I currently have a Hauppauge USB external TV tuner. It works well but the quality is onl so so. Even though I have USB2 ports to use, the device was not made to utilize them, which means it's only transferring my cable TV at 1.5MB/sec. I'm pretty sure that the PCI bus is capable of up to 110MB/sec, 60 or so on average. Are there any PCI TV tuners that actually use the full capability of the PCI bus so that I can have picture quality that is equal to my TV?
Quality wise, I can't say. I do know that MSI makes a TVAnywhere TV tuner, and ATi has their TV Wonder in PCI and USB formats. Both run about $50 or so. There are probably a few others, but they're just not coming to mind.
Considering all the MS Media Center PC's are running Hauppauge Win TV, I'm guessing the quality can't be too bad for that line. I've heard a few problems about compatibility with ATi's TV Wonder but I've never used either to be able to tell you which is better.
That's one area I'm not familiar with and I think it's not as big of a market as some other parts of PC hardware. If you've got a TV signal as your source that's about the best you can do---which is more of a limiting factor. I'm not sure how things are going for HDTV, either, so I don't know how the current crop of TV tuner cards would fly.
I have Wintv Go pci tvturner and the pciture is just as good(some say its even better but I cant see it) as T.V allthough this one is mono LOL I think any haupauge wintv card thats pci or firewire has T.V quality picture
hmmm it was about 2 years ago when I bought it and it was the cheapest they had lol something like 60 euro and I just bought it at my local shop(thats in the Netherlands ) but they sell these things about everywhere
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...=47&manufactory=1772&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1 Newegg has it listed for $55 USD with free shipping currently. They also have a host of other TV tuner options here: http://www.newegg.com/app/manufactory.asp?catalog=47&DEPA=1 You're looking at around $50 or so for most.