External or Internal TV tuner?

Well this is a weird one,I have recently bought a Syncmaster 940BW LCD which has both VGA(DB15) and DVI(DB9) ports.Now I wud understand that a LCD uses much less electricity than a CRT.Having said that my Zebby cabinet uses a 500W PSU.Well I wud like to put forward 2 situations.Which one do u guys feel better.Using a internal video card which wud mean that the mammoth PSU runs all the time the TV is running.OR,using the DVI port to connect the monitor to the Cabinet and using a VGA cable to connect the monitor to an external TV Tuner,thereby running the LCD and only the TV Tuner and not the CPU while watching TV.

Now My Problem Is I'am Concerned With The Picture Quality Of External Tv Tuners?

D

I'd suggest going with the external tuner. Why run all the components of the PC just to watch TV when an external tuner can do it with the PC off? If you watch TV a lot, you could save a bundle on electricity bills.
Picture quality of external tuners is as good as if not better than that of internal tuners.
Plus you can always connect the external tuner to the PC via USB should you feel the need to record a programme.
Only downside of external tuners is that they're more expensive than internal tuners, but even then they are quite affordable.
IMO external components are preferable because if you load your cabinet with too many peripherals, it tends to heat up. An internal tuner is going to be right in the path of your graphics card's fan, so if you're an OC'er keep your cabinet as empty as possible.

C

If u r gonna record shows/programmes then I suggest u to go for internal tv tuner coz they r good for recording if not then u may go for external coz u can watch t.v with pc off.

D

External tuners are perfectly good for recording.

Hey I was wondering which external tv tuner shud be pretty good within a bracket of say Rs.1000/- (eg:Techcom)

Chk out:Tech-Com SSD-TV-722 (External) TV Tuner Card
*www.techcomindia.com/itemdetail.asp?Cat=TV+TUNERS&CatID=102&prodid=617&ProdName=SSD-TV-722

FEATURES
ADOPTING DIGITAL ARISING FREQUENCY TECHNOLOGY,IT CAN SUPPORT 8 KINDS OF OUTPUT MODE: 640X480X60Hz
800X600X60Hz/75Hz
24X768X60Hz/75Hz
1280X1024X60Hz/75Hz

PREVIEWING ALL PROGRAMS IN 4,9 OR 16 PICTURES
PICTURE IN PICTURE FUNCTION,DISPLAYING TEH PICTURE OF TV PROGRAM ON THE STATUS OF PC.
SUPPORTS ALL TFT MONITORS
NO SOFTWARE OR HARDWARE REQUIRED
STORED UPTO 150 CHANNELS
CONNECT TO CAMERA/VCD/DVD/TV GAME PLAYER
BEST IMAGE QUALITY WITH 24 BIT COLOUR
JUST SIMPLY PLUG AND PLAY
SPECIFICATIONS

FULL SUBJOINING CHANNEL RECEIVING,COMPATIBLE WITH CABLE TV AND WIRELESS TV SIGNAL

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

RECEIVABLE CHANNEL: DS1-57CH, Z1-38CH (470MHz FOR FULL
SUBJOINING TV CHANNEL)
PRE-ADJUSTING PROGRAM MEMORY : 256
FRAME FREQUENCY: 60Hz/75Hz
LINE FREQUENCY: 31KHz-80KHz
ANTENNA: 75 OHM UNBALANCE MODE

Seems pretty good?

D

Seems good, but there's no way to know what the picture quality wil be like. This seems to be one of those tuners than dosen't connect to the PC and let you record stuff. If that's important to you look elsewhere.

drvarunmehta said:
Seems good, but there's no way to know what the picture quality wil be like. This seems to be one of those tuners than dosen't connect to the PC and let you record stuff. If that's important to you look elsewhere.

very imp point there but I dont need to record tv and anyways one of my friend uses a techcom tv tuner,actually he suggested me the brand!!

whatever it is- internal or external,dont buy any low end stuff from tech-com,frontech,pinnacle,etc
when u invest,invest wisely on a haupage or compro series!
so,that's it-folks!!!

D

If your friend has used it and can assure you that the image quality is good, I don't see how you can go wrong spending just 1000 bucks on this.

Bought the Tech-Com SSD-TV-722 (External) TV Tuner Card today.............it cost me Rs.1850/- (+4% VAT)

R

How is the picture quality on 940BW, does normal 4:3 TV gets

stretched

to 16:10 ratio or does it give u option to choose?

