TV Tuner Card

[optic_pro1430]

I want to record television video and save it to my Hard disk. As far as I know, I think this is done by using a TV Tuner Card... I also heard about a TV Capture Card. What is the difference between these two?

I'd like to start recording video onto my hard disk instead of tapes... Plain old video tapes don't show very good quality.

Thank you for your time...

[Alex Iannuzzi]

I think that a TV Tuner card captures the tv only by using a antenna while the TV Capture Card can capture the VCR and TV via the input cables.

[TARP2]

I have an ATI all-in-wonder video card in one of my boxes, it does everything you are asking about.

[optic_pro1430]

The Antenna is all I need really... But does the Card capture sound as well as video?

[jcsston]

Most tv tuner & capture cards use your sound card to record the audio.
I have a ATI Aiw and it works great, and is easy to program like a VCR

[krazefinn]

Don't forget you need aminimum 30(?) amplified antenna, or cable connection,

[TARP2]

Originally posted by optic_pro1430
The Antenna is all I need really... But does the Card capture sound as well as video?

Yes.

[optic_pro1430]

Ok then... Thank you for your time... Any of you who wouldn't mind telling me how much they paid for their TV Tuner/Capture Card?

[michaeln]

Have a look at this page , it gives a rough idea of the cost of the Hauppage WinTv range.

http://www.hauppauge.com/html/products.htm#digital

[$1500-P4 gamer]

ATI tv wonder VE (value edition='s mono sound) I have was only $40.00 Just use the latest drivers from ATI the previous ones didnt work for me in XP. Works great, sound is awsome has rf (tv antenna) and rca inputs. In rca mode you can still get stereo by pumping it right to the line-in on soundcard. Thats what I did and saved $15.00. The stereo version is the ATI tv wonder and is $55.00 Can find them everywhere. The only reson I got that and not a all-in wonder is cause this way I keep the tuner even if I ditch the video card (which happens alot-about once a year or so). So I got my cake and eat it too.;)

[doctj]

You can get a radeon 7500 all in wonder card for around $120. This comes with a remote and decent software inc gemstar guideplus which really simplifies recording tv shows.

[jcsston]

I got my ATI Aiw 128 Pro 16MB PCI cheap at a comp show $20 for bare card :p
I had paid $50 for my Hauppage WinTv-Go (Mono sound)

I wish I'd got more of those Aiw's

[optic_pro1430]

Hey, thanks for the input... I just saw some video cards that have some TV Capabilities... I'm in need of a new video card, and these sound good...

Or should I just get a new video card and a TV Tuner/Capture Card? :confused:

[michaeln]

Depends on what you want from the vid card. A combined vid and tv card like the ATI All In Wonder will limit you to that card whereas if you get a stand alone tv card you can change vid cards as needed.

I have a ATI 128pro All in wonder in 1 PC and a standalone Hauppage WinTV card in another PC. I'm not a gamer so a vid card is not so important to me. Both systems work fine.

[jcsston]

I have both my ATI Aiw and WinTV in the same computer. Watching two channels is cool. I'm suprised they don't conflict
Try this connect the tv-out of the Aiw to the WinTV. Open WinTV2000. :x

[Terminator]

hmmm I must be the odd one out. Got a Leadtek 2000XP. Records fine with recorded frame rates at 24fps and perfect syncing of the sound.It uses the little loop cable to the sound card like most TV cards. Comes with remote etc. Only cost £33 here in the UK. Bought it because it's in my machine with the Leadtek A250 Ti4400 so thought at least they won't have any compatibility probs and never had any :)

Also have a Hauppauge Primo...and sorry but this thing caused me no end of headaches. Perhaps they've updated their drivers now...no idea as it's still sitting in it's static bag where it has been for about a year.

T

:t

[NdicaBud]

All WinTv cards (bt878)running the latest Driver/software package,AGP GeForce cards running the latest Nvidia drivers xxx29.42 and up,and if you have a remote,,better still.works great with Me,Xp. Capture quality is very nice with few dropped frames ,if any using DeScaler package,,other 3rd party software can also run many of these cards easily,,many freeware.


