is there any tuner/video card........ (1 Viewer)

[dan dj]

I am frustrated. It seems that any time I try run a cable or satellite signal thru a computer I end up with a poor signal. I currently have an x300 radeon tuner video card in a gateway 820gm media center computer. when i run the coax direct to my 42" plasma screen it looks great. when i run it thru my supposed "media center computer" it looks like i have rabbit ears. is this a tweaking issue or is it just what happens when you use a computer tuner card? I was thinking of upgrading to a x600 card (pci express) and dont mind spending the money if it will actually make a difference. what do you folks thinK?

 

[ChristopherDAC]

I'm not quite certain, but it seems to me that many tuner and capture cards nowadays convert the video to some kind of compressed format, MPEG-2 generally; of course this involves a quality degradation from a full-band analog source, paticularly when then reconverted to the same analog format for display. You can get a capture card, and possibly a tuner card, without MPEG conversion I am certain, but it will take some hunting.

 

[dan dj]

thanks for your response. what might be some of the drawbacks to having a tuner card without MPEG conversion?

 

[MikeHerbst]

The downside is that if you actually want to do anything with that data in the MPEG domain (like DVR, archive storage, editing, etc.) then you'll have to convert it external to the tuner, either with another piece of hardware or in software (SLOW).

 

[dan dj]

thanks for the info!