Tuner Cards

[audiophile]

when selecting a tuner card, what are the specs or features should i really pay attention to for selection ?

[DDH]

Transmission type - Analogue or digital, based on the area you are in and any need for things like PayTV
Connection type - PCI, PCIe, USB
Number - Single, dual, hybrid
Brand - Read what people have to say, what they have working

[renura]

Originally Posted by audiophile

when selecting a tuner card, what are the specs or features should i really pay attention to for selection ?

The first thing you should make sure is that the device you plan to buy has BDA drivers, if not I would strongly suggest you do not buy it.

The second thing that I would strongly suggest is that you do not purchase an analogue TV card. If you require analogue TV functionality, then buy a Hybrid device (which will allow you to watch either digital or analogue TV).

Once satisfied with the above, then you look at what suits you best in terms of interface (ie PCIe, USB, PCI, etc), other features, such as FM radio, analogue inputs, etc might be something to consider as is the software that is bundled with the card.
If you go for USB devices, ensure that they are USB2 devices, as some crappy dongles from China are USB1.1 and can not support HDTV in Australia, so beware of those.

Finally, I would look at the supplier and product reputation in the market.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

Renura

[audiophile]

Originally Posted by DDH

Number - Single, dual, hybrid

what do you mean by number ?

does single refer to is card analogue or digital only
dual is able to do both at the same time
hybrid has functionality of digital and analogue, but only one can be selected.

[DDH]

Originally Posted by audiophile

what do you mean by number ?

does single refer to is card analogue or digital only
dual is able to do both at the same time
hybrid has functionality of digital and analogue, but only one can be selected.

Some tuner cards have one TV tuner, others are dual (2 tuners). You need one tuner per TV channel that you want to record or watch simultaneously. For example if you want to watch TV while recording another channel you need two tuners, this could be two single tuner cards or one dual tuner card.

Hybrid tuners can act as either digital TV tuners or analogue TV tuners. So you can have a dual hybrid, ie two tuners on one PC card that can act as either analogue or digital dependant on how you sