T.V Cards

[Guy]

Can anyone recomend a good preferably dual t.v card (record one thing while watching another) which doesnt break the bank, but most importantly has a good picture/signal?

[Funkstar]

I have a Hauppauge Nova-T 500 PCI. Works well with MediaPortal, not used any of the software that came with the card other than the drivers.

Scan have it for £75.55
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=435230

they also have a Pinacle for a shade under £60, no idea what this one is like
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=483571

or there is a Terratec Cinergy 2400i is PCI-e is your thing
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=510713

I don't know about the other two, but the Nova-T 500 is basically two of their USB tuners on a card along with a PCI USB controler chip. Very clever actually, although i've heard that on some systems this can cause problems with the Windows USB driver system. Apparently there is a MS Knowlege Base article that has an updated Windows USB driver that sorts these problems. I've not needed it though.

[Chunkers]

Personally I would go with something Microsoft, MCE compatible.

The only personal experience I have is with the Blackgold cards which are excellent and good support. They now have a dual tuner card on the market (I have two singles) :

http://www.blackgold.tv/

Cheers

Chks

[Guy]

thanks for the quick replies, thought it might help if i added the fact that my main comp is running xp pro, and is it worth getting a freeview t.v card? and how easy are they all to set up/record to a hard drive?

[directhex]

definitely get freeview, and it depends on the software you're in the mood to pay for

[ramus]

Hi

On software what are the best ones available please ??

r$

[nvening]

The black gold cards are either dual analogue or analogue and digital, no dual freeview which is strange?

[Andeh13]

Not on topic, but it might be of use; Mediaportal is an excellent bit of kit to use with TV tuners, i had a nightmare of a time with the software supplied with my K-world tuner but gave mediaportal a go and havnt looked back.

http://www.team-mediaportal.com/

[Funkstar]

I'll second MediaPortal. It does have its problems, it is under heavy development. The latest stable version is 0.21 - note the 0. as opposed to v2.1 etc. The whole recording engine and architecture is being re-worked at the moment, so everything is in a bit of flux, but when it works, it works well.

Unless you can't get a digital signal where you live, i don't see the point in *not* opting for digital over analogue.

The black gold cards are either dual analogue or analogue and digital, no dual freeview which is strange?

Not really. Dual digital cards are quite new, there aren't many companies producing them yet. They all seem to be different designs too, unlike a lot of the basic single tuner cards which seem to be based off the same reference board. Cards with both analogue and digital tuners have been around for quite some time now. I've got a couple of PCMCIA versions at work.

[Lee H]

I'll put my vote in for Hauppauge cards if using a system with BDA drivers for things like Media Centre or the new Vista when it's released

[trimurti]

I am using fusion 5 gold rt which does sd and hdtv, ntsc and pal versions available. I works quite well but is not a dual card. Fusion makes a terrestrial card for you pal folks that is dual digital. Take a look on avs forums.