Tv Quality TV Tuner (Read 598 times)

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I currently have a decent TV Tuner and it gets the job done for basic tasks such as recording TV. However, now that I am in college I do not have a TV anymore and I want to play some video games (don't tell me to use one of my room mate's TVs because they are usually using them. And don't tell me to get/bring a TV up there because there is no room). Hooking my consoles up to my monitor would require me to get a converter box, which are pretty expensive for what they're offering (if you know of a way to hook up a video came console to a monitor without a converter box, please let me know). So I figured if I am going to spend $50+ on a converter box, I might as well spend a little more on a GOOD capture card and get more value out of it.

The problem with my current capture card is that there is a significant lag between the image is shown on the TV to when it is shown on my computer screen. It is always about 5 - 7 seconds behind the actual stream. This is fine for recording TV since it really doesn't matter for that. For playing video games, this won't work.

My current TV Tuner is PCI, so I'm assuming that's contributing to the slowdown. I'm hoping to get a TV Tuner with any interface besides PCI and PCI-E x 16 (don't have anymore empty slots). I don't really want a USB TV Tuner because I'm pretty sure that will be just as slow as the PCI one I have right now. Besides, I'm pretty sure those are just for recording TV and taking VCR tapes to a digital medium.

I have been looking into getting this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116037&cm_re=WinTV-HVR-2250-_-15-116-037-_-Product

At first I was thinking about getting an ATI All in Wonder, but those look like they're lower quality and the only one that didn't was basically a video card and a TV Tuner combo, which I don't want. Also, I don't know exactly what a dual tuner is, but from the name I'm guessing it means it has 2 cable inputs (right?). I don't exactly need this, but I don't care if it has it.

TL;DR? So the whole reason I am starting this topic is to ask if any of you know of capture cards that have very little lag between the real time image, and the image on screen. I understand that there WILL be some lag, since the signal has extra ground to cover, but I'm hoping I can find something that will be usable for this purpose.
Last Edit: January 03, 2010, 06:30:48 pm by Dust
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uhhhh this won't suit your purposes since it's really old but my bt878 based pixelview pro didn't have any noticible lag when i hooked up a playstation and sega. often you set a delay on the card so that it has more time to decode and has a better signal, make sure it's not just a setting change you need to make before you buy a new card.
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most tvs nowadays have pc inputs, couldn't you swap your monitor for a similar-sized tv? (idk if there are any downsides to this if anyone does this let me know)

it has been years since i looked into tv tuners so maybe they are great now but back when i was looking into them they were hella expensive and most of the reviews talked about how they did not work very well
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001280
hooking up a console to this would be pretty easy. You won't be able to record tv without a dvr but w/e you're in a college dorm, you should be studying doing drugs and experimenting sexually with co-eds
Last Edit: December 31, 2009, 03:18:37 am by DietCoke
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a tuner card is cheaper than a new monitor and tv tuners have worked excellently since '98 except for recording since it's cpu intensive compressing it on the fly.

what card are you currently using and with what software?
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I have a Hauppauge PVR-150 and I'm using the default WinTV 2000 software that comes with it.
I just FINALLY got Windows 7 to work with the TV tuner and now I use Windows Media Center to watch TV because I haven't tried to fix the WinTV 2000 program (for some reason it doesn't work on Windows 7).
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i just realized that a converter box was what i was thinking of in the first place so MY BAD on that one
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yep i'm dump;b
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