Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: TV Tuner + Vid cap card

  1. #1
    mush-mushroom b0redom's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Middlesex
    Posts
    3,494
    Thanks
    195
    Thanked
    383 times in 292 posts
    • b0redom's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Some iMac thingy
      • CPU:
      • 3.4Ghz Quad Core i7
      • Memory:
      • 24GB
      • Storage:
      • 3TB Fusion Drive
      • Graphics card(s):
      • nViidia GTX 680MX
      • PSU:
      • Some iMac thingy
      • Case:
      • Late 2012 pointlessly thin iMac enclosure
      • Operating System:
      • OSX 10.8 / Win 7 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell 2713H
      • Internet:
      • Be+

    TV Tuner + Vid cap card

    Hi,
    Does this card exist? I'm after something that'll allow me to do PVR for freeview. I've also got a really old vid camera with some movie stuff from when I went travelling a couple of years back, that I'd like to be able to capture.

    Alternativly, what's the best freeview PVR card? Should I avoid USB and stick with PCI? Will USB ones work in the US or whatever when I go travelling?

    Cheers...

    Tom

  2. #2
    root Member DanceswithUnix's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    In the middle of a core dump
    Posts
    12,978
    Thanks
    778
    Thanked
    1,586 times in 1,341 posts
    • DanceswithUnix's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus X470-PRO
      • CPU:
      • 5900X
      • Memory:
      • 32GB 3200MHz ECC
      • Storage:
      • 2TB Linux, 2TB Games (Win 10)
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Asus Strix RX Vega 56
      • PSU:
      • 650W Corsair TX
      • Case:
      • Antec 300
      • Operating System:
      • Fedora 39 + Win 10 Pro 64 (yuk)
      • Monitor(s):
      • Benq XL2730Z 1440p + Iiyama 27" 1440p
      • Internet:
      • Zen 900Mb/900Mb (CityFibre FttP)
    Combined cards do exist (ATI All in Wonder), but they seem like bad value; limit your choice of functionality and make upgrading your video card later on (which given new generations coming out every 6 months seems certain) more expensive.

    Not tried the USB TV devices, I have a cheap Hauppauge freeview only PCI card that replaces my previous analoge only PCI card. Sounds like one of the combined analogue & freeview cards will work for you, that way you can capture your camcorder footage too.

  3. #3
    Does he need a reason? Funkstar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Aberdeen
    Posts
    19,874
    Thanks
    630
    Thanked
    965 times in 816 posts
    • Funkstar's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte EG45M-DS2H
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core2Quad Q9550 (2.83GHz)
      • Memory:
      • 8GB OCZ PC2-6400C5 800MHz Quad Channel
      • Storage:
      • 650GB Western Digital Caviar Blue
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 512MB ATI Radeon HD4550
      • PSU:
      • Antec 350W 80+ Efficient PSU
      • Case:
      • Antec NSK1480 Slim Mini Desktop Case
      • Operating System:
      • Vista Ultimate 64bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell 2407 + 2408 monitors
      • Internet:
      • Zen 8mb
    technically there is no such thing as a Freeview PVR card. All there is are DVB-T tuner cards and DVB-T tuner/decoder cards.

    The ones you get for £30 - £100 are just tuner cards. All they do is tune to the channel* frequency, de-Mux and send the MPEG-2 Transport Stream to the drivers/software. The TS contains all the video, audio, interactive data, etc for all the station on that Mux. It is up to the software recieving this data to do any decoding or recording functions.

    You also get "fully featured" cards that do a lot of the processing on board and will also decode the MPEG-2 streams and send them straight to the video card. These are rare and expensive and a little out dated now (no way to handle HD-TV or MPEG-4).

    Pretty much all the cards will come with software that will let you do PVR functions, however some are better than others. The Nebula DigiTV has very good software, but is quite expensive. I hear the Hauppauge cards are good and the software is decent, and you can pick them up cheaply (they are probably the market leaders as they have been in the tuner business for ever).

    Loads of these cards also have an analogue in connection. usually in the form or a composite in, but S-Video is also used some times. What is quite rare is both an analogue and digital tuner, however you do get them. LifeView have a couple. I have two of their dual tuner PC Card devices at work. Not the best cards, but they do work and the software is a lot more stable than i was when we got them.

    The digital portion won't work in the US as they use ATSC as opposed to DVB-T for their terrestrial digital broadcasts. I guess any analogue tuner would work, they are usually universal NTSC/PAL/SECAM compatible. Same with any composite/S-Video input.

    this looks a pretty good one, does just about everything including FM radio

    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=366984

    not exaclty expensive either.

    *channel as in an old analogue channel, this is what a DVB-T Mux (multiplex) is wrapped up in.

  4. #4
    mush-mushroom b0redom's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Middlesex
    Posts
    3,494
    Thanks
    195
    Thanked
    383 times in 292 posts
    • b0redom's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Some iMac thingy
      • CPU:
      • 3.4Ghz Quad Core i7
      • Memory:
      • 24GB
      • Storage:
      • 3TB Fusion Drive
      • Graphics card(s):
      • nViidia GTX 680MX
      • PSU:
      • Some iMac thingy
      • Case:
      • Late 2012 pointlessly thin iMac enclosure
      • Operating System:
      • OSX 10.8 / Win 7 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell 2713H
      • Internet:
      • Be+
    Can you give me an example of the combined analogue + freeview cards?

    Cheers...

    Tom

  5. #5
    Does he need a reason? Funkstar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Aberdeen
    Posts
    19,874
    Thanks
    630
    Thanked
    965 times in 816 posts
    • Funkstar's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte EG45M-DS2H
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core2Quad Q9550 (2.83GHz)
      • Memory:
      • 8GB OCZ PC2-6400C5 800MHz Quad Channel
      • Storage:
      • 650GB Western Digital Caviar Blue
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 512MB ATI Radeon HD4550
      • PSU:
      • Antec 350W 80+ Efficient PSU
      • Case:
      • Antec NSK1480 Slim Mini Desktop Case
      • Operating System:
      • Vista Ultimate 64bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell 2407 + 2408 monitors
      • Internet:
      • Zen 8mb
    erm... i did

  6. #6
    mush-mushroom b0redom's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Middlesex
    Posts
    3,494
    Thanks
    195
    Thanked
    383 times in 292 posts
    • b0redom's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Some iMac thingy
      • CPU:
      • 3.4Ghz Quad Core i7
      • Memory:
      • 24GB
      • Storage:
      • 3TB Fusion Drive
      • Graphics card(s):
      • nViidia GTX 680MX
      • PSU:
      • Some iMac thingy
      • Case:
      • Late 2012 pointlessly thin iMac enclosure
      • Operating System:
      • OSX 10.8 / Win 7 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell 2713H
      • Internet:
      • Be+
    Yeah, was replying to DanceswithUnix at the same time your replied ;-)

    Thanks...

    Tom

  7. #7
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Glasgow
    Posts
    195
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked
    4 times in 3 posts
    I use this....
    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=196756

    Very good for Freeview and captures well from old camcorder tapes as well.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. How to Post a Vid Card
    By Zak33 in forum Graphics Cards
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 13-04-2005, 07:29 PM
  2. What is the best TV tuner card?
    By myth in forum Graphics Cards
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 03-12-2004, 01:46 AM
  3. Geforce Card
    By MurphmanL in forum Graphics Cards
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 20-12-2003, 09:08 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •