Need Help Selecting TV Tuner Card

jcaulley74 · 27 Nov 2011

I have a Win7Pro x64 computer in my basement that I use as a media server. I converted all my DVDs to divx .avi files and stream them to my computers, xbox 360 and Samsung Bluray w/Allshare. Everything works great. I ditched cable 3 years ago and use a roof mounted antenna to pull in free TV. My wife wants DVR ability and I don't want to go back to cable/sat. So I need to install a TV tuner card in the computer downstairs. I'm looking for suggestions on which is going to work for my situation.

Must support NTSC/ATSC recording.

Dual recording would be nice but not required.

PCI or PCI express.

Setting up program recoedings needs to work through the XBox 360 interface. I use VNC since the computer is in the basement and I'm not introducing my wife to VNC. It must be mostly simple or she will reject it.

It needs to record into a file format that can be recoginzed by the Samsung Allshare device.

I have been looking at the Hauppauge 22xx, 18xx and 16xx cards. They all list being compatible with WMC, but there is no mention of use with media extenders like the 360. It also states that files are recorded in a .ts format. I don't know if the allshare device can play those. If anyone has any suggestions or clarifications I would certainly appreciate the advice.

TVeblen · 28 Nov 2011

I like my Hauppauge cards in my PVR. They have hardware encoders so they will record shows without using any system resources.

You need one card for each show you want to record at the same time. They advertise them as "dual tuner" but that just means they have one analog (NTSC) and one digital tuner.

The Hauppage cards record in Transport Stream format (.TS extension), which is then converted to MPEG-2 format using the packaged WinTV software or the SageTV software that I use. If the Samsung Allshare device handles MPEG-2 then you are good to go.

Although not easy, you could find software that converts the TS stream into whatever format you need. But finding a program that does so and works and has an acceptable interface is the hard part.

One of my 1600 cards is a WMC Edition which just means that it comes with a remote control that will work the card in the WMC onscreen interface. You can't get much simpler then that TO USE. Setting it up is another story (you need an IR repeater unless the back of the computer is facing the couch, since the IR receiver is in the back of the card).