Spec me a Sound Card + TV Card

truebluecfc

truebluecfc

truebluecfc

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I have a bit of cash on me and always wanted a TV card and recently a sound card. The TV-Card is obviuosly wanted to watch TV etc, but to also to record and make demoes for MOHAA inconjuction with IUVCR.

The sound card is mainly because my sound is awful, i kno people say onboard sound is fine and tbh it is but a few of my freinds pc's the sound sounds so clear and crisp with one i want the same.

I really have no idea on what to get and tbh i would be happy just getting a sound card if its worthit as i'll only be playing MOHAA for another month so a TV card isnt essential but would be nice to have aswell.

I would like to only spend around £50 Inc. VAT but i can probably stretch to £70 maybe £75 if its worthit. So does anyone have ideas or recommend any, thanks in advance.
 
Hi there,

you're budget is a tad low to accomodate both a sound card and a TV card.

In my HTPC Media Centre I'm using a Hauppauge WinTV 1300 as my tv card (cost me £90 when I bought it, although it can be had for around £50 now).

I'm using that with Vista Home Premium and using Vista Media Centre to watch tv, play music etc...etc...

Quality is wonderful, and it picks up freeview perfectly too.
It does (very) occasionally (i.e. maybe once a day or so) stutter when you're watching something; but I think that is more down to Vista or the drivers for Vista than the actual card itself.

Sound card is an XFI Xtreme Audio, which can be had for around £30.

My main PC before it blew up had an XFI Xtreme Gamer in it.

The sound the XFI's produce is wonderfully crisp, but remember you've got to have a decent set of speakers for the sound to come out of - otherwise it really isn't worth it.
 
nikebee said:
The sound the XFI's produce is wonderfully crisp, but remember you've got to have a decent set of speakers for the sound to come out of - otherwise it really isn't worth it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that ;)

Yeh i thought it was a bit of a low budget i'll probably just get a sound card then although i only have a headset, so maybe i could get a cheap(ish) sound card and maybe have enough to afford a TV card afterall, but if it really isnt worthit i might end up just getting a TV Card then.
 
What headset is it your using?

For my gaming machine (again before it blew up! :o) I've got 5.1 surround speakers, but I also use a headset (Speedlink Medusa 5.1's) so I don't annoy the misses! :p

Again, the headset is pretty top kit and cost around £50 on their own... but you can really notice the difference from onboard sound to a decent soundcard in the headset alone.

Even with a cheap headset you should still notice an improvement over onboard sound, just perhaps not as much.
 
In my opinion yeah it's a damn good card.

Actually... tell a lie, it is actually the Xtreme Music that I have in my gaming pc and I'm very pleased with the card. Definitely worth the money and I found a big improvement over onboard sound.

I moved from onboard to an Audigy 2, then the Xtreme Music :)
 
Good choice, yeah when I was originally looking for a card it got very good reviews (from magazines/websites and most importantly the users!).

I'd say 9/10 people have said they noticed a big improvement.

I remember the original marketing campaign of these was Creative saying that these cards were the equivalent of a Pentium 4 running at 3.4GHz just being used for audio :)
 
If you're going to look for a TV card I'd suggest a Leadtek Winfast DTV1000T. I picked it up for £20 new a few months back. It worked great with an indoor aerial in Oxford, with no amplifier. Compared with my mates Mac TV adaptor its 100x better (he used same aeriel, lived next door to me but had to use an amplifier and it was still a bit jerky). Plus it has connections to play PS2/... through your PC.
 
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