TV Card for a PC

[Lucio]

I'm moving out of my house shortly and don't have a TV to take with me, so I was thinking of trying to save a few quid and get a digital TV card for my PC. Question is, what to look for? is there anything to avoid and what do you usually use in terms of ariels?

[nightkhaos]

First question, will the house in question have a Sat and will you be able to obtain a FreeSat card? I do recommend if at all possible you do use a Sat as there are 1080i signals for channels like BBC HD that are worth the trouble, this will determine if you get a DVB-S card, for FreeSat, or a DVB-T card, for FreeView (without HD).

[dangel]

First question, will the house in question have a Sat and will you be able to obtain a FreeSat card? I do recommend if at all possible you do use a Sat as there are 1080i signals for channels like BBC HD that are worth the trouble, this will determine if you get a DVB-S card, for FreeSat, or a DVB-T card, for FreeView (without HD).

Freesat S2 card costs more and the HD content available is a bit 'meh' tbh. Freeview cards are cheaper, can have multiple tuners (big plus). I have both types in my HTPC - although ATM I would steer clear of the NOVA T 500 freeview card as the drivers and/or Win 7 MC are not playing well if you use standby/resume right now (it's a problem i'm currently trying to solve along with a whole slew of users).

[Lucio]

First question, will the house in question have a Sat and will you be able to obtain a FreeSat card? I do recommend if at all possible you do use a Sat as there are 1080i signals for channels like BBC HD that are worth the trouble, this will determine if you get a DVB-S card, for FreeSat, or a DVB-T card, for FreeView (without HD).

No idea where I'm going to be living just yet (it's complicated ), so looking for the most self contained solution I can. Already got DVD software for my PC so that isn't an issue.

[nightkhaos]

Freesat S2 card costs more and the HD content available is a bit 'meh' tbh. Freeview cards are cheaper, can have multiple tuners (big plus). I have both types in my HTPC - although ATM I would steer clear of the NOVA T 500 freeview card as the drivers and/or Win 7 MC are not playing well if you use standby/resume right now (it's a problem i'm currently trying to solve along with a whole slew of users).

True. I knew there was HD content, but I was just looking over WHAT HD content, and "Meh" is the right term... DVB-T cards are much easier to work with anyway, don't require (unless you want Santana or something) viewing cards for example. I think I'm just biased with my good HD content from Sky, like FX HD.

I'm not to crash hot in TV cards (but I am thinking of getting one, once I've cleaned up the internals of my case a wee bit. A bit messy ever since I added in the 3x F2s and the Xonar) so what about this? Any good?

[DeludedGuy]

£26 for a DVB-S - Good reviews too.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143331...roduct_reviews

[dangel]

£26 for a DVB-S - Good reviews too.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143331...roduct_reviews

Looks like it's not DVB-S2 though, just something to bear in mind.

[dangel]

so what about this? Any good?

No idea my experience is limited to the NOVA-T-500 which has always been a good card to me pre-Windows 7. I suspect the issues with standby/resume will get tackled (they certainly know about it according to the forums) and i've yet to fully try various fixes for the problem.

[badass]

No idea my experience is limited to the NOVA-T-500 which has always been a good card to me pre-Windows 7. I suspect the issues with standby/resume will get tackled (they certainly know about it according to the forums) and i've yet to fully try various fixes for the problem.

I have added this info to my thread here http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...pc-thread.html

[bigben1021]

£26 for a DVB-S - Good reviews too.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143331...roduct_reviews

Got one of these, and it works fine under Win 7!

Also have a Pinnacle 3010ix Dual DVB-T tuner in the same rig, and that works fine also! Both tuners work from one aerial feed so you don't have to trash your signal quality with a splitter, but there are two aerial sockets in case you want to add other inputs (there are two DVB-T tuners, and two analogue tuners in this card - any two can be used at one time). So I can feed in one analogue input and one digital input if I like. This card is only about £20, with remote control, if you can find one.

Two decent solutions on the cheap!