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USB TV Tuner Recommendations and Experiences?

Posted by Cliff on from the computer+USB-tuner=instant-PVR dept.

grocer asks: "Due to a piano, the living room suddenly has too much furniture and the TV is going upstairs. I just got a Dell Dimension 4600 with DVD (ROM and RW), 17" Flat screen, and the good speakers and it's staying downstairs. The Dell is under warranty and I'm not opening it, so card based solutions are out. I know it has enough power/space (2.8Ghz, 1GB RAM, 60+ gig free) to run MPEG-2 and do PVR, I just can't find a good review/comparison on the web of USB PVR hardware. I've it gotten down to the Adaptec VideOh! DVD Media Center USB 2.0 or the AVerMedia UltraTV USB 300. Any other recommendations for USB tuners? Anybody else move the TV and replace it with a computer?"

6 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. Open It Up by MBCook · · Score: 4, Informative
    Open the PC up. Put in a Happgauge 250 or 350 and be happy. They are great cards, hardware encoder (even with a fast computer, it's nice), work great with Windows and Linux.

    Open the PC up. That doesn't void your warranty does it? If so, COMPLAIN COMPLAIN COMPLAIN. It's not like your doing a motherboard replacement. You are just sticking a card in a slot. Besides, if you ever have to send the PC in for warantee, just pull the card out first and they'll never know.

    USB things will take up more CPU time than a PCI based solution. If you must go external, I'd spend the cash and see if you can find a FireWire TV tuner. FireWire is designed to handle digital video.

    Sorry, I just don't understand the "won't open the PC" part. It's not like it's a laptop. Those slots are more than just decoration ;)

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    Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    1. Re:Open It Up by hawkstone · · Score: 4, Informative

      Open the PC up. That doesn't void your warranty does it? If so, COMPLAIN COMPLAIN COMPLAIN.

      I realize there is the occasional anti-Dell sentiment here (not that I'm accusing you of this), but as someone who has both built machines from parts and bought them from Dell, they have been quite good about warranty issues in the past. I have not dealt with their service in the most recent few years, but I have certainly had good experiences with Dell -- they seem to be very kind to those of us who are going to open the cases anyway.

      Case one: Bought new computer from Dell without a sound card. Bought soundblaster AWE-32 full-length (and I mean full length!) card. Realized motherboard would have benefitted from extra spacers near the last slot. Called Dell, told service rep I was liable to crack the mobo, and she said she would make a note of it in the system so I wouldn't get any grief should I have to get a replacement.

      Case two: My Dell computer, my sister's defective hard drive. Wasn't sure if her IDE card or the drive itself was going bad, so I hooked her hard disk up to my Dell. Momentarily, sparks and smoke from my power supply. Called Dell, they overnighted a new power supply to me with a return box to overnight the defective one to them. And this was as a normal home user's costumer service, not some priority business service.

      So in short, unless Dell has had serious problems in the past couple of years, they should be just fine with you installing whatever the fsck you want in your machine.

  2. I used an ATI USB based tuner... by galaxy300 · · Score: 3, Informative

    It was absolutely horrible. Very small, grainy, jerky picture. I would skip the USB and go with a high quality internal card. I can't imagine that would void the warranty anyway - they just won't provide support for the card.

    --
    seriouslyexcited.net
  3. Re:Why so set on USB? by NexusTw1n · · Score: 3, Informative
    The Dell is under warranty and I'm not opening it, so card based solutions are out
    Dell do not invalidate warranties because users opened up the case and inserted a PCI card. In fact do any OEM's do this? - Because I seriously doubt it.

    Adding cards to the PC is part of the normal every day use of the machine. Get a PCI based tuner. It is that simple.
    --
    It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. --Albert Einstein
  4. My experience by Smartcowboy · · Score: 3, Informative

    I have an Hauppauge WinTV-GO. It's the cheapest of Hauppauge tuners but it works great for me under both Mandrake Linux and Windows 2000. The only thing is that I don't have a processor fast enough (500mhz Celeron) to record and encode on the fly so I have to save to uncompressed AVI. You have a better processor than me so you should be able to encode your shows on the fly and do PVR no problem with that low-budget card. Good luck!

    A final tip: find a video editing software to cut the publicity in the programs you want to keep!

  5. Re:Happgauge? by KJE · · Score: 3, Informative

    Missed a u, it's Hauppauge. One of the most popular cards is the PVR-250.