Recommended TV Tuner Cards (1 Viewer)

[Dagaetch]

My, Dagaetch, this doesn't sound too good, does it. As people buy more of the card ratings are going down. Maybe I jumped too early in the fray. Maybe Vista View would have been better. But then again, that's more money. Tomorrow I'll take to the card. It'll be my first TV card so I am expecting a few surprises. Besides MediaPortal I also have GB-PVR and am preparing to download XBMC. I'd very much like to run the card with my Ubuntu Server 64, but there are no Linux drivers for this card so far, though it has now been out there for awhile. Interesting that Win 7 doesn't recognize the card , while most of reviewers at Newegg say that in general it was recognized automatically.

Thanks for telling of your experience. Sylva.

Didn't mean the imply the card didn't work at all - it just isn't recognized by MediaPortal. WMC recognized it perfectly, no issues at all. I'm using it to watch and record TV there and the reception is fine. Can't speak to the linux drivers, but I know that Aver staff frequent the green button forums, you could post a request there.

 

[sylva]

Did you try OTA? Some people say sensitivity is not comparable to Hauppauge's 2250, some others say it's great. Everyone says different things, so one can hardly get a real glance into the card's virtues/lackings. I for one, live in a high rise (16 stories, where the building is one of the tallest in the area and there are no elevations to obstruct microwaves. Management just had the collective roof antenna refurbished for HD reception, so there should be no sensitivity issues really. As far as Linux drivers, I had an exchange with Felix Kolotinsky (Duet product mgr.) who said they're thinking about the drivers but could not set an approximate release date even for a beta version. Well, I'll let you know about my experience. I'd rather that the card would function on XP 64 SP2 since I got 8 Gigs of RAM. Someone on Newegg's review pages says he managed to work it with this OS with the newest of Avermedia's beta Madia Center. Hope this is true.

Also, could you please tell me what image quality is like, also quality of sound? Many people rave about image, extremely few talk about sound. Anything to say about frequency response, sibilance accuracy or Stereo field/image?

Sylva.

 

[Dagaetch]

Did you try OTA? Some people say sensitivity is not comparable to Hauppauge's 2250, some others say it's great. Everyone says different things, so one can hardly get a real glance into the card's virtues/lackings. I for one, live in a high rise (16 stories, where the building is one of the tallest in the area and there are no elevations to obstruct microwaves. Management just had the collective roof antenna refurbished for HD reception, so there should be no sensitivity issues really. As far as Linux drivers, I had an exchange with Felix Kolotinsky (Duet product mgr.) who said they're thinking about the drivers but could not set an approximate release date even for a beta version. Well, I'll let you know about my experience. I'd rather that the card would function on XP 64 SP2 since I got 8 Gigs of RAM. Someone on Newegg's review pages says he managed to work it with this OS with the newest of Avermedia's beta Madia Center. Hope this is true.

Also, could you please tell me what image quality is like, also quality of sound? Many people rave about image, extremely few talk about sound. Anything to say about frequency response, sibilance accuracy or Stereo field/image?

Sylva.

I've tried both OTA and ClearQAM, both seem to have equal reception to plugging directly into the tv. It seems a little more sensitive to loss of signal, but I really only noticed it when I deliberately messed with the signal. Probably due to the internal splitter.

Image quality is fine, and it seems that sound is as well - kind of hard to judge. Like I said, I don't really watch much live tv And I can't really say about the others, since I don't know what you mean. I'm good with computers - video tech is another matter.

 

[sylva]

Some answers to your questions

The guy on Newegg posted bogus stuff. The Duet does NOT work with any of Avermedia's Media Center versions. It was designed for WMC exclusively. Avermedia promised to come out with a general beta Media Center (for all of its cards) "in the coming weeks." In industry parlance this usually means months, but you never know. Anyway, no free PVR software works with this card. I am hoping that XBMC will, but I am not very optimistic. So far it does not, however people at their website talk about live TV. I asked around about the Duet, no response so far. If I knew I won't have software choices, I would have stuck with the 2250. That one can be used with just any software, free or otherwise. I may have to qualify the Duet as a loss and still buy a 2250.

-Frequency response is just that, that is distortion less sound throughout the broadcast audio signal, usually between 50 Hz (sinusoid cycles) and 15 Khz. But this is for high def sound (and even this is kinda theoretical), not FM, which carries far less data (maxing out at 10-12 Khz). At the time of its implementation, this was progress compared to AM, with its limited 5 Khz frequency responce.

- Sibilance is a collective word for the hissing consonants, such as s, th, sh, ts and z. If frequency response is adequate, these consonants should come through crisp and clear, but not exaggerated.

Sylva

 

[Markpainter]

Leadtek WinFast DTV2000H

Hi Guys

I also looked at the list of compatable cards and found it to be a little out of date.
I went ahead and bought the above Digital/analogue TV / Radio card, installed the drivers and all worked great with it's own software.
I then fired up Windows Media Centre, and again all worked 100%, including recording etc.

However dissapointingly, MediaPortal doesn't see it at all.

Does anyone have tricks or hints as to anything I can do get it recognised?
I am using the latest drivers from the Leadtek site, but am happy to try any others if anyone can help me?

Thanks guys!

 

[rekenaar]

Does it have BDA drivers? I'm too lazy to google now

Quote from rtv, one of our developers:

The TV-Server does support all available TV cards that ship with BDA drivers.

 

[Markpainter]

Well to be honest I don't know!
As I said, the drivers work perfectly with MCE, but I am not sure how to tell if they are BDA ones.
How would I know?

And incidently, it's a stand alone system so I don't need the IP TV server application, just live TV within Mediaportal.

And thanks for your input - I appreaciate all the help I can get!

 

[rekenaar]

I did a quick search and there are users here with that card working.

Even on a standalone system, you should use TVServer. Wider support for TV cards. Old TV engine no longer supported.

 

[Markpainter]

Even on a standalone system, you should use TVServer. Wider support for TV cards. Old TV engine no longer supported.

That's where I was going wrong.
Now I have TV Server installed it's all working fine..

Thanks for your help.