Best TV Tuner Card for Windows 7?

tv tuners

I have a WinTV-HRV2250 dual tuner. I know I can select satellite set top box and watch one station - record another OR select antenna and do the same. Question, what do I do if I want to do both? I am runnig win7.

The limitation of your TV Tuner is watch one station - record another station. That is a basic DVR.

I have seen here in multiple threads, and also in the links I added, that people are using multiple TV Tuners in one system.

I have not done so, am weary of the performance hit in a system with more than one TV tuner, so I am not sure I can help beyond the info I have presented.

gslane said:

How can I watch 1 sat station, record 1 and record 1 over the air station? I have win7.

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You need a TV tuner card with 2 tuners on it 1 to watch and the other to record. Forget the over the air part not happening at least not all at the same time with just 1 card.

thefabe said:

gslane said:

How can I watch 1 sat station, record 1 and record 1 over the air station? I have win7.

Click to expand...

You need a TV tuner card with 2 tuners on it 1 to watch and the other to record. Forget the over the air part not happening at least not all at the same time with just 1 card.

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He has a dual tuner as noted in the thread...he does want it to do more than it is designed to do.

what channels do you get with the tuners? (In the UK).

Hello,
This is my first post here.
I would like to build a computer just to use with Win 7 media center as basically a DVR. I would like to connect it to my 65" HDTV and be able to record movies and TV shows from my cable company. I was planning on building just a Micro ATX box with a Dual core CPU and 4 gigs of RAM and whatever TV tuner I need. My question is will this computer have enough resources to run Win 7 media center and do what I need it to do, or what would you recommend. I basically want to be able to record and store media while also watching other recorded shows at the same time.

Thanks!

Cyde said:

Hello,
This is my first post here.
I would like to build a computer just to use with Win 7 media center as basically a DVR. I would like to connect it to my 65" HDTV and be able to record movies and TV shows from my cable company. I was planning on building just a Micro ATX box with a Dual core CPU and 4 gigs of RAM and whatever TV tuner I need. My question is will this computer have enough resources to run Win 7 media center and do what I need it to do, or what would you recommend. I basically want to be able to record and store media while also watching other recorded shows at the same time.

Thanks!

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Yes. It takes very little processor muscle to record TV and play it back. You might want to check out this nice HTPC build guide over at the AVS forum.

I will vote for the HVR2250 have this TV tuner in 3 systems both 32bit and 64 bit very nice picture and HD quality as well with Windows 7 Ultimate.

sandman said:

I will vote for the HVR2250 have this TV tuner in 3 systems both 32bit and 64 bit very nice picture and HD quality as well with Windows 7 Ultimate.

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I have one of these cards and I agree that it's an excellent solution. It performs extremely well, and is very simple to set up with Media Center.

Have lots of HD space and plenty of free time...

What channels

I have the WinTV 1850 running on Win7. It runs fine through Media Center, however i'm only picking up 21 channels. I have full comcast channels and If I plug my outlet directly into a TV, it picks up tons of channels, all the digitals, all the music/HD channels, but this one only gives me the locals and a couple of unneccesary channels(QVC, Religion, iQ, etc). It looks great but I'm shocked I can only pick up so few channels. I've used both Analog and digital inputs on the card, currently on the ATSC. I can't pick up TBS, cartoon, comedy, sci fi. I even tried through the hauppage software and it only picks up a couple more channels. is there an update somewhere I need to do to get more channels? I was expecting it to work at least as well as a direct line in TV.

My HTPC only has PCI slots, and I did not feel comfortable getting a HD tuner that connects via usb. Do any of you guys use a WinTV-HVR 1600 Internal HDTV catd? If you do, what are your personal experiences with it? Also, what good USB HDTV tuners are any of you using? Also if using the wintv mentioned above, how do you have it connected, S-video, or coax?

I have owned several Hauppauge tuners and never liked any of them. The one that I have now is a Dvico FusionHDTV7 Gold RT...best card that I've owned.

Is it a pci card?

For people who have Comcast service, the computer TV Tuner's "tuner" component is being made irrelevant. Comcast is now requiring the use of either their set top box or DTA to tune in most all of their channels now so the computer TV Tuner is no longer being used to actually tune in the channels (set to channel 3). Even over the air channels are lost unless you unhooked the Comcast box.

This was a real bummer for me because I was running my TV Tuner (Hauppage HVR-1950) through Windows 7 Media Center for TV. I used the Keyboard to change channels as it was much more convenient than picking up a remote when I'm a foot and a half from the screen. Anyway when Comcast started requiring the box, it made the Hauppage tuner pretty much non functional. What was worse for me was the keyboard also was made non functional to change channels.

After some research I got around it by buying the TV Tuner "Blaster" component which basically allows Windows Media Center to control the Comcast "box" through the Hauppage Tuner. A wire tapped over the Comcast tuner's receiver (going back to the blaster) allowed the Hauppage tuner to change channels through the Comcast tuner. Through this process I got my keyboard back to change channels again which was what I had hated losing the most.

zay said:

Is it a pci card?

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If this question is regarding my post, the answer is no...it is PCIe.

seekermeister said:

zay said:

Is it a pci card?

Click to expand...

If this question is regarding my post, the answer is no...it is PCIe.

Click to expand...

Yes it was, and thanks for the response. I ended up going back to my original card, then doing a system restore. After installing that other card, playready would not update. Off topic, I have an HD video card, and HD monitors, yet my tv shows show dark. I have set the resolution to the recommended setting for 1080p. Could not having an HD tuner cause that? Even when I watch non HD channels, it still looks dark, especially if it is a night scene, I really cannot see anything.

I use the "KWorld PlusTV 399U Dual DVB-T USB TV Stick" works well with media player and cheap also.
It is a usb stick not card.

Better to go high definition TV on a computer monitor (LCD/LED). Anything else just won't display to the monitor's capability. If you ever see it on a computer monitor, you'll never go back. Go with something like a Hauppage HD-PVR.

TV tuner options

I am new to this TV tuner world, I am going to be running win7 with media center as a DVR + webTV system. My question is can I use an HDMI output to view the recorded shows on the TV or do I have to use RCA jacks or S-video input? I was going to use the ceton Cable card TV tuner but that is vary pricey so I have looked at TV tuners what are the best ones to use that can record HD or digital signals? I am looking at the Hauppauge, the HVR2250 but I have read mixed reviews.

Dave

That depends entirely on your graphics card's outputs - and software powering it allowing multiple monitors. Mine for instance only has HDMI output but I had to run an internal connector from the motherboard to the GTX295 to provide sound. It all depends on your card not the media center..