HD TV Turner Cards?

[vegettoxp]

Hey Guys, I was looking around for HD TV Turner Card for my new system that I am working on and I just wanted to get your guys opinion on which Good Brand I should go for. In the past I have used Hauppauge's Product and I had no problem with them at all. Now that I am entering the HD TV Turner card and I am also looking at ONLY PCI-E Cards. I think I am done with PCI and I am gona go all out with PCI-E. In the new system, I am planning to have every card that I add to be PCI-E. Graphic Card (Already PCI-E), Sound Card, and HD TV Turner Card.

I got the latest new on Intel's X38 Chipset last night and we are gona start to see X38 Based Motheboard starting September. And I am planning to get either Intel or Asus Motherboard. If anyone cares to read more about this, Click Here!

I checked out the latest release of the Hauppauge new WinTV-HVR-1800 Card and I do like what I read. Of course there are no reviews since the product is brand new. So if you guys can take a look at my choice and tell me if it is good or not.

Here is the link: WinTV-HVR-1800

Thx for all your guys help.

P.S. Fusion

[nmX.Memnoch]

First...it's tuner, not turner. As in "tune in next week when Robin says 'holy cow, Batman!'".

Stick with Hauppauge. You certainly won't go wrong with them, that's for sure. It's good to see that they're finally putting out a PCIe card.

You'll probably end up waiting a bit on a PCIe sound card. There's very few, if any, available right now. Creative says that PCIe 2.0 (which the X38 has) fixes whatever issues they were having with creating PCIe sound cards. Of course, I do realize they're not the only sound card maker...

[Polarman]

ATI has the TV Wonder 650 in PCI-E now.

http://ati.amd.com/products/tvwonder650/pcie/index.html

[vegettoxp]

I did look at that ATI Card, but since I am not a ATI fan, I don't plan to go ATI for TV Tuner. But thx for the input. Second, I know there are not a lot of sound cards that are PCIe, but my new system won't be ready untill next year either. So I can wait. Plus I am really waiting for the release Asus Sound Card.

[ripken204]

wow that ati card takes like any input

i've always wanted a tv tuner too, it's nice so see some pci-e cards out there.

[ripken204]

so anyone have anything more to add to this? b/c i do want to get a tv tuner eventually, especially when i get my new monitor which will be bigger than my tv

i need a pci-e and that ati card is looking pretty could, but i dont see it anywhere for sale..

[nmX.Memnoch]

I always try to recommend the Hauppage cards. They're definitely among some of the most recommended cards among HTPC enthusiasts.

Check out HTPCNews.com. There's a wealth of information there (when the site returns...appears they're having some Technical Difficulties^TM right now).

There's also AVSForum.com.

[rendrag]

if you want true HDTV (which it would seem based on the topic title), I'd hold off for a while. There are HDTV tuners out there, I'd also recommend hauppage for those cards, but they only support OTA (over the air) HD. That limits you to your local channels.

CableCard hasn't taken off because it's not really that good in its current form. I'm waiting til CableCard 2.0 before I think about re-doing my htpc.

[ripken204]

well i dont have HD cable or anything, not until the big change comes and we're forced to get it.. i would just like to get those over the air HD channels.

[nmX.Memnoch]

I'd also recommend hauppage for those cards, but they only support OTA (over the air) HD. That limits you to your local channels.

Actually, the WinTV-HVR-1800 supports both cable and OTA...at the same time.

WinTV-HVR-1800 has these great features

• Watch and record ATSC high definition digital TV or analog cable TV on your PC, in a window or full screen! ATSC HD is the over-the-air high definition TV standard for North America.
  
• Watch and record 'clear QAM' digital TV channels. Clear QAM are digital ATSC channels which are re-broadcast on digital cable TV
  
• Two tuners on board: a 125 channel cable ready TV tuner and an ATSC digital TV tuner. Connect both cable TV and ATSC digital TV to the WinTV-HVR-1800 at the same time.
  
• Includes Hauppauge's WinTV2000 application. Our WinTV2000 application allows you to toggle between cable TV, QAM and ATSC digital TV channels.
  

Digital QAM TV receiver features

If you are using digital cable which broadcast the local ATSC channels on their cable TV network, you can receive these QAM channels with the new WinTV v6 application.

Edited August 27, 2007 by nmX.Memnoch

[ripken204]

wow, this will be a hard decision

when i find some time i'll find a bunch of reviews on the WinTV-HVR-1800 and then when the ATI TV Wonder 650 PCI-E comes out hopefully there will be some early reviews on that one.. but that Hauppauge is looking really good. ant it's pci-e but where are they for sale?

[rendrag]

found this through pricegrabber

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getoffe...=WinTV-HVR-1800

[ripken204]

http://ati.amd.com/products/tvwonder650/PCIe/index.html

well it's sitting right next to me, too bad i'm such a procrastinator. i have an english paper to write

hey, that reminds me, i should get started on it