Plextor makes three cards with MPEG-4 recording capability. The files sizes of MPEG-2 recordings are considerably larger than MPEG-4, which is the big downside to opting for MPEG-2 recording options. MCE competitors like Beyond TV and SageTV both support recording in DivX format with compatible tuner cards and SageTV also supports MPEG-4. As I pointed out above, getting a hardware encoding solution with MPEG-2 support is ideal from a computer resource perspective.
#Best digital tv tuner for pc windows#
Windows Media Center Edition and its competitors all record in MPEG-2 format by default.
#Best digital tv tuner for pc software#
I haven't found a card on that list that isn't also compatible with other apps, although it's still a good idea to scan the list of supported cards for the software you plan on using. The best guide for finding a card remains the Designed for Media Center Edition list provided by Microsoft. My three favorites at the moment are Beyond TV, SageTV and Windows XP Media Center Edtion. Hauppauges WinTV HVR 2250 is a half-height dual tuner PCIe card that supports both clear QAM from an unencrypted cable box or an over-the-air TV antenna. Most of the cards include some kind of PVR solution, but they are generally inferior to third party solutions. One thing to watch for in choosing a TV tuner card is software compatibility. ATI's TV Wonder Elite provides what I consider the best looking picture in the class. The WinTV 250 and WinTV 350 from Hauppauge are both solid choices for hardware encoding. Ideally you want to look for tuners that use hardware encoding, which offloads the recording functionality to the TV tuner, keeping the heavy lifting away from your processor. If you aren't planning to watch or record HDTV, there are at least 100 options. Major metropolitan areas have a wider selection of offerings than small markets. These over-the-air tuners rely on an external antenna to receive HDTV broadcasts, with available programming varying widely depending on where you live. If you have an HDTV, over-the-air HDTV tuner cards provide the only means of viewing and recording HDTV on your computer. Before deciding on a specific TV Tuner, you need to decide how you want to use it.
If what you're looking for is an immediate solution for recording shows, you can find a number of reasonably priced options to carry you through the end of the year.
CableCARD integrates the digital cable box function into the TV tuner, making everything work seamlessly. The remote functionality is necessary for both changing channels for viewing and using PVR software to record shows. Current TV Tuner solutions require a convoluted wiring scheme to make using a remote control with the TV tuner and cable guide on the computer feasible because you still need a digital cable box in the mix. If you don't have an immediate need for the tuner, my best advice is to wait until CableCARD tuners start shipping around the end of this year. What feature should I be looking for? Will I need to increase the RAM on my system (currently 512 MB)? A CableCARD serves as a replacement for a digital set-top box, and can only be obtained. Mark says, I want to buy a TV tuner card for my home PC. The best tv tuner for your house depends on what you are using it for. To do this youll need a couple things: a digital cable tuner, which is a device that comes with most Digital Cable Ready computers, and a CableCARD, which is a device that must be inserted into your digital cable tuner to allow it to receive digital cable.
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