TV Tuner question

[omega2]

I'm interested in getting a TV Tuner, but don't know which to get. I'm looking for people's advice at this very moment. Is the MSI TV Anywhere good? What about the Pinnacle PCTV Pro? I never heard of Leadtek, can anyone shed some light into this one. What I do want for sure is a stereo sound, not mono sound. Also, how old is the ATI TV Wonder? Can't seem to find a store that will sell the ATI TV Wonder, and I'm certainly not looking into the VE because it doesn't have stereo sound.

Any suggestion?

 

[Sazar]

Originally posted by omega2
I'm interested in getting a TV Tuner, but don't know which to get. I'm looking for people's advice at this very moment. Is the MSI TV Anywhere good? What about the Pinnacle PCTV Pro? I never heard of Leadtek, can anyone shed some light into this one. What I do want for sure is a stereo sound, not mono sound. Also, how old is the ATI TV Wonder? Can't seem to find a store that will sell the ATI TV Wonder, and I'm certainly not looking into the VE because it doesn't have stereo sound.

Any suggestion?

buy hauppage with the stero sound... they newer ones have excellent video quality and they have FM radio as well


the msi tv@nywhere was in my system for a total of 2 days before I sold the POS... it was terrible and the drivers were terrible and it had mono sound...

the leadtek card is pretty much the carbon copy of the MSI card but I dunno bout the drivers... I assume they are the same...

pinaccle is more for professional video stuff...

personally I love my AIW 9700pro but its a little on the expensive side

however it is stereo and has a wonderful remote...

the tv wonder comes in a remote edition that you can buy online... but it is mono as well AFAIK...

 

[Taurus]

if i were to buy a tuner card, i'd go with a hauppauge. everyone seems to recommend them.

 

[Sazar]

Originally posted by taurus
if i were to buy a tuner card, i'd go with a hauppauge. everyone seems to recommend them.

I actually recommend ati.. but the good ati cards are quite expensive... so then I recommend the hauppage cards

the AIW 9700pro is amazing... but my old hauppage was as good as my msi tv@nywhere tuner... filtering was a little worse but more driver related than hardware it seems...

however hauppage makes a nice lineup highly recommended...

 

[Taurus]

what i don't like about the all-in-wonders is when the day comes you want to upgrade your video card, you'll have to shell out more bucks to get another all-in-wonder or seperate tv tuner card then. so i'd prefer getting a seperate card that you can use for a longer time. also, i won't have to be committed to ati with every video card purchase.

 

[LeeJend]

Or get the best of both worlds. ATI has the best TV Tuners and you can get just the tuner, no video card with it.

ATI-TV Wonder VE (100-703102) TV/Video Input ~$50

AverMedia has one that works ok too, about the same price. I've used ATI and Avermedia. Would recomment the ATI.

 

[silky62678]

Re: Re: TV Tuner question

Originally posted by Sazar
buy hauppage with the stero sound... they newer ones have excellent video quality and they have FM radio as well


the msi tv@nywhere was in my system for a total of 2 days before I sold the POS... it was terrible and the drivers were terrible and it had mono sound...

the leadtek card is pretty much the carbon copy of the MSI card but I dunno bout the drivers... I assume they are the same...

pinaccle is more for professional video stuff...

personally I love my AIW 9700pro but its a little on the expensive side

however it is stereo and has a wonderful remote...

the tv wonder comes in a remote edition that you can buy online... but it is mono as well AFAIK...

How does the AIW compare to the tv wonder as far as picture filtering ?

 

[Big Booger]

I have a TV@nywhere card installed and it works fine for me. The remote is the only non-functioning item and the card itself was cheap. I can record in a variety of formats. I like it. But then I am not anal retentive either. Some people who require professional capturing tools would pass on the TV@nywhere card, but if you are a regular Joe Blow looking for a decent card at a low price, go for it.

If you are wanting the best you can get go with Hauppage or one of the more expensive capture cards.

Just my two pesos and a case of corona.

Oh and about the MSI TV@nywhere drivers, they were recently upgraded. As for the mono sound, stereo works fine with my Satellite dish.. so I dunno about that..