Gateway or STB (bt848)(most have FM) cards work sweet with Ravisent's Cineplayer Dvr,almost all 3rd party.

Gateway or STB (bt878)(optional FM) cards can be operated by many other driver/software packages. including 3dfx.

Pixelview is another good tuner/capture

ATI AIW Radeon series ,is at this point the easiest and most versatile tv/capture card today,very user friendly for the home user,,,remote,,and you can play/record DVD,as well as play that Game of Unreal Tournament,Gore,Tony Hawk,etc just fine,,,while only using one IRQ

All have I/O Audio/Video

I have tried most of them over the last few years,...lol...come to think of it,,all my home machines have them.

:t

[optic_pro1430]

Well, thank you for all the information... :)

[Elizstoy]

Perfect topic i have a STBTV (bt878) TV card w/FM worked fine with my VOODOO 3 2000. But when i upgraded to my RADEON 7500 i could not get it to work for nothing with this video card. Any ideas i now have it on my other system w/ my VOODOO card. But still miss it in mine. Thanks

[AllGamer]

Sounds Like IRQ conflict to me

is the 7500 AGP or PCI?

are they sitting in the slot right next to each other?

try to have the TV card in another PCI slot

:t

[Peter M]

Forget the usual "IRQ conflict" distraction. Ain't no such thing, and I'm not going to discuss it again because AllGamer just never gets it.

Elizstoy, as I said way further above, success or failure lie in the drivers. You need to have a GOOD driver for your TV card, a properly installed AGP bus driver for your mainboard, and a driver for your graphics card that doesn't screw up on Overlay support (this happens more often than you'd think is funny).

[$1500-P4 gamer]

"and a driver for your graphics card that doesn't screw up on Overlay support (this happens more often than you'd think is funny)."

So true peter so true. this ATI tv wonder had problems for a long time for me. I upgraded to a 8500 from my G3 and bang, it worked flawlessly. It was the nvidia's overlay support. It also did gripe about it when installing saying overlay wasnt there. It was and it about half worked. It was the drivers for nvidia. Imagine that, bad nvidia drivers. the latest batch fixed it finally.
:rolleyes: None the less I had to open tv, then quickly double click the background (desktop) before it opened or I would just get line no video!:D Its not IRQ. its the drivers of one or the other. Either the vid card or the capture card or both.:(

[AllGamer]

Well Believe what you want but that Always solves the trouble :D

By The Way check this Website
it'll help you with making it work in 2k and XP

http://www.stbtv.n3.net/

with update drivers too :t

[NdicaBud]

Really now,,make it work,,,,I don't think I have seen a card DeScaler did not work on,,,Btspy as well, although not nearly as informative.

Overlay has always been the big holdup,hasn't it,,,one of the best cards that I have used with BT8 cards has been Creatives TnT2 cards for that reason,or S3,heck even the old pass thru(feature connector)cards such as reveals tv500 ISA ,works with them using original release drivers.

I have mainly only had to have older feature pass thru tv/dvd/mpeg decoder cards aside the video card,other than that any bus mastering slot will do.

And as far as the IRQ thing,,,if that was really an issue then I should not be watching frasier right now,,since the bt878,and the Agp geforce are sharing the same IRQ straight out of the bios.

For me,that was sometimes a problem on older ,or cheaper boards for the most part.

anyway,,,just tossed some ink in.......peace

[Elizstoy]

Actually that was the exact problem i had overlay was not avaliable. Think this card never liked direct x 8. But i see other brands here listedthat seem to work just fine plus have remote a funtion i did not have. Also the 2 cards did not sit side by side i had a interface to a NEC 5 BAND Computer EQ sitting between them besides the Golden ORB i installed on the RADEON card prevented that and the board i am using is a SOYO SY-6BB w/ Intel Celeron 366 OC to 550 on a MS-6905 slotket w/384 MB memory. Its been purring like a kitten for years. Plus the 10 speaker sound system i have hooked up to it doesent hurt. But Bumps like hell. Thanks for the replys...Eli