Currently I have an extra sattelite receiver hooked up and sitting next to my computer. What is the best way to input the composite cables from it into my computer? The TV tuner cards I've seen seem to be meant for cable TV, and have lots of features that would be useless to me (FM radio, cable tuning). I just want to input the composite video/audio into my computer, there is no decoding of any kind required. My graphics card is aging (geforce 4 FX5200), and I recently discovered the possibility of have a combination grahpics card and TV tuner card. Whats the word on those? Are they any good? Thanks in advance for you're replies.
Doesn't matter if the card is meant for analog cable, it will take the signal from your sat box, and record it on your hard drive. Having a tuner is just a bonus that you won't use. There's nothing wrong with your FX 5200, you don't need a combo card. You probably don't want one either, as the software to run them sucks, and they're not compatible with most other 3rd party software, unless you get the "Elite" model, which has a hardware mpeg-2 encoder.
OK, so I want a seperate TV tuner card (not a combo). In that case, which is the best one to go for? Just to clarify something, I want to watch the TV on my computer as well as record (I would like the option to recrod at least). The watching is what I would mainly like this for. I would at some point like to recrod some VHS tapes for dvd burning, so perhaps some features linked to that would be useful after all (mpeg2 encoding). So as per above, my question is, what TV tuner card is the best and why?
Given your (new) specifications, get the Hauppauge PVR-150 retail version. It will allow you to watch TV on your computer, record (timeshift) anything input from your satellite box for future viewing/playback, does it in hardware mpeg-2 format, and has composite input for video from a VCR. It also comes with a remote, which you can use to set up your computer as a "tivo"-like PVR if you want. It includes all the software you need to watch, and playback video, although there are better 3rd party alternatives. If you want to watch one channel, while recording another, you'll need either two cards, or a dual tuner (the Hauppauge PVR-500) card. Yes, there are other hardware mpeg-2 cards around, but none have the support of Hauppauge, both for software, drivers, and hardware. The only other card I may consider, would be an ATI 550 Pro chipset based card (Sapphire Theatrix 550 for example). Nvidia is coming out with a new dual tuner card, probably by late October, and it should be a great card, but there won't be much support for it, for at least a few months.
Thank you for you're reply. The local computer store owner suggested I go with one by Microstar, as it has had the best response from people who bought it. What is you're opinion of this company and their TV tuner cards?
The only MSI card I would ever consider, is this one: http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/multimedia/mut/pro_mut_detail.php?UID=603 It's actually better than the Sapphire version, and comes with a much better remote. It has an onboard hardware mpeg-2 encoder chip, and works well. Some people complain that initial driver install can be touchy, but the picture quality is superb.
