Vista - TV Tuner?

Hi Everybody,

I have a dual video card, and I would like to turn (1) Monitor into a TV...What is the best TV tuner card out there? and is compatible with windows vista? Any help will be greatly appreciated!!!

Cheers!

This is a really difficult one. Everybody has their favorite. From my experience and the experience of my friends I would recommend against Hauppauge, which seem to be too problematical under vista and are not true digital TV cards.

I use Compro, and some of my friends have replaced their cards with this brand, and like it for it's ease of use. The only fault is that it doesn't play well with Media Centre, although my Hauppauge would consistently freeze Media Centre, causing a reboot. I use Compro's own Media Player which is quite good. Whether it is available in your part of the world I don't know.

Here's some info and a web page for specs.

Compro VideoMate Vista E700 is a fast PCIe dual DVB-T TV tuner card, which brings clear digital terrestrial TV broadcasts to your desktop PC and lets you view 2 main channels at the same time. It turns your computer into a home entertainment center by bringing you digital TV viewing and personal digital video recording (PVR) capabilities. VideoMate Vista E700 also comes with the certified Windows Media Center remote which gives users the control of Windows Media Center and ComproDTV 4.
The included ComproDTV 4 software features DVB-T TV watching/recording, channel surfing, timeshifting, single/multiple still frames capture, brightness/saturation/contrast/hue/sharpness adjustment in each TV channel and exclusive S5(shutdown)/S4 (hibernation)/S3 (standby) mode power up schedule recording. It also provides the advanced Picture In/Out Picture functions which allow users to watch up to 5 live TV windows and playback video files at once. The Video Desktop function lets users to stream live TV shows as wallpaper and use other applications at the same time. ComproDTV 4 can simultaneously operate, viewing or recording, multiple Compro TV devices on the same machine, internal and external.
To enhance the usability of Windows Vista and Windows Media Center, VideoMate Vista E700 also offers an array of useful functions. ComproDTV Vista Gadget provides live TV view and playback list with click of a button on the Windows SideBar. The DTV Add-In function makes the Media Centre more powerful by integrating it with DTV 4. The schedule recording list from Windows Media Center Electronic Programming Guide can be integrated to ComproDTV 4 for an easier schedule recording control. In addition, VideoMate Vista E700 is bundled with Ulead DVD MovieFactory 5 SE for DVD authoring. With the bundled Microsoft certified remote for Windows Media Center and powerful features, VideoMate Vista E700 PCIe TV card is undoubtedly your best TV card choice.


Compro VideoMate Vista E700 - Dual DVB-T Tuner - PCI-Ex1 (96110) | Techbuy Australia

Norm

Kaiser Baas is another brand to look for.

Against my better judgment i bought a TV tuner usb dongle.... I'm amazed at how good it actually worked....the drivers seem to behave and I can capture though my Video Editor and WMC picks up the card quickly and I have full services...now all I need to do is connect it to my outside antenna and I would be happy

Hi,

I have 2 terratec cinergy 2400i dt pci-e cards, one in my vista ulimate x64 machine and one in my Windows Se7en Build 7 machine both have run without any compatibility problems and I would highly recommend them. I have also run them on Vista Ultimate x86 before upgrading to x64.

The cards come with remote which not only controls the proprietary software but also MCE, PowerPoint, Powerlink and a few more apps, so you don't need to invest in an MCE remote.

More info can be found @ TerraTec - Products - TV - DVB-T (Aerial) - TerraTec Cinergy 2400i DT