[clug] computer fair tv tuner cards

[David Collett]

On Fri, Feb 10, 2006 at 08:32:33AM -0500, RacHagema at netscape.net wrote:
> I'm looking at buying a tv tuner card from the computer fairs on Saturday, all the ones I've seen lack hardware acceleration.

Do you mean analog cards with a hardware mpeg encoder (and possibly
decoder too), or digital cards with a hardware mpeg decoder?

The former are not that common, haven't seem them at the fairs. An
example is the Hauppage PVR-250. The latter haven't been made for a long
time AFAIK. Current digital cards are 'budget' cards without MPEG
decoders. Just about any PC should decode SD Broadcasts fine in software
though, a semi-decent PC with a vidcard which does 'xv' is required for
HD.

> Can anyone recommend a good digital tv tuner card, preferably one that is available from the computer markets on Saturdays?

I have a nova-t, and an Ultraview Lite (re-packaged DVICO). I know
people with VisionPlus and Avermedia cards. These work perfectly by all
reports, but of course chipsets could have changed over the years.

I'd say you'd have to be very unlucky to get one that didnt work in
linux.

Just get the cheapest one you can find :)

Dave