Hello All,

Im considering upgrading my 19" lcd to a 22" and getting a tv tuner card, due to the fact that i do not want a tv in my room, as it will take up too much space. How good are TV Tuners? What are some of the best ones to look out for? I have a cable for the house aerial right next to my pc so that is not really a wworry ...

Recommendations/thoughts/advice is welcome, please try and keep it on topic. Cheers

google around and find out whether your area has great digital tv reception.. leave it altogether if you don't.


I'm a big fan of the Hauppauge Nova T500 Dual HDTV Tuner.. it's compatible with the old MS MCE 2005 OS, all the various linux tv aps, and works nicely with Vista's MCE if you're going to upgrade your stuff later down the track.


still.. a tv tuner is only as good as your system lets it be. don't plug this thing into some crappy old Amd system and expect the same kind of performance as the old Intel 865 chipsets delivered.


wow - going in, I honestly thought I would skip the fanboyism :P

um... the whole point of digital is you don't need "GREAT" reception to get perfect picture.

As long as you don't intend on using rabit ears (which you said you don't) you should be fine.

Have you got a set top box on a tv in your house? how well does that work?

Personally, I use a DVICO FusionHDTV Plus, and its okay, software is a little lame.

Personally, I use a DVICO FusionHDTV Plus, and its okay, software is a little lame.

same card, nothing wrong with the software. It records, it timeshifts, it has the built in EPG/teletext functions, scheduled recording/watching of programs. What more do you want? The ability to control your entire pc with the remote? Oh wait I can do that too :D (mind you I got the MCE remote with mine)

capture from tonights episode of NCIS using my fusion hdtv plus
http://users.bigpond.net.au/ritsuko/snapshot_j_20070515_.jpg

i hate my tuner and wish i never bought it. i only wanted to watch quizmania (for the hotties) and cannot even get that ffs

haha, whoop watches NCIS!!!!!!

i beat you have the super hawts for that lame nerdy chick dont you

I have a cheap Conia brand TV and it's plugged straight into my aerial socket. It's not digital and the reception on the TV is pretty average on all channels except 10 which is pretty good but still not perfect. Does this mean that if I get a TV tuner for the PC it too will be average?

nope

I get awesome digital tv reception here in Holland Park, yet the analogue tv reception is so poor in my street (no line of site to Mt Gravatt repeaters) that I had to get Foxtel just to keep the Mrs happy :/

I discovered the digital tv option after I digned up to Foxtel for 2 years :(

I am running the Dvico Fusion Nano USB and it rocks. Works well with Vista Ultimate. The Fusion software that they offer with it is pretty good also. I am out at Forest Lake and I get perfect reception on HD and SD. The USB is designed for laptops but I like the USB so I can move it over to one of my other PCs if I want.

How good are TV Tuners?

Generally speaking, pretty bad. Or in the cases where you find a good tuner, it's let down by crap supporting software.
I've gone through half a dozen different tuners, and none were particularly great for various reasons. Particularly if you want to record anything, I'd be going with a actual dedicated DVB box with a HDD.

I previously used a Nebula box, but that kinda died after 2 maybe 3 years of life, and the software was always crashing (Windows).
The Fusion HDTV USB2 I have at the moment crashes every now and then (okay, often), and the iTele software for the Mac, which is the only thing really available, is pretty basic (with no scheduled recording etc). For Windows, the Fusion software is nowhere near as good as the Nebula software in terms of features, though it is a little more stable. The picture quality on the Fusion is also, despite it being a hardware accelerated device, nowhere near that we got out of the Nebula.

And while Elegato's software seems pretty good, apparently the hardware is sub-par.

Raven, ever looked at MythTV?

MythTV looks pretty awesome. I will sink some cash into a nice tuner sometime soon.

The ads on tv really spoil the experience, so would be nice if they had a plugin to remove ads too, or I guess you could do it manually?

Does this mean that if I get a TV tuner for the PC it too will be average?

If you get a digital TV tuner it will probably improve significantly.

wtf, ads spoils the experience!?

yor pretty serious about your tv watching eh?

i beat you have the super hawts for that lame nerdy chick dont you

I'd be too scared to even look at abbey, being a forensic expert she could kill me without leaving a trace.

And what's wrong with ncis? you people all know I watch odd programs anyway.

last edited by whoop at 20:08:56 16/May/07

Generally speaking, pretty bad.

bs! i run vista ult with 2 x hauggpage 1300. runs perfect. nothing like pausing and rewinding live tv. i record all my tv now, and watch it a later date.. the fastforward ads.

Or in the cases where you find a good tuner, it's let down by crap supporting software.

vista or mce2005 is perfect. easy to use, easy to setup. free tv guid. scheduled records / series. good hdd management... burn tv shows straight to dvd if u want. and all done via a remote. its the way forward.

last edited by mooby at 21:24:47 16/May/07

I won't be happy till I can watch foxtel in my car!!

I don't have a tuner card so I've been watching The Goodies on the way to school/work etc.

last edited by Marty at 11:05:19 17/May/07

Winfast DVT1000T are great. Vista compatible if you want to use Media Centre, or their own software is good too. They are like $80 I think. I have always used rabbit-ears and have never had a problem in the places I've lived (Petrie Tce, Ashgrove, Gaythorne). You shouldn't have a problem anywhere in Brisbane for reception, and you can always go for an external aerial if needed.

I dunno Spook, I guess I'm just used to watching downloaded tv shows and not having to put up with ads.

Now when I watch tv the ads drive me nuts, so I have to change channel or mute the tv. It's just so repetitive and annoying. TV ads, telemarketers, spam, and in general, advertising - really pisses me. Probably cause I'm crazy or something..

Thanks for the feedback guys ... I really dont want to spend alot of dosh on a tv and i thought a tuner would be a good cheap solution seeing as i got a nice enough lcd and an outside aerial connection right next to my pc ...

Winfast DVT1000T is the one im leaning towards.

HOw easy is it to record tv?