Tv Tuner Help Please!

josh2thad

OK, so heres the situation. I have my second monitor hooked up (19 inch Ws Hanns-G LCD) and i want to use this to watch cable tv. The only way i know of doing this is to buy a tv tuner card? So here are the ones im looking at.

Newegg.com - MSI TV@nywhere Plus PCI Interface Tuner Card - Retail

I need it to be able to work with Windows Vista x64 Ultimate and im looking for one with a remote. Ditching the CRT TV that went out. This is a cheaper route, hope it wont look like crap @ hi res.

Oh yeah and i dont mind using an extenal box if thats easier. please someone reccomend me something to get the job done.

Tipstaff

I wouldn't bother with that tuner. The only reason I've got one is that it was given to me... but I don't use it, cuz it's crap. Plus I don't think it'll work with Vista x64 either.

The one I sell, and use myself is from a company called Hauppauge. If you take a look at THIS page you will see a list of their products that have Vista support. Take note of the listings that say "Vista Compatible" as these cards do not have Vista X64 support. Anything that says "Vista Premium" has full Vista support.. both 32 and 64 bit, and anything that says "In Box" means that Vista has the drivers already built in for it.

My advice: pickup either the WinTV PVR-150MCE, or the PVR-250. Note: it is important that the one you get says, "MCE" only. Do not get any of the other MCE units, or the standard PVR-150/250.

Edit: Neweggs listing the PVR-150MCE. Unfortunately they don't sell the PVR-250MCE.

josh2thad

Thanks for the quick response. That looks like decent tuner, it has just been so long since ive used one i didnt even know what to look for. My last one was my all in wonder 9800 Pro.

Tipstaff

That was a great card.. when it worked. Once you got that thing setup, though, it ran like a champ.

Wanna know something interesting? I found out about Hauppauge via an nVidia rep. nVidia and Hauppauge at one time had a bundle that a few companies sold (Asus and XFX if I remember) where they were bundling a silent version for the 6600 with a WinTV-PVR-500, which is a dual tuner card. I had such good experiences with those bundles that ever since then I've bought nothing but Hauppauge cards. Mind you, they have their flakey cards, but the ones I mentioned have been sold sellers for me.

Zelig

Hey Tipstaff, any experience with the WinTV-HVR 950?

I have one sitting here, needed something that was external and with Vista 64-bit support. Haven't opened it yet though, there aren't any channels where I'm living for the next week...

Sort of curious about vistaview cards too, if you've played with them at all, they look nice, but seem to be relatively unknown.

Tipstaff

I've only sold one HVR-950, and that was for a Mac guy, so I don't have any experience with it. Sorry. According to Haups site the driver they supply is certified.. and that's saying a lot, but when I look at their site they tell you to get the MCE drivers for Vista x64... don't know why.

Don't know much about the VistaView cards. I know of only one person that bought one, and it was the Saber DA 1n1 E. The guy bought it as they are the only ones other than Pinnacle that have a PCIE1x TV Tuner card. The only thing I remember my buddy telling me was that he first got a Saber 2020, and while it says it's Vista Capable.. it's not really. He had a hard time with it, and decided to take it back for the DA 1n1, which has worked out great for him. I assume.. since he hasn't complained.. and if there was something wrong with it he would bitch and bitch and bitch about it.. so.. no news is good news where he's concerned.

Zelig

Well, got around to trying the HVR-950... can't make it actually do anything. The drivers install just fine, but media centre won't pick it up, and there isn't much I can think of doing.

Tipstaff

Just to confirm, have you tried rerunning MCEs setup routines for the tuner, and so fourth from within the ehome GUI?

I find it odd that it's not working as the 950 has MCE and Vista Premium support. However, you might also consider grabbing the latest drivers off their site HERE. Oh, and since you are installing it in MCE be sure you don't install the tuner software since MCE is going to be doing all of that for you. 'Course, you probably already knew that...

Zelig

Running the latest drivers linked from here for Vista 64-bit.

Also have the MCE software encoder installed.

Driver is installed fine as per the device manager, when I hit "set up tv" in media centre, it spits out "TUNER NOT FOUND: The TV signal cannot be configured because no hardware was detected... etc."

I also don't really understand why it doesn't work, considering it has Vista Premium support...

Tipstaff

Oops.. forgot it was Vista x64.

Don't know what to say, really. Should be working, however I've never used the X64 Vista drivers.. only the 32bit version, and with the PVR-150. All I can suggest is to uninstall the software, and try again, however instead of using Add/Remove you might want to try looking for a file called "hcwclear" (easiest place to find this would be in the folder where you extracted the drivers into). This program will remove all registry listing, and should clean out the software as well. Run it, but don't uninstall the drivers for the card. Leave them in. Then, reboot the machine, and try the setup for the encoder and what not again, and be sure to reboot afterwards.

Zelig

Well, it works fine with the Hauppauge WinTV software, still doesn't work in media centre though.

WinTV works alright, though it won't go into fullscreen mode on my second monitor...

josh2thad

ok you 2 guys have been alot of help. Here is my next question before i splurge on 1. I have a digital cable box in my bedroom (where the pc is) what is the resolution of "digital" would this be watchable on my 1680*1050 resolution monitor?

Zelig

Here are a couple screenies of standard analog cable (640*480?) upscaled to 1600x1200 and 1920x1200.

Not real pretty, but it's watchable if you don't sit too close. In any case, yours shouldn't look any worse if it's digital.

josh2thad

Thanks for the pics but that looks horrible. Ill be waiting for HD

Zelig

Hahah, yeah, HD is much nicer, but I'm getting my cable for free, and only watch hockey on it, so I can't complain too much.