Tuner recommendations please.

[Scarlet Infidel]

My dad wants his pci tv tuner back so ill have to buy my own. I want a tuner that supports Freeview but as we have poor reception that can break up on certain crucial channels id like an analogue tuner too. PCI is probably best but not essential.

Heres an example of a dual tuner card.

Heres another.

Im on a tight budget so id like to spend £50 on the card with postage (if possible)

A remote would be nice but isnt essential. Any suggestions or comments are welcome. Thanks.

[eljefehall]

I have the Pinnacle card and the provided software basically does not work. I have to use Mediaportal instead, which works fine, but you have to configure the remote yourself. So really can't recommened this one, look at thier own forums and you will see lots of people wanting their money back.

Got another Compro card, but not the hybrid one and never had any problems and also heard good things about the hybrid one, so would proberly recommend that one, but not actually seen it.

All the others I know of, like the AverMedia and Hauppauge are about £75.

[Scarlet Infidel]

I have read that they released a major update (120mb) to download. Have you tried this?

[eljefehall]

Yeah tried that and the 3 updates after that, but still no joy, too many bugs and very unstable. The last update was in April and now they have stopped supporting it now as they now have a 310i instead. Just glad I found a free pvr software that worked.

[Dav0s]

get the compro from scan and save on postage...

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=196755

also let me know how it goes cos i want one

[Scarlet Infidel]

I saw it on scan shortly after you posted and thought id go for that. I wont be able to order it for a couple of days but ill tell you how it is once ive got it.

[bbq]

I went with the BLACKGOLD DVB for my media center
www.blackgold.tv
slightly more than you want to pay, but a nice card with full MCE2005 support... which not all cards are.

Hope this helps

[Scarlet Infidel]

Im not bothered by MCE2005, thats is too much for me to pay and i cant see a card available that supports analogue and digital.

[kevpuk]

I have a different Compro card (Gold plus) and it is excellent ! Admittedly, not a digital card, but the software is solid and the power-on function is unique - even with the PC switched off, the card can turn the PC on and record then shut back down again - neat !

The Compro card you mention (the DVB300) has got a good name, to my knowledge, and is of course both analogue and digital. Rumour has it that - should you go MCE in the future - that Microsoft BDA drivers work (although I have no idea on how to get said drivers !)

[paddlegod]

The Compro DVB-T300 supports both analogue and digital TV reception and is a good card. However, if you've got poor reception then you may have to go for a more sensitive card. The Nebula DigiTV (available in both PCI and USB2 flavours) has one of the more sensitive tuners.

However, is a bit more than your budget.

Nebula Electronics

[Scarlet Infidel]

I know the nebula is good, but i can barely afford £50.

My other option is to go for a satallite card then id have perfect quality, but id prefer a dual tuner slution as mentioned above. I think ill go for the DVB-T300 and hope it works well enough.

[Scarlet Infidel]

Just ordered the Compro DVB-t300 from SCAN for £51.70. Ill let you know when i have it working.

[DavidM]

There is this beasty - but it does cost a bit more...

[Scarlet Infidel]

I had seen it, it costs far to much. I have made my order, now its up to you and your excellent company (and citylink) to do the rest.

As a side note, it would have been easier if the compro mentioned above was listed in the 'TV - Digital & Analogue' section as i missed it the first time i checked your site.

[DavidM]

Yes - i'll get that sorted .. thanks for pointing out that one

[Scarlet Infidel]

I recieved my tv card this morning. Im pretty happy with it, it has a lot of features and was very easy to set up. The software seems ok, i havent played with it properly yet. Ill post more about it when ive had more time to tweak the settings and work out how to do everything. So far i can recommend it.