My personal exp. "internal" & know it work better

J

@sabretoothe
How is the quality?
Further, is there any problem in connecting the PC to the DVI and at the same time Tuner to the VGA?

u shud have got a tuner based on the ATi Theater 550/650 Chipset. Its one of the best chipsets and will cost a lot more. abt 5k. but the quality is superb.

ranjan2001 said:
How is the picture quality on 940BW, does normal 4:3 TV gets
stretched
to 16:10 ratio or does it give u option to choose?

Well as far as the this tuner is concerned it gives u options to choose from 8 screen resolution modes starting from 640x480 @ 60Hz to 1280x1024 @ 75Hz
I selected 1024x768 @ 60Hz and then did the "auto-adjust" feature on the LCD (common to all LCDs) and it adjusted the picture geometry.Working pretty good for me.Surprisingly the picture dosent look stretched at all.Infact I feel the 940BW offers better TV viewing due to the wide screen than my square 19" Syncmaster 955DF CRT does.

janitha said:
@sabretoothe
How is the quality?
Further, is there any problem in connecting the PC to the DVI and at the same time Tuner to the VGA?

No issues so far.
I'am kinda satisified so far as far as the features are concerned only thing missing is TV pause and Live Recording.

varkey said:
u shud have got a tuner based on the ATi Theater 550/650 Chipset. Its one of the best chipsets and will cost a lot more. abt 5k. but the quality is superb.

Bro just needed a card to connect to my open VGA port and watch decent quality TV,thats it.

R

sabret00the said:
I selected 1024x768 @ 60Hz and then did the "auto-adjust" feature on the LCD (common to all LCDs) and it adjusted the picture geometry.Working pretty good for me.Surprisingly the picture dosent look stretched at all.

Howcan that be 1024x768 will get streached u may not feel it but onlu notice when u see anything round & it appears oval.
I a tsting another older model of techcom & it has the same oval problem, its minor thing but it does streach.

only thing missing is TV pause and Live Recording.

The dealer told me it has recording but even I cant find recording facility in this model or the one i am using.

Bro just needed a card to connect to my open VGA port and watch decent quality TV,thats it.

Are u able to switch to computer & TV mode, I am having problem doing that, how does this switching mode works

varkey said:
u shud have got a tuner based on the ATi Theater 550/650 Chipset. Its one of the best chipsets and will cost a lot more. abt 5k. but the quality is superb.

I second your opinion. If internal ATI or Compro are the ones best.

R

Perm
is it true that all internal card require that the Pc must remain on, or are there any model which lets you record & play without using the comp?

sabret00the said:
Well as far as the this tuner is concerned it gives u options to choose from 8 screen resolution modes starting from 640x480 @ 60Hz to 1280x1024 @ 75Hz
I selected 1024x768 @ 60Hz and then did the "auto-adjust" feature on the LCD (common to all LCDs) and it adjusted the picture geometry.

Screen resolutions and 4:3 or 16:9 & 16:10 are two different things though they are inter-related. Native resolution of wide TFT is 1440X900. Does your tuner allow you to set that resolution??
__________

ranjan2001 said:
Perm
is it true that all internal card require that the Pc must remain on, or are there any model which lets you record & play without using the comp?

In case of internal, PC has to run and now a days 965 boards has only 2 pci slots, so you can put a TV tuner card & another sound card, moreover it will block your graphic fans flow. You should take these things into consideration for internals. Moreover in case of internals you always have risk of surge/ shocks through cable endangering ur whole PC. I don't know whether this is also aplicable to CAS & DTH reception.
__________
I presume, both internal as well external have their merits & demerits. No one can be said to be superior to other. The actual utility will depend, which one will suite you. Now the externals /USB also have good recording feature too. Picture quality etc is also very same with internal & externals. I am not talking of Techcom, Intex etc. I am talking about high end tuners such as ATI theater, Compro Videomate Gold, hauphage etc.

Quality will depend upon Audio & Video encoders inbuilt into the chip. Mostly from philips. Only highend tuners will have these.

R

On my mobo I have 1 slot at bottom left free (2 are alreday occupied with graphic & sound card) I can use the last one but then keeping the PC on is an issue,

*img412.imageshack.us/img412/3536/lcdtunerou6.th.jpg
The 2nd last one claims that it can record with PC off too, I will talk to them if it can play or not.

