Digital TV card?

[Andy3536]

I'm looking to biuld a uATX media center PC, and i'm ok with most of the parts i'm getting just not too sure about the TV card i want.
Basicly want a digital freeview card with video capture that'll work through the media center and have no idea where to begin with this.

Also still undesided on XP MCE or vista 32 bit home premium. It's been suggested that some cards will work through MC on XP but not vista? (though not an expert opinion)

[this_is_gav]

Hauppauge Nova-T 500. My Terratec 2400i DT (main PC) isn't a patch on it (HTPC) - signal isn't nearly as consistent from the same aerial (they're on a splitter).

Black Gold have come up with a killer card (dual digital through 1 socket and DVB-S on the same board, in low profile too), but looking at others comments on it, the drivers are still quite flaky.

[Funkstar]

I've also got a Nova-T500 in my system. Drivers for Vista are apparently better than they are for XP (partly down to Vistas improved USB subsystem. The cards are two USB tuners and a URB controller chip on a PCI card).

i will be adding a Black Gold 6-in-1 when I upgrade the motherboard to one with PCI-e

BlackGold (GDI) :: TV Tuner Products :: BGT3540 :: 6 in 1 :: Dual digital satellite, Dual digital terrestrial, Dual analogue terrestrial :: PCI express card

[Andy3536]

Nova-T 500
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

So this works through vista MC well?

The black gold looks good but a little ott for what i'm using it for. Trying to keep it cheap too.

I'd probobly end up using the Nova-T 500 with vista 32, won't be buying for a few days so still open to suggestions.

[MadduckUK]

Nova-T 500
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

So this works through vista MC well?

yes, this is the benchmark card. might not be the absolute best but enough people are using it perfectly happily for it to be near the top of the list.

pc world had them for £45 a few weeks ago and i would have grabbed one if my htpc was quiet enough for 24/7 operation - which it isnt yet so the pvr box got a stay of execution

[adam1701]

depends how much you have to spend....

Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1300 is a decent card.

Nebula cards are very good and have a lot of features, but are going on for £100.

[Andy3536]

yes, this is the benchmark card. might not be the absolute best but enough people are using it perfectly happily for it to be near the top of the list.

pc world had them for £45 a few weeks ago and i would have grabbed one if my htpc was quiet enough for 24/7 operation - which it isnt yet so the pvr box got a stay of execution

Pc world cheaper than scan? Never thought i'd see the day

Thanks for the info, i'll check at PC world before i order the parts for the PC.

£100 is more than i would be willing to pay so Nova-T 500 it is.

Thanks for the info guys.

[Cosworth]

Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1300 is a decent card.

I would like to agree as I have just bought one, well actually two. My Son runs XP Home and after a quick down load of some form of Media Centre software? he was up and running in no time at all.
I on the hand use Vista x86 and unfortunately I'm having nothing but problems, SEE HERE

[amdavies]

Nova-T 500 carries dual Terrestrial Freeview, the HVR-1300 is one from Freeview, Analogue or Composite + Left-Right Audio. Although the HVR-1300 has 3 options for inputs, I believe that only one can record at any particular time (I may be wrong, I don't have mine in a windows machine to test) whereas you can record two programs or watch one and record another on the Nova-T 500.
As a warning, if you're thinking of trying Linux in the future, then some of the Nova-T 500s aren't compatible at the present time because hauppauge changed the design on some of them. The older ones work well but the Nova-TD (diversity) had issues the last I checked.

Don't forget, if you can get a wired network connection at the location you want to watch the shows, it might be more flexible to have a large back-end to do the recording and a media extender to watch the shows on. I've done this with a PS3 as the front-end but I'd guess a Xbox360 would work just as well.
However, if you decide to try this, get the back-end in first and working before making a final decision.

[Magnets]

Although the HVR-1300 has 3 options for inputs, I believe that only one can record at any particular time (I may be wrong, I don't have mine in a windows machine to test) whereas you can record two programs or watch one and record another on the Nova-T 500.

As a warning, if you're thinking of trying Linux in the future, then some of the Nova-T 500s aren't compatible at the present time because hauppauge changed the design on some of them. The older ones work well but the Nova-TD (diversity) had issues the last I checked.

Yes, the hvr 1300 can only use either Analog or digital, not both at the same time.

HVR 1300 works with Linux though (with a bit of tinkering)

[Andy3536]

yes, this is the benchmark card. might not be the absolute best but enough people are using it perfectly happily for it to be near the top of the list.

pc world had them for £45 a few weeks ago and i would have grabbed one if my htpc was quiet enough for 24/7 operation - which it isnt yet so the pvr box got a stay of execution

PC world price is unfortunatly £10 more than scan @ £60.

I did get a small camera, the Pentax E 35 @ £20 with no periferals though

[Lakeuk]

I'm currently testing the that I got from play.com for £35.

The software that come with the card is not too great but the satellite works fine with dvbviewer, don't get freeview in my area so can't test that part. Have been trying MediaPortal but this seems buggy with dual based cards on XP based systems. GBPVR detects the card as being blackgold based but it crashes when doing a channel scan - think I need a clear install to rule out all the crap I've installed/uninstalled.