TV Cards

[Martin87]

Are they any good as i was going to use one instead of a video recorder to maximise the space in my room!

Any recommendations preferably with free view i can receive it!

[Funkstar]

The cards themselves are all very similar, it is just the software that makes the difference. Especially with DVB-T cards (that is the standard that Freeview uses).

Hauppauge is probably the largest vendor, and they software is pretty good so i'm told (i have a dual tuner Nova-T 500 but use it with MediaPortal, so i've never used their own software). The Nebula DigiTV is a very good card and software but you do pay a premium for it.

[Martin87]

Anyone got any other opinions?

[shaithis]

If you are thinking of upgrading to Vista any time soon, get a dual-tuner card.

2 Tuners mean you can watch one channel while recording another and Vista needs both tuners on the same card for some reason, a restriction that was not in MCE.

[Martin87]

Well Ive been looking at:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=319319

and

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/produ...oductID=529786

are these no good then?

[Funkstar]

Depends what you want to do.

The first one does hardware MPEG-2 encoding of analogue sources which is nice if you need it, but pointless if you aren't going to use it.

The second one handles DVB-T, DVB-S and DVB-S2 (the latter two standards are for recieving FTA satelite stations with a dish)

They seem like over kill to me. If you just want to be able to watch and record Freeview, and of these should do the trick:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...Thumbnails=yes

[rob4001]

I use Win TV Nova 500 I have had no problems with this card. It has 2 tuners all for £55 off ebuyer.

[Martin87]

Can you get one that will work with vista, ie dual tuner and allow you to listen to normal radio as well?

[rob4001]

There are vista drivers on their website. So I guess so.

[SHare]

I got a cheapo compro digital tv card and it does the job nicely. If you want to do anything other that watch TV invest in something with some more features though, I can only record or watch a different channel (simultaneously) on the same bandwidth as its only on decoder chip (or something or other) which can be a nuisance.

For about £20 which I paid I have no complaints though.

[bfbf]

Im thinking of getting a Hauppauge WinTV-Nova-T for a linux/myth Tv media centre. Great for the price and got some good reviews

[directhex]

Can you get one that will work with vista, ie dual tuner and allow you to listen to normal radio as well?

why "normal radio"? what's wrong with DVB-T radio?

[Funkstar]

I got a cheapo compro digital tv card and it does the job nicely. If you want to do anything other that watch TV invest in something with some more features though, I can only record or watch a different channel (simultaneously) on the same bandwidth as its only on decoder chip (or something or other) which can be a nuisance.

For about £20 which I paid I have no complaints though.

You are lucky you can do even that. Most software doesn't take advantage of multiple channels fromt the same multiplex (or Mux). You usually need multiple tuners for that. The Beta TVEngine3 of MediaPortal does do this however. So with three dual tuner cards you can, in theory, view or record every single Freeview channel at the same time

[Martin87]

why "normal radio"? what's wrong with DVB-T radio?

I meant DAB Stations not just the ones in freeview

[directhex]

I meant DAB Stations not just the ones in freeview

different technology. no combined cards exist AFAIK

[NightshadowUK]

I've been looking for something similar and it'd seem the Nova-T 500 does fit the bill quite nicely but I am open to suggestions.

I was also wondering about software, I know Funkstar mentioned MediaPortal but is it as simple as installing and running on a standard XP machine to get an interface like the below?