High-End TV Tuner Recommendations

Good day, I'm interested in installing a PCI TV Tuner in my computer. I don't care if it also catched FM radio - in Toronto there are no FM stations worth listening to.

I have heard the most praise from people for Hauppauge's stuff.

Previously I had a Leadtek TV/FM Tuner. It was the 2000XP Deluxe.

I absolutely don't care about recording capabilities with my planned purchase. I just want the best quality picture and sound. Here are the Hauppauge choices from Canada Computer's site:

Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 150 MCE Low Profile - $93
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 150 MCE - $90
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 250 MCE - $169
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 350 MCE - $190
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500 MCE - $175

Obviously the more expensive ones are probably better, but I am wondering why, and what you guys recommend.

Thanks for reading!

In addition to the Hauppauges (which are wonderful, in my opinion), there's the Sapphire Theatrix model to keep in mind.... there's been many good things said about its image quality.

The 150 is a newer model of the 250, basically the same functions, except the 150 is built on a less expensive process which reduces the cost.

The 250 is the classic model. Basically the baseline model.

The 350 has a mpeg2 decoder for video out in addition to the 250's funcitonality. Also has FM radio I believe.

The 500 is the dual tuner model version of the 250, so you can watch and record at the same time (or record two shows, or watch two with PiP)


The MCE versions are basically sold without the bundled software since it's meant to be used with MCE. Doesn't come with remotes as well I think. All of these are have hardware mpeg2 encoding, so recording will be much better since it won't bog down the system.

So basically, I should just get the Sapphire 550 since all this fancy MPEG2 stuff on the Hauppauges are for recording purposes?

Well the Sapphire has hardware mpeg-2 encoding as well, it's a pretty standard feature for high end tuners these days, since ones that don't have it rely on the CPU to encode to mpeg. Getting one without hardware encoding would be pretty silly since they're practically the same price as the ones that have it.

And whether you use it for recording or not, practically any tv-viewing program that has pause/fast forward/rewind functions for live tv relies on recording the stream to a file, so you'll still benefit from a tuner that has hardware mpeg2 encoding.

Just curious, what program/frontend do you plan on using with your tuner?

I plan on using whatever program comes with the tuner. I am not making a Windows MCE PC. I just want simple TV viewing capabilities.

Today I picked up a Sapphire Theatrix 550 from Chinatown. We'll see how that goes when I get home later today.

It has a remote, too. I don't want to invest in separate remotes, software or any such thing. This retail bundle is perfect for me.

Originally Posted by Oversized Rooster

I plan on using whatever program comes with the tuner. I am not making a Windows MCE PC. I just want simple TV viewing capabilities.

Today I picked up a Sapphire Theatrix 550 from Chinatown. We'll see how that goes when I get home later today.

It has a remote, too. I don't want to invest in separate remotes, software or any such thing. This retail bundle is perfect for me.

Don't use the software that comes with the Theatrix... it blows... no TV listings, poor functionality and very very few options. I recommend you use Beyond TV4 or Sage TV.

Originally Posted by djspazz

Don't use the software that comes with the Theatrix... it blows... no TV listings, poor functionality and very very options. I recommend you use Beyond TV4 or Sage TV.

Thanks for the tip. I'm not in the mood to spend money on software however right now. I'll try the Sapphire stuff, and if it indeed blows, then I'll have to buy one of your recommendations.

I don't need TV listings nor recording capabilities anyway. Just viewing.

http://www.gbpvr.com/

it's free

Originally Posted by BeaverLiquor

http://www.gbpvr.com/

it's free

What do I need? You need to be running on Windows 2000 or Windows XP. Your machine must also have the Microsoft .NET v1.1 runtime installed. For TV Tuner cards, currently supported are:

* Hauppauge PVR250, PVR250MCE, PVR350, PVR USB2, PVR150, PVR150MCE and the dual-tuner PVR500MCE
* ATI Theatre 550 Pro
* DVB-T and DVB-S devices with BDA drivers including:
o Hauppauge Nova-S
o Hauppauge Nova-T
o Hauppauge Nova-T USB2
o Pinnacle MediaCenter 300i
o Twinhan DVB-S
o Twinhan DVB-T
o Dvico Fusion DVB-T
o V-Box DTT-150
o Blockgold GDI DVB-T
o Lifeview FlyDVB-T
o ...and lots of others
* GO7007SB based capture devices, such as Plextor PX-M402U, Plextor PX-TV402U and Lifeview TV Walker

If you're running Windows 2000, you'll also need to install MDAC2.6 (or higher).

also, check out sourceforge for simple tv tuner applications.... I remember using one from there.

Do any of these cards do digital tuning? Otherwise you're good only til channel 72 with Rogers. Eventually everyone's going to be digital. But I can't find any concrete info on whether digital tuner cards are available. I'd like to set up a HTPC but the biggest reason is to have a PVR and without digital tuning you're SOL (I don't have Rogers as a tv provider).

None of these cards do digital.

I have Rogers analog, Digital and HD in my place. I have a 46" Rear Proj DLP HDTV by Toshiba, which is the main viewing "station". It gets HD, digital and analog.

Next is an older 37" Sony Trinitron which only gets digital and analog.

Then there's my PC which just gets analog. I think one of the reasons we don't have digital cable PCI cards is because then the TV companies won't be able to filter out who gets service and who doesn't. They make you by their few supported models cuz they can control everything.

Now think about a skilled person with a digital cable PCI card. I'm sure they would find a way to "unscramble" the digital service.

Originally Posted by Oversized Rooster

None of these cards do digital.

I have Rogers analog, Digital and HD in my place. I have a 46" Rear Proj DLP HDTV by Toshiba, which is the main viewing "station". It gets HD, digital and analog.

Next is an older 37" Sony Trinitron which only gets digital and analog.

Then there's my PC which just gets analog. I think one of the reasons we don't have digital cable PCI cards is because then the TV companies won't be able to filter out who gets service and who doesn't. They make you by their few supported models cuz they can control everything.

Now think about a skilled person with a digital cable PCI card. I'm sure they would find a way to "unscramble" the digital service.

The real reason would be that there is no such thing on the market, and even if there was, Rogers would have to authorize it on their network and they never authorize 3rd party recievers. However this will all change when Rogers starts using the cablecard format which means you can use any device that has a cablecard slot to watch or record digital TV.

Originally Posted by shutterbug

Do any of these cards do digital tuning? Otherwise you're good only til channel 72 with Rogers. Eventually everyone's going to be digital. But I can't find any concrete info on whether digital tuner cards are available. I'd like to set up a HTPC but the biggest reason is to have a PVR and without digital tuning you're SOL (I don't have Rogers as a tv provider).

You'd have to get a digital reciever from your provider and then a USB IR Blaster to change the channels.

Originally Posted by Oversized Rooster

So basically, I should just get the Sapphire 550 since all this fancy MPEG2 stuff on the Hauppauges are for recording purposes?

I have the 550 and I love it.