What Do I Need to Record TV Programs on my Computer? (1 Viewer)

[Joachim Roperos]

I just bought a 160 GB hard drive, what else do I need? Can I connect to an external TV? Do I need DVI? Thanks for your help.

joachim

 

[Chris]

Ok, first you'll need some sort of TV Tuner Card. You can find plenty all over; everyone has their own opinion. They range from ATI, WinTV, etc. to standard BT848 controllers & Conexant.

Then you'll want TV recording software. A lot of them come with WinDVR or PowerVCR II, but those are limited and kind of old; you might look into something like showshifter, etc.

If you want to output from your PC to your TV and keep HD type signals, you'll want a video card that either has SVid out (if your TV has) or DVI (if your TV has a DVI in) you will then want a program called PowerStrip. It will allow you to run your TV in custom resolutions designed for 16:9 HD, etc.

Good luck!

 

[Joachim Roperos]

Thanks.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

And if you want to record HDTV, you'd better get an HDTV card before July 1, 2005. All HDTV cards sold after this date will be crippled by Digital Rights Management (DRM), thanks to the FCC.

This site has more info: http://www.eff.org/broadcastflag/

 

[Joachim Roperos]

Jeff, what cards can you recommend? Thanks.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

I wish I could help, but I don't have one of these cards yet. I'm still trying to figure out which one to get. I'm also still trying to figure out how I would test the thing, since I don't have very many DTV stations available in my area. (If it wasn't for the FCC Broadcast Flag thing, I would proabably wait a few years before even getting one.)

This post on the AVS forum has a lot of information about different HDTV cards, but hasn't been updated since 4/11/2004.

 

[Scott L]

Here's some choices:

NTSC:
Recording through software: Hauppauge PVR-250
Recording through hardware: Hauppauge PVR-350
www.sage.tv

HDTV:
Recording through software: ATI HDTV Wonder (Link 2) or Fusion III w/QAM
Recording through hardware: MyHD MDP-120

 

[Alf S]

I added one of THESE to my new Medion PC and although I haven't hooked it up to TV signals yet, everything else about it workks great and the reviews are very favorable.

Alfer

 

[Chris]

The Leadtek, based on the Brooktree (BT) chipset is pretty standard fare and well supported. There are tons of cards on the BT chipset, and the advantage is, all the right software supports it I alaso recommend Sage as mentioned above, neat software.