TV card recommendation

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hashbrown99

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Hi

I am looking for a TV card that will work/ does work with windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

I need feedback from people who have one that works with this OS. I have googled this but have discovered that what Microsoft says will work very often doesn't - now there's a shocker:rolleyes:.

It's going into a new system I am going to build so am open to any suggestions/advice you have :o

Ta

EDIT: also would appreciate where you bought it; price etc
 
I bought the Gigabyte GT -P6000. I initially used the drivers that came with the package. That was a huge error. It never worked properly and buggered me around for 2 days. I eventually downloaded the Win 7 drivers, but it did not help. I can't remember what happened, but I did look on the Gigabyte site the first day, but for some reason could only find the remote driver, but there were other drivers to download as well. Eventually had to reinstall Win 7 and then it installed right. It works well. At times I have to close it down, while playing games, or it will crash.
I bought it from PC shop in Uitenhage, because Rectron did not have it in stock just after the December holidays. The price at Rectron is R299.00 excl. It is an analogue tuner and FM.
I would advise to rather get the GT-P8000. It is analogue and digital and is R399.00 ecl.

Edit: I'm using Win 7 Home 32 bit, but there are 64 bit drivers.
 
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I am using the Gigabyte U8000, OS Windows 7 Professional. I purchased the card from Acumen Technologies in Olivedale, Jhb about a year ago at R465. Google the company for contact details. Anyway I originally used the drivers / software that came with it for Vista, but with Windows 7 (32-bit and then 64-bit) I have downloaded drivers and using Windows Media Center instead.

Anyway, here is the URL for the Windows 7 drivers ...

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Components/Driver_Model.aspx?ProductID=2441

I have seen other TV cards, but can't comment until I put them in my own system won't comment.
 
Didn't Hauppage get complaints about not having Vista drivers, etc? Think they might be coming right with Windows 7 drivers, though.
Definitely worth checking out. It's been quite some time since I've dealt with a Hauppauge card, but they were (and probably still are) excellent.
 
It's funny how people recommend cards without actually stating anything about the tv card like picture quality or whether it can record in mpeg4.

Recording in mpeg4 is a big plus as it uses hard drive space.
 
jak3 said:
You want to get something which has an inbuilt hardware MPEG encoder.

http://www.hauppauge.com/ is one of the best makes.
Click to expand...

I've heard this from several sites, about the hardware encoder. I understand that it takes a load off your cpu, but how important is it really in everyday use, just watching TV and recording the odd program or two. If you have a fairly decent pc it should be able to handle the load easily, right?
I'm also looking at the Gigabyte U8000 which is without a hardware encoder but seems like a very good TV tuner according to reviews.
 
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If I may ask, how does a TV tuner work? Do you need to plug it into something or does it get wireless waves? I notice some have FM Radio also.
 
What would be the minimum Compro card I'd want to look at to take DSTV feed and display on a 24" 16:9?

Got PCI and PCI Express available., PCI-E bit close to gfx card so I think I'd prefer PCI.
 
stk# Description Price Excl Qty Total Excl. Total Incl.
VS-DVBT210SE Kworld HyperMediaCenter Tv Tuner 1024 X 768 DPI 32 BIT HIGH COLOR Hybrid Technology Retail Box 1 year Limited Warranty R 349.00 1 R 349.00 R 397.86(incl)

bought from esquire. works brilliantly with win 7 32 bit also using 24" dell monitor. has option for using provided software (better) or windows media centre (driver provided).
as you can see from specs, it has one one of the highest default display resolutions around. has built in fm radio as well.
had it for about just over a month and very happy.


k-world website has win 7 drivers for 32 & 64bit.
 
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I have a hauppauge card and it works perfectly in Win7 Home Premium Media Center.

How important is hardware encoding ? I guess as important and a decent gfx card that off-loads the CPU. If your PC is powerful enough you can do without. A HTPC should be as quiet as possible, if you CPU is working constantly it's likely that the fans will also run higher, creating more noise.
 
isn't it the case if you plan to use the windows media center, you need a card that can do hardware encoding?
 
milomak said:
isn't it the case if you plan to use the windows media center, you need a card that can do hardware encoding?
Click to expand...

I had a non-hardware card - it worked if you can call it that, but frequently audio and video would go out of sync. I then bought the PVR150, and never looked back, hardware encoding is a big plus.
 
carudden said:
I had a non-hardware card - it worked if you can call it that, but frequently audio and video would go out of sync. I then bought the PVR150, and never looked back, hardware encoding is a big plus.
Click to expand...

was this with win7? i know one of the MS media centers wouldn't work with a software encoder card. it may have been vista.
 
So I bought the Gigabyte U8000 USB tuner which is without hardware encoding. It works really well and I can't see any problem so far. Right now Windows Media Center (on Win 7 64bit) is happily recording Along Came Polly in the background while I'm playing music in Windows Media Player, and surfing MyBB. No problems with system resources. Media Center's recording is using 77MB RAM and max 10% CPU. I think the only time hardware encoding will be really a requirement is with a slow PC, or if you want to play games while the device is recording a movie in the background(which I wouldn't do even if I had a hardware encoding tv tuner, as it would still need to write to harddrive and this might cause the game to stutter).
Videos recorded by the U8000 is smooth with no audio/video synch problems.
I'm really impressed with this little unit (as small as a lighter). The remote that comes with it can do the basic functions in Windows Media Center such as play music, play movies, set scheduled recordings, browse pictures and so on. The only thing the remote doesn't do with Windows Media Center is control some functions of the currently playing movie/song so you can't pause, stop or scan it. You can switch to another movie/song/picture however. So I will be buying an MCE remote to have 100% control over my Media Center. I'm looking at this one which is fairly cheap but looks functional: http://www.okion.com/en-us/scripts/product_info.asp?pid=496
 
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What would you recommend for a notebook? saw the gigabyte and was thinking about getting it, not sure. Does it support the new digital terrestrial broadcasts? wsa trying to figure out.
 
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