TV Tuner advice please
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TV Tuner advice please
09-12-2009 4:56 PM
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With myriad options I am hoping someone here may be able to offer some advice.
Basically I want to get Freeview (not bothered about terrestial) and, maybe be ready for Freeview HD next year. Would prefer PCI (don't really want more stuff hanging ot the front, back, side, top, etc.
Hauppauge seem at the top of the game but what other options are there?
Has anyone successfully used one of these cards under W7 with Media Centre?
I've been looking at the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1300 Hybrid TV Tuner Card for just under £60 at Novatech which is just about within budget.
Cheers
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Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
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Re: TV Tuner advice please
09-12-2009 5:11 PM
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As for the player I still use the older version version 6 winTV as I just never got used to the version 7. It's pretty basic for recording if you need that so better for Live viewing.
Re: TV Tuner advice please
09-12-2009 6:12 PM
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It also seems that, in most cases, the Freeview HDTV switch-on will co-incide with the digital switch-over wgich wlll be 2012 for me so will settle for DVB-T for now. But which one...?
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Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
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Re: TV Tuner advice please
09-12-2009 7:14 PM
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Including digital radio I get 63 channels.
I have also been able to get channels from my Satellite decoder hooked up to it but the annoying (to me)
disadvantage is the fractional time delay between the viewed and the spoken word.
Re: TV Tuner advice please
09-12-2009 7:20 PM
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Re: TV Tuner advice please
09-12-2009 8:45 PM
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Quote from: Mav I've been looking at the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1300 Hybrid TV Tuner Card
I've got one of these. It's ok, but I wouldn't put it any higher than that. On the other hand, I don't know that it's any worse than anything else. I have a Tevion USB DVB-T tuner to use with my laptop in the campervan & it's not as good - hardly surprising as it's USB.
In common with any digital tuner, it's very dependent on a decent signal, which means a good aerial in an area of good reception. Without both of those, I'd be surprised if you found anything that was satisfactory.
As Be3G says, the software isn't much to get exited about. While it doesn't appear to use a lot of CPU time or memory, it's very sensitive to other applications running at the same time. Processor speed seems to be critical, but any new kit should be ok. I think that's a lot of the problem with the laptop - it's old(ish) & pretty slow by modern standards.
They have their a place, but the end result does not replace a proper telly matched with a dedicated hard disk recorder, such as a Humax.
I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has got a good working system.
Re: TV Tuner advice please
09-12-2009 11:13 PM
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Works OK, I have it on most of the time when I'm working, but uses 25% to 30% CPU for TV (much less for radio) so can be a bit flaky when CPU-intensive apps are running alongside.
Not media centre just XP Home, I use their software (WinTV32) remote control (when I'm feeling lazy) and the built-in recorder.
Recording Freeview this way is actually quite good - you get a standard MPEG file that normally fits a whole feature film onto a DVD.
Watching "Hot Planet" on BBC1 in a small window while typing this.
I'll be trying it on W7 over Xmas.
Re: TV Tuner advice please
09-12-2009 11:20 PM
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Quote from: Simon I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has got a good working system.
We use one of Elgato's TV tuners on the computer in the living room and it works pretty well; it's hooked up to our old CRT TV and effectively acts as a Freeview PVR for us. However, Elgato's stuff is only designed for Macs, and whilst they can work on Windows (some of the tuners apparently work with Media Centre) I obviously can't vouch for how well they'd work!
Re: TV Tuner advice please
09-12-2009 11:32 PM
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It works fine with Vista Media Centre.
To argue with someone who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead - Thomas Paine
Re: TV Tuner advice please
11-12-2009 12:35 AM
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Hauppauge (& places like SaverStore, Novatech, etc) indicate that both a re ready for Freevew HD although they don't explicitly say as much. Only on Hauppauges pages does it state that not for DVB-T2 which is the only way to get Freeview HD in the UK when available.
I wonder how many people have been caught out by this and bought such a device expecting it to work here?
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Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
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Re: TV Tuner advice please
25-04-2010 10:36 PM
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http://silenceisdefeat.com/~rwightman/PVRprojects/PVR_page.html
Re: TV Tuner advice please
26-04-2010 1:09 PM
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Bought it to replace a hauppage, worth every penny so far. I'd recommend Pinnacle going on my experience so far.
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