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"TV Tuners?"

Just wondering if anyone has one of these in their PC, as I am currently looking at getting one, as I really dont want to lug a TV to Uni. Understandably the quality wont be as good in most of the cheaper ones, but if someone could recommend one to me, it'd be of great help. I'm just looking for the basic thing really, maybe text as well, nothing too fancy (or expensive). Thanks in advance...

Just wondering if anyone has one of these in their PC, as I am currently looking at getting one, as I really dont want to lug a TV to Uni. Understandably the quality wont be as good in most of the cheaper ones, but if someone could recommend one to me, it'd be of great help. I'm just looking for the basic thing really, maybe text as well, nothing too fancy (or expensive). Thanks in advance...

Yeh, I've got one. Check online to see if you can get Freeview at Uni, and if you can, I would strongly consider forking out for a good aerial, and Freeview TV Card since they give you a lot of extra functionality.

Check out Hauppauge (pronounced Hop-hog) - their tuners are quite good.

Also, it is worth considering a program called ShowShifter since this is far superior to the software that comes with TV cards and gives you features such as program guide, PVR-functionality, pause live TV, etc.

Nimco wrote:
> Yeh, I've got one. Check online to see if you can get Freeview at Uni,
> and if you can, I would strongly consider forking out for a good
> aerial, and Freeview TV Card since they give you a lot of extra
> functionality.

Not too sure about the Freeview at the mo, since I dont really know what kind of aerial I'll have. Actually since I dont know about my accomodation yet, I dont know whether I'll actually have a TV socket :D But thanks for the info...

Just checked the Uni postcode and apparently you cant get freeview there. Not a big loss really since I hardly watch it now, 'cept for the radio, which you can get over the internet anyway...

Fair enough. I was running my TV card from a loop aerial BlueTac'd to my window and through a 3x booster. That works fine, but nobody in the block could get signal at all other than me.

I'm going to get a proper external-style aerial next year - I want Freeview!

I have a Pinnacle PCTV 300i, which does freeview and analogue.

It's a bit crap, mainly because of the mediacentre software supplied with it. I've had a quick look for other software, and not found anything else that does the job really. Oh well.

So, my advice, don't get pinnacle.

Just wondering if £25 is a bit cheap for a TV tuner. TBH I'm not bothered about recording programs, since I havent watched anything I've recorded this year, nor am I too fussed about program scheduling etc. As long as the picture is reasonable quality and the teletext works i'll be happy. Tho' that will depend on the signal at uni... So if anyone can find me a cheapish one that looks good, i'd appreciate it, cus I really dont know what to expect from most of these things. Reviews are so hard to come by, without falling into the eBuyer trap....

Well I've been using eBuyer for reviews and found this one in my price range, with all the extras i didnt want :D. [URL]http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=10675582672&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X3Jldmlld3M=&product_uid=10917[/URL] Now just to find somewhere that sells it, and aren't eBuyer.

Look at Hauppauge - they're quite good and do cards with span a whole range of prices.

Dr Duck The Stampede wrote:
> I have a Pinnacle PCTV 300i, which does freeview and analogue.
>
> It's a bit crap, mainly because of the mediacentre software supplied
> with it. I've had a quick look for other software, and not found
> anything else that does the job really. Oh well.
>
> So, my advice, don't get pinnacle.

Try downloading ShowShifter ([URL]http://www.showshifter.com/[/URL]) - it's much better than the software supplied with most TV tuner cards.

Yeah that one I linked to was Hauppauge, will get round to buying it at some point...