They did release a patch about a year ago to fix some major issues with the card. But since then the drivers work flawlessly. Even works with PowerVCR, Nero Vision Express, Webcam XP, Windows Media Encoder... and that is just the software that I used it with so there could be others..

It is a cheap card, but if you are expecting Hollywood quality out of a 30 dollar card, you are dreaming

 

[Sazar]

Re: Re: Re: TV Tuner question

Originally posted by silky62678
How does the AIW compare to the tv wonder as far as picture filtering ?

far superior... the hardware has better filtering methods incorporated and hence the IQ is better... the tv wonder itself is older hardware... but it is not a bad device... you would be hardpressed to find a difference... however the recording is apparently a lot better with the AIW 9700pro than for the tv wonder...

so far.. I am extremely happy with the recording since it records above 640x480

 

[Sazar]

Originally posted by Big Booger
I have a TV@nywhere card installed and it works fine for me. The remote is the only non-functioning item and the card itself was cheap. I can record in a variety of formats. I like it. But then I am not anal retentive either. Some people who require professional capturing tools would pass on the TV@nywhere card, but if you are a regular Joe Blow looking for a decent card at a low price, go for it.

If you are wanting the best you can get go with Hauppage or one of the more expensive capture cards.

Just my two pesos and a case of corona.

Oh and about the MSI TV@nywhere drivers, they were recently upgraded. As for the mono sound, stereo works fine with my Satellite dish.. so I dunno about that..

They did release a patch about a year ago to fix some major issues with the card. But since then the drivers work flawlessly. Even works with PowerVCR, Nero Vision Express, Webcam XP, Windows Media Encoder... and that is just the software that I used it with so there could be others..

It is a cheap card, but if you are expecting Hollywood quality out of a 30 dollar card, you are dreaming

the msi tv@nywhere does not support stereo output AFAIK... and the main reason I bought it was to get the remote function working... which it NEVER did... no matter what setup I tried... or drivers...

the older drivers have issues... the newer ones work better but still have problems with certain things... e.g. multimonitor... it does not work well with a dual monitor setup...

the recording is not bad... and the card could/should have been a smash with me

hauppage make the best stand alone cards.. though you will pay more for their products than others in the stand alone market...

 

[silky62678]

Re: Re: Re: Re: TV Tuner question

Originally posted by Sazar
far superior... the hardware has better filtering methods incorporated and hence the IQ is better... the tv wonder itself is older hardware... but it is not a bad device... you would be hardpressed to find a difference... however the recording is apparently a lot better with the AIW 9700pro than for the tv wonder...

so far.. I am extremely happy with the recording since it records above 640x480

So as far as picture , the AIW shows better?

 

[albybum]

I own this Tv-Tuner card and it has been perfect for me, and its not very expensive.

This is made by Leadtek.
I also own the Leadtek GF 4 ti 4400

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?description=14-122-132


The software is wonderful, easy to install, and has a really sharp picture.

This version has a built in FM tuner as well.

 

[Sazar]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: TV Tuner question

Originally posted by silky62678
So as far as picture , the AIW shows better?

compared to the old hauppage and the msi tv@nywhere... yes it does... the newer hauppage cards should have similar image quality though... and they are dedicated cards

 

[Big Booger]

I agree the TV@nywhere remote is a POS.. it doesn't work and I have never gotten it to work no matter what driver I've used.. they need to remedy that..

As for the stereo, I am quite sure I have that option available in the advanced setup options. I am using a Creative SB Platinum 5.1 and it appears to work. When I change it to mono, the sound quality changes, sounds flat and dull.. back to stereo it sounds rich and deep.

Could be my imagination, I won't put it past myself or you


All in all for a 30 dollar card from MSI, you get what you pay for. I hear they are soon coming out with a new one, so we'll see how that comes out.

I used the following site to compare the different cards:
http://www.dvdrhelp.com/capturecards.php

They have several user comments per card so have a look. It helped me decide that MSI TV@nywhere wasn't all bad, and at the price was indeed a bargain. I also new the remote wouldn't work but I was praying it would