i wanna get a tv tuner but i have a micro atx board and my video cards fan is like 1/4 of an inch away from the only pci x1 slot i have for the tv tuner. now would it fit? or would i have to get a bigger mobo? thanks for the help.
This is the tuner im gonna purchase. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116033 is it safe if the tuner is about 1/2 an inch away from the video card fan? will that affect my computer in a negative way?
Yes that should be fine being cramped up against the graphics card, as long as you have half-decent case ventilation.
I own that same model (except with the FM tuner & never version of the remote), and I would recomend against it. The included software does not have a DVR function, and the only software that i was able to get the DVR functionality to work 100% was windows 7 media center. It also gets rather hot, even when it is not in use. As far as heat goes, it should be OK against a graphics card if you have 1/2inch clearance. ...Just don't buy it if you do not have windows 7. BTW...just because something is USB, that does not mean that you cannot mount it inside the case. This product seems to have decent reviews: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815100035 . Avermedia's tuner software is better than haupaggue's software, but I would still recomend Windows 7 Media Center if you do not want to pay a fee for TV listings. BTW2...If you want to record OTA broadcasts, then TV tuners are great. However, if you want to use it with cable or satelite, then you will probably have problems. Cable & satelite providers both scramble their signals...and the boxes decode these signals. The digital boxes do not have digital co-ax video output, so it is impossible to use a tuner card to get digital content (in some areas, you can bypass the cable box and get a few OTA channels in digital as well as analogue channels 02-99).
I have 4 x PVR-150 tuner cards in my computer, as long as it doesn't touch the video card it should be good. But it would be a good idea to put a case fan pointed at the tuner card/video card. I have one pointed at all my tuner cards. Are you building a PVR? It's best to start with a motherboard that has many pci slots, this is the one I have (Foxconn Core 2 Quad/ Intel G31/ DDR2/ A&V&GbE/ ATX G31AXK). I built my PVR around the motherboard. With multiple tuner cards you can watch one program and record another program in the background. In my setup I can watch one program and record 3 programs in the background. Stick with tuner card you will be getting, it is equipped with hardware mpeg encoders (very important on a PVR). This will allow timeshift/pause/background recording. The hvr 1600 is a more modern version of the pvr 150 that I have. It's always best to have the internal tuner cards.
The 1600 is a good card if you have Windows 7...it just needs WIN7 Media center or MediaPortal to work correctly (Media Portal is a massive system drain, so I don't recomend it.) BTW...you might consider getting a blower fan. This is how I keep the temps down in the hotzone around my tv tuner and hardware RAID cards. Seems to work much better at the job than a normal case fan. http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8...l_Replacement_Blower_Fan_BG0903-B047-VTL.html
