't have the latest in it :)

Thanks for the suggestions/comments everyone
 
Blackgold dual DVB-T/DVB-S/Analogue 6 in one - BGT3540 - of course ;)

And no sign that BBC HD etc are going DVB-S2 is there !!
 
Methanoid said:
And no sign that BBC HD etc are going DVB-S2 is there !!
Click to expand...

Nope, they are committed to T2.

However, the advice to wait till T2 cards are out is misplaced if you want one now. I was holding off till I did some research, and realised it was pointless. When T2 cards are available, and for many years from now, the standard definition digital freeview channels will still be being broadcast. It's only a small part of the freeview spectrum that is being given over to HD freeview for the foreseeable future. This means all settop boxes and TV tuners on the market now will still be useful for many years to come - you just won't get HD on them.
So I'd recommend getting a dual DVB-T card now, and when The T2 cards are available, get one of them to add extra chanels.

There is one important decision:
do you want a card that gives software decoding and compression, or a card that does it in hardware. Hardware is best but pricier. If you have a reasonably modern computer, and it's dedicated to HTPC use, then software should be fine (if you also use it to play games or for other purposes, getting a hardware encoder is best so it can still do that in the background without dropping frames or harming gameplay fps too much).

For software, the hauppauge Nova 500 is apparently pretty good, at about £60 usually, but if you look around, you can get a Peak dual tuner for less than half the price, or two of them plus an MCE remote for about the same price as the hauppauge.

A card with dedicated encoding chip often cost over £100, though there's one in the members market right now for about 80.
 
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