Suggest TV Tuner Card

hi guys,

my computer specs are:
PIII, 800Mhz, 256 MB SD RAM, PCI slots, WINDOWS XP SP1.

please suggest an internal tv tuner card. i can stretch my budget upto 3.5k. most important point i am looking for is good performance.

also it should have
1.recording capability,
2.time shifting (i know my present configuration will not support it, but want it for using it in a new comp)
3.remote

pinnacle, i have heard gives problems with compatibility. hence i dont want to buy a pinnacle product.

what are the other brands available, offering solid performance.

does anyone have any idea about a brand called 'SNAZZIO' ? is it a good brand? how is its performance?

finally i am opting for an internal tv tuner card because i presume it gives better reception, is this true?

thanks

PixelView offers several models.. U may be able 2 choose a good one that fits ur budget!

Go for Pinnacle tvtuner card.......................

B

u could go for Leadtek tv tuner card .Has all the features u wanted
Last month's digit carried a review and recommended the
Leadtek Winfast TV2000 as the best buy tuner card.
Its vista certified as well.

.Retails for around 2.5K .

A

Beware:

Check the minimum PC requirements before buying TV Tuner card.

I have PCTV 110i and it needs a 1.4GHz proccy and eats lot of RAM while recording.

thanks for your suggestions. i failed to mention that i also have Nvidia GeForce FX5200 128 MB AGP card.

@ambandla - yes i know recording & timeshifting may require higher clock speed, but i will be buying a new comp anyway in abt 6 months.

@blacklight - now i am not a subcriber of digit hence i will not be able to read the leadtek review. but can you tell me is it BEST PERFORMER or BEST VALUE ? because i am looking for one with best performance. i did visit their official site *www.leadtek.com/usa/tv_tuner/overview.asp?lineid=6&pronameid=169

@thinkdigitreader - like i said, i read some bad reviews regarding its compatibility. also one guy on this forum itself said that it was slow on his 1.4Ghz comp. hence i dont want to buy pinnacle tv tuner card.

@gg_3000 - i dont know much about pixel view. is it better than pinnacle (because people generally recommend pinnacle as a good brand)?

---------------------------------
and does internal ALWAYS perform better than external? if possible please also tell me what disadvantages/advantages 'internal' has over 'external'. one thing obviously will be the extra wattage reqd for internal.

and what about snazzio?

regards.

B

@pannaguma
the model mentioned ( Leadtek Winfast TV2000 ) is the best value card.
Another Leadtek card took the best performer crown. Leadtek WinFast PVR2000 . It had an on board MPEG2 encoder processor which does all the processing thus freeing up the load on ur processor
only reason i didn't mention that was coz it exceeds your budget.it retails for 5.5K approx.

@blacklight - thanks for your reply. i got my issue of chip today. in it they recommend COMPRO VIDEOMATE GOLD PLUS II (Rs.3500) as tv tuner card for a HTPC. also it seems this model is better than those offered by pinnacle and pixelview. so i will do some more comparision between Leadtek and Compro before deciding which one to buy.

PS - please tell me whether internal tv tuner cards are always better than external tv tuner cards.

N

hello pannaguma ...
am exactly in teh same state of confusion as you are...
i am puzzled to choose between leadtek and pinnacle !!!
as compro is not available here !!!
when u make the purchase do let me know buddy !!!

.

My friend has an old pinnacle PCTV plus (don't know exactly what model).
I like the fact that its drivers are excellent and work gr8 out of the box.
Plus you can customize the ini files to your liking if you tinker with them (eg. the remote's config to use it as a pc remote): A feature not available in other brands which have closed drivers and require third party tools to achieve the same. ( Case in point: i own an Avermedia card, took me two years to customize the remote drivers)

Pinnacle PCTV 110i has hardware MPEG1,2, DivX encoding.
I dont know if Leadtek models do MPEG4. ( i don't subscribe to Digit either

)
*www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/as/Products/Consumer+Products/PCTV+Tuners/PCTV+Analog+PVR+%28cable_antenna%29/PCTV+110i.htm

If you want the best performing internal TV tuner plus capture device:
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51318
^ Keep in mind that they might not be available in india. You are better of with pinnacle.

Check out videohelp.com for comparisons
*www.videohelp.com/capturecards.php?CaptureCardRead=400#comments
or
tv-cards.com

R

does any one of these models discussed have the possibility of working & time shift recording with set top boxes?
I have to buy one too but my area in delhi has CAS implemented now.

.

@ranjan, get an analog internal tv tuner with hardware encoding and video in. connect the composite output of the set top box with the video in of the tv tuner. You can record then using the hardware capturing of the tv tuner.
If you get the original oem media center remote, it has an ir blaster which can be used to control nearby infra red equipments like the set top box (and even you air conditioner if you like tinkering). You can then use the remote to time shift.

There are digital video tuners present too (directly connect to the digital satellite cable). Dunno if they work with the CAS regime in Delhi.

i finally bought Compro Videomate TV GOLD PLUS II.
price - rs.3190/-
distributor - mediatech india
location - mumbai
phone no - 022 - 26361111
email - sales@mediatechindia.com

its output is very good. only problem is that seven sockets/ports are squeezed in a small space leading to a lot of cluttered wires.