Advice for buying a TV Tuner PCI card

Rand_alThor

Hey folks

Right first up, I'm a complete beginner, but I want to setup a HTPC system to replace my now dead samsung DVD-HR725. I know this is the lazy way to do it and there's a good chance of this post being ignored but I thought I'd give it a go. I'll be having a dig round the forums as well for info.

The base PC I have is just a small form factor ThinkCentre A51 type8109 78G, Celeron CPU.
These have integrated audio and video, but only one PCI slot so I need a single card that does everything. I'll be using Mythbuntu as my OS. I'm with NTL but I don't have a digital package at the moment, just the standard 20 or so channels, but I'm pretty sure it's still DVB-T. Right?

Soooo, I just want to run the feed through my PC tuner card and into my TV, to allow me to use the PC as a HDD recorder/DVD player. Or at least I assume that's the most obvious setup. As you can probably see, I've only the vaguest idea of what I'm doing so any advice at all would be appreciated, but especially advice on what card to buy. I'm looking at this selection on pixmania,

which includes,
- LEADTEK WinFast DTV1000 S TV Tuner Card
- ASUS My Cinema-P7131 Hybrid PCI TV Tuner Card
- LEADTEK PXDVR3200 H PCI TV Tuner Card
- HAUPPAUGE WinTV-NOVA-T-500 PCI TV tuner Card
- HAUPPAUGE WinTV-HVR-900-HD USB Digital TV Recorder
- HAUPPAUGE PCTV 340e Hybrid Pro Stick - USB 2.0 + Remote Control
- HAUPPAUGE TV PCI Hybrid WinTV-HVR-1300 - Freeview/Analogue/Radio/Teletext Tuner Card
- HAUPPAUGE WinTV-HVR-3000 PCI TV Tuner Card- Satellite / Freeview / Terrestrial /Analogue / Radio / Teletext

There are some USB options there but I think I'd prefer to stick with the PCI cards.

So in short, any advice at all, as well as recommendations (not necessarily from that list), and any further accessories (cables, etc.) that I might need.

Thanks!
Alan

Orthanix

Hi Rand_alThor. The standard NTL channels are analogue and not DVB-T which is digital terrestrial. Digital terrestrial television is only at the trial stage in Ireland at the moment.

You therefore need a card that supports an analogue input. One of the things to also watch out for is to see if you can get a dual tuner card. A dual tuner has a sthe name suggests two tuners. With this you would be able to record one channel while watching another if you split the NTL signal into two signals with a signal splitter. Ideally if you could get a dual tuner hybrid card (i.e. two tuners that support both analogue and DVB-T hybrid) that would possibly future proof your purchase but I'm not sure if there are many cards out there for PCI.

I currently use the Avermedia A177 card which is a dual tuner that supports DVB-T and analogue but it is PCI-E though. If I get a chance I'll have a look to see if I can find any dual tuner PCI cards that support hybrid signals.

Rand_alThor

Right done a bit more research. So I'm with UPC/NTL and it's a cable connection. Are they generally not DVB-C? I just read what you said about DVB-T rolling out in 2010 but I thought I read that most UPC cable packages that used to be NTL are all DVC. ?

big_moe

dvb-c is for ntl/upc digital. you need a card that will do uhf/vhf analogue signals. most of the analogue cards will have a dvb-t (or dvb-c) tuner as well

Rand_alThor

Ah, ok. But they can transmit the two different signals over the same cables right? Because, to risk straying into suspect topics, a friend once brought over a certain decoder a while back and that unlocked all the digital channels. He tells me it's gone dead now but that's only because of a security change not the removal of the digital signal. Am I right?

But essentially, I'd need an analogue card for the now, and a DVB-T (or C, but not necessary to consider, ?) for future compatibility. And a dual tuner for luxury. ?

big_moe

what you need is an analogue card for what you have at the moment. ntl/upc broadcast digital using dvb-c. as far as i was aware you cant use ntl digital on an htpc so most guys get a card with a video input and just run the ntl box into the htpc that way.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=325502&view=detailed#ProductTabs

this card will get you analogue and dvb-t, but not the right kind of dvb-t for ireland! for dvb-t in ireland you need an mpeg4 compatible dvb-t tuner

Rand_alThor

Hmmm, yeah there don't seem to be any cards out there that will cover DVB-T MPEG-4. Not yet at least.

In that case any recommendations for an analogue card?

FrankGrimes

Rand_alThor wrote: »

Hmmm, yeah there don't seem to be any cards out there that will cover DVB-T MPEG-4. Not yet at least.

In that case any recommendations for an analogue card?

I'm by no means an expert on the different types of encoding used by the different TV signal broadcasts, but what I can tell you, in case it's of any use, is that I have a Hauppauge Win TV HVR-900 USB TV Tuner (by no means the cheapest option - bought from Peats in a hurry) and it does work for RTE and TV3.

I am in Crumlin and get an ok reception with the mini antennae it comes with, with some interference though at times (audio stutters). I plan on putting up an external antennae when installing a satellite dish in the next few weeks and hope that solves the interference. Picture quality is excellent.

pauliewha

I would suggest a hauppauge pvr 150 for ntl analogue. It is also able to connect to and control a ntl digital box if necessary using svideo in and its own ir blaster.

FrankGrimes

Just for what it's worth: I have a PVR 500 MCE which I believe has the same analog tuner as the 150 but it has the dual tuner version. I'm using it for analog cable as a temporary measure and the quality is terrible, even with a signal booster added. It could be a problem with my signal, but I would'nt be putting that in a new HTPC setup.

I've also had it working with an NTL set-top box via svideo. Quality is naturally much better but you're not getting the full benefit of the digital signal you're paying for as the set-top box converts it back to analog for the svideo run to the HTPC. The IR emitters work (most of the time - definitely not 100% of the time in my experience) but it's not the most elegant solution. DVB-T and/or DVB-S/S2 do seem to be the way to go.

Rand_alThor

Ok so. Wait for the next generation of DVB-T cards it is.

Thanks for the comments folks!

zt-OctaviaN

Hey folks,

Lots of talk about NTL/UPC etc etc and analogue WITH NTL etc what usb units will pick up Free to Air channels e.g. if I dont have a dish or cable etc.

Looking to pick up RTE1&2 TV3 and BBC UTV C4 etc.
I live in Mayo btw if anyone reading this does aswell and uses a USB tuner please reccomend one or the type i need to get.
Cheers
Nick