tv cards - any opinions

[tyerone]

hI

just want to know is any1 using tv cards (pci) on their pc's are they any good? ie recording tv show etc.???

Thanks

 

[cyberarmy]

Using a Lifeview Fly TV Prime for the past several years, but rarely record any TV program (only like when Mr.Bean animation was on SABC3).

 

[Scooby_Doo]

i had a winfast one, was very unstable (hanged my pc) and was a gamble everytime you started up the app that used the tv card. so yeah, not very impressed with winfast.

 

[nivek]

i had a winfast one, was very unstable and was a gamble everytime you started up the app that used the tv card. so yeah, not very impressed with winfast.

seconded.. treat winfast/leadtek like the plague...
hauppage (spelling?) is decent tho

 

[cyberarmy]

i had a winfast one, was very unstable (hanged my pc) and was a gamble everytime you started up the app that used the tv card. so yeah, not very impressed with winfast.

Fortunately I went for lifeview instead of winfast (at that time lifeview's decoder chip is one more generation newer than winfast).

 

[milomak]

i have a winfast tv2000xp expert that has never given me problems. however it is a software based encoder which you should avoid like th eplague.

hence why my HTPC runs a Hauppage PVR-500.

 

[killadoob]

do these cards pick up dstv?

or is it just the sabc programs, cause honestly sabc sucks ass haha

 

[cyberarmy]

do these cards pick up dstv?

or is it just the sabc programs, cause honestly sabc sucks ass haha

These are TV tuner cards, you need to connect the antenna cable to it. I am running it from DSTV output now (Although I can only watch all the free channels......parents)

 

[milomak]

the hauppage has RF, composite and svideo inputs. so it is like a tv in that respect.

 

[d0b33]

I've been using a cheap compro x300 not bad for the price but it's a software decoder and that makes it unstable and can crash, I'm getting myself a hauppage later this year, some hauppage cards work with windows media center and will allow you to PVR flawlessly using windows media center on vista or xp.

 

[Scooby_Doo]

sounds good might upgrade, need to see which ones work with vista.

 

[xrapidx]

Hauppauge is the best...

 

[Scooby_Doo]

do these cards have digital decoders on them as digital is coming soon, this year if i'm not mistaken.

 

[milomak]

There are digital cards around

 

[getafix33]

Hauppauge is the best...

Too true

I have two in my MCE PC and having been running them since 2005 without a glitch. I wouldn't recommend any other analogue card

 

[tyerone]

i cant make sense of this so which card must i go for then?

 

[kronoSX]

just remember not all tv cards support vista,I learned the hard way.No sound problems do arize

 

[d0b33]

just remember not all tv cards support vista,I learned the hard way.No sound problems do arize

That depends if its 64 or 32 bit vista is it not?

AFAIK Vista 64 bit is not supported well

 

[andres101]

i have a winfast tv2000xp expert that has never given me problems. however it is a software based encoder which you should avoid like th eplague.

hence why my HTPC runs a Hauppage PVR-500.

so does mine. I recommend the PVR500.

That depends if its 64 or 32 bit vista is it not?

AFAIK Vista 64 bit is not supported well

The PVR500 is supported on AMD64 (Linux ).

do these cards have digital decoders on them as digital is coming soon, this year if i'm not mistaken.

PVR500 has digital encoder, meaning it can take the analogue data it receives and encode in MPEG2. this frees up the CPU to do other things. it does not support receiving a digital signal over the air.

There are digital cards around

Yes, but there is more than one "digital" standard and who knows which one ICASA will pick... I'll wait until it is rolled out before adding a digital card to my system.

 

[d0b33]

Yes, but there is more than one "digital" standard and who knows which one ICASA will pick... I'll wait until it is rolled out before adding a digital card to my system.

Exactly, besides there will probably be cheap converters available that will convert the signal anyway, you can get a good analogue hauppage rather than splash out on a hybrid.