TV card recommendation...

[JimmyBoy]

what do u guys think??

i had a look at this one as it sounds good but im none the wiser really, will this do the job, that new ati one is a bit too expensive and doesnt seem available anyway sorry if this is in the wrong section btw

thanx !

[ultimate]

Just a bit of advice as the card you have mentioned is quite good but bear in mind that analogue tv will be phased out maybe quicker than we thought so why not have a look at freeview digital cards but they are dearer at around the £50 mark but do give a far better picture and are in some ways future proof.

[Lee H]

I would also recommend a Digital "freeview" card as you will have a much wider range of channels to view for free and the one I use is great in Windows Media Centre for recording and timeshifting

[directhex]

agreed, something like the wintv nova-t or anything by avermedia should do well on the dvb-t front

[skattrd]

I've had a hauppauge nova-t, great card, excellent quality recordings (full dvd format) but crappy software.
The Nebula digitv is the best card by a long way imo, if you can afford it I'd got for that, but its about £40 more than the hauppauge, and tbh its better, but £40 better? I'm not sure.

[Lee H]

I've had a hauppauge nova-t, great card, excellent quality recordings (full dvd format) but crappy software.

Heh I know the win2000 software is a bit funny thats why I installed MCE2005 and got the latest certified drivers for the nova-t (90002) version that make it work in Media Centre without the use of the hauppauge software

[Tifosi]

The digital cards don't have hardware encoders though do they?

[Lee H]

The digital cards don't have hardware encoders though do they?

Cards like the PVR150, and 500 are all hardware encoders and do give better pictures than standard digital cards plus they're great for pausing TV when your dying for the loo 1/2 way through watching Doctor Who or whatever is to your tastes

[directhex]

The digital cards don't have hardware encoders though do they?

what's to encode? the signal comes in as MPEG already. at worst you need a bit of preprocessing to turn it into an encapsulation the whole family can enjoy (rather than dumping two raw data streams to file)

[JimmyBoy]

ok, so a freeview card would be the better option... can freeview be viewed on any old aerial then??

and do u have any links to these cards u mentioned?? i didnt want to pay a huge amount as its only so i dont have to have the telly on behind me as my old man is good with the guilt trips about the eleccy bill

thanx 4 the posts guys

[egg]

It can depend on the strength of your signal where freeveiw is concerned. I was only able to tune into a few channels with my original aerial, couldn't pick up any bbc channels. Changed my aerial to one suitable for wideband reception and resloved the issue.

[oshta]

Just a bit of advice as the card you have mentioned is quite good but bear in mind that analogue tv will be phased out maybe quicker than we thought.

but having sayed that, a cheap tv card like my winfast TV 2000deluxe was £12 while a Freeview card is (as you sayed) about £50!

- Analoge isnt going anywhere this year, proberbley not the next....?


Daniel

[JimmyBoy]

ok, after doing a bif of browsing, im proberly going to go with the nova t and maybe get mce05 sum time in the future, 70 quid all in all with delivery though, bit steep

tbh im jumping the gun anyway, i gotta somehow double up the existing aerial and extend it to computer do shops like dixons sell splitters / aerial leads ??

[prehensile]

I have had 3 cards and i never tried the nebula but that's obviously what I should have brought in the first place. So says everyone on the Nova TV forums. it'll save you a lot of on aerials, lots of time. NEBULA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!rock solid

[JimmyBoy]

what is the nebula then?? and why are u confusing me with more choices lol

[starbuck]

try tv-cards.com as it has loads of reviews and suggestions. You also need to decide where the signal will be coming from ie arial or satellite/cable(I have the arial coming directly from my cable box into my tv card so no need for a freeview card). You also need to decide what you want from the card ie just eh ability to watch tv or do you want a fully fledged pvr(personal video recorder). I have a PVR350 form hauppage and couldn't be happier.

link