@Rajan, Why don't you check TV Tuners on mediatechindia.com It has collection of Compro VideoMate tuners inbuilt with FM. External as well as internal.
__________

ranjan2001 said:
On my mobo I have 1 slot at bottom left free I can use that but then keeping the PC on is an issue,

*img412.imageshack.us/img412/3536/lcdtunerou6.th.jpg
The 2nd last one claims that it can record with PC off too, I will talk to them if it can play or not.

Yes, it does claim [PC off Mode], Better you check with them. Conexant chip should be pretty OK.

R

DO they have any dealer in delhi?
I will contact them, but these Delhi guys at NP suck they are not at all concerned with customer service , they just want to sell & I hate that attitude.

Originally Posted by premsharma
Screen resolutions and 4:3 or 16:9 & 16:10 are two different things though they are inter-related. Native resolution of wide TFT is 1440X900. Does your tuner allow you to set that resolution??

Ok I will hv to answer ur question in 2 parts
1stly: I'm currently using 1280 x 1024 @ 60Hz on the TV Tuner.Having said that the auto adjust feature on the sam 940 is so good that i will stretch the picture on all sides of the screen and believe it or not if u watching a movie it looks awesome.However at times TV reception looks a little stretched on the sides.
2ndly: The TV Tuner doesnt allow for wide screen resolutions but amazingly the monitor adjusts the resolutions and end result is pretty nice TV viewing.One problem however is that u need to adjust the brightness,contrast and color saturation manually using the tuner's remote.

R

1280 x 1024 @ 60Hz on the TV Tuner.Having said that the auto adjust feature on the sam 940 is so good that i will stretch the picture on all sides of the screen

It cannot stretch on both sides it has to compress 1024 side to 900 & streach 1280 to 1400 , So weather you notice or not it is stretched by 20% atleast.

ranjan2001 said:
DO they have any dealer in delhi?
I will contact them, but these Delhi guys at NP suck they are not at all concerned with customer service , they just want to sell & I hate that attitude.

Yes they do have. i think I have given you their Tel No in another thread. Anyway you contact mediatechindia.com through email and enquire about prices. Also ask them, who is authorise dealer at Delhi. See the features mentioned there pretty good. You will have to persoanlly evaluate that how best these features can satisfy you. See I would recomend following:

Internal
ATI Theater 650 Pro if available is the best chip evere made till date.
Compro VideoMate TV Gold + II (Power Up Scheduling) @ 4500-5000
Powercolor ATI Theater 550 Pro @ 4500-5000
Hauppauge WinTV 150/250 @ 4000-5000

External- USB
Compro Videomate Action Pro @3850
PixelView Tuners should also be in same range of @ 3500+

These are my choices in the order of preference. I am yet to make a decision, whether to go for Internal or External?? I do have a Intex Tuner right now, which I bought just as stop gap arrangement a year back after my Zenith tuner had gone bad.

You will have look for these features in detail and probably look for reviews on net regarding these tuners and you will know who is who of tuners?

^^^ to add more to quality and reliability issues I would like to add that as far as picture quality is concerned the techcom is fine but off I'm facing problems with the menu which doesnt work properly...might need to send it for warranty repairs soon...

I work in a tech process and I believe the best tv tuner card to opt for wud be a hauppauge but i doubt whether one wud get it in India or not?

R

I inquired about the Kworld-LCD tunner box & tahts quite expensive Rs 7200/- & the reason I am told is that its capable of running upto 30 inch LCD with it, so thats ruled out.

The sales guy told me to come & see the demo of the 1st model Global TV terminator pro PVR TV in the list & said that it will fit into my required feature list quite well.

Meanwhile I called up the compro sales guy Mr. Chowhaan 9312457661 & they mostly have internal pci- cards & have a great feature list but cant give demo as they only sell via dealer & as usual the dealer at NP suck.

Ahhhhh....I m sorry mate!!!!I haven't read any thread from a long ago.Well anyways,I bought the same TV tuner card a couple of months ago(the TECHCOM one mentioned on the first page).My dealer also told me that i can do the capturing with this card easily,but when u hook it to ur system then u realize how loser u are.Well luckily i have the graphics card with DVI port on it so i use it for display(PC display) but for TV i used VGA port.Dude there is no issues with the picture quality but if r connected with a DISHNET or TATA SKY etc. the quality is rocking.Well i m like u sabertooth,i don't need it for capturing but if u guys looking for a capture card also then buy one which has USB port or support on it.One of my friend is using the GEMINI TV tuner card which has USB port & he can also capture.So the better option would be buying the external one if u are not in the marriage business,u know what i mean.Well the internal cards are supposed to be better for capturing but only the quality ones.

^^ completely agree with u apart frm the only fact that I'm facing some problems accessing the menu but that has nothing to do with picture quality anyway

If it is the remote then yes it really s**ks,i mean u have to be a born intelligent or a geek coz there is nothing mentioned in the manual.About the picture quality,it is also crap but only if u have VGA port in your display.I mean we have LCDs & they have both DVI & VGA ports.Man u can see the difference using the only VGA port,it has a S-Video to VGA cable with it,use it & u will see the difference.I m using the TV TUNER card on VGA port & System on DVI port,if u have the same settings then there will be no problem.Good luck dude!!!

R

keith_j_snyder2 said:
I m using the TV TUNER card on VGA port & System on DVI port,if u have the same settings then there will be no problem.Good luck dude!!!

I did the same too but had hell lot of problems switching from tv to desktop, how do u do it ? The instructional manual of all Chinese goods suck.

this is what I did
I connected the vga cable to my LCD (analog) & started watching TV, now I switched on the comp & switch off the display via remote this keeps the TV audio on but I can now use my comp desktop which Is connected via another DVI port (digital) on LCD, now I cant go back to TV even when I switch back the TV display or shut down the comp, it does not let me toggle between TV & desktop.

ranjan2001 said:
I did the same too but had hell lot of problems switching from tv to desktop, how do u do it ? The instructional manual of all Chinese goods suck.

this is what I did
I connected the vga cable to my LCD (analog) & started watching TV, now I switched on the comp & switch off the display via remote this keeps the TV audio on but I can now use my comp desktop which Is connected via another DVI port (digital) on LCD, now I cant go back to TV even when I switch back the TV display or shut down the comp, it does not let me toggle between TV & desktop.

this is the fun of using LCDs where there are 2 separate ports VGA & DVI...even I follow the same procedure of connecting the Tech-Com to the VGA port of the LCD and the computer to the DVI port of the GPU on the computer....luckily there's a PIP button on the Tech-Com which lets me flip in between.....having said that I believe that if u are using a CRT monitor and dont wanna remove the only VGA cable from the computer everytime they want to watch TV wat they may do is attach the CRT monitor VGA cable to the TV tuner card VGA in port and then connect a S-video cable from the S-video out port on the tuner to the graphics card of the computer.However this has 2 apparant problems: 1)picture quality will drop and the signal will have to travel thru VGA & S-Video
2)TV Tuner has to remain on everytime u use the computer

OK guys, we have been styruggling here and digit have listened to us. They have run a review on TV tuners in this month [Apr 2007] digit. The toppers in all the catagories are Leadtech Winfast, Compro, AverMedia etc. All your queries are anwered. Though no products of ATI theater Pro, are there in the tests. God knows why? I think they are pretty good tuners from ATI.

If the manual in chinese then it does S**ks.Ok here what should be the possible solution.

As far as i have seen 2 LCD's Mine(CMV CT-720D) & my pal's(Sony's some model supports clear bright technology)

1.As by mine:
Check the settings of the LCD.Like it must have somewhere written "DIGITAL or/and ANALOG),U can switch between them.

2.As by my pal's:
Press and hold POWER button of LCD for few seconds & u can easily switch between them.

Try any of these settings,Good luck!!!
And sorry for reading ur post so late.

^^^I use a 940BW which does an automatic check of analogue / digital everytime it turns on and turns off.

Is there any TV Tuner card that comes with a signal booster?

J

mobilegeek said:
Is there any TV Tuner card that comes with a signal booster?

I would also like to know the same thing.
I had connected my Pinnacle PC TV Plus using a splitter from the cable to the TV and probably due to signal loss, the pictures are very grainy. Previously I had thought there might be some other reason but after shifting to a new place and even after upgradation of PC, the quality is same and the card is left unused for 2-3 years.

anyone ...

I dont have a good idea on tv tuners, if you can reply that will be nice

1. One that has MP4/Divx/VP70 recording
2. which has a Signal Booster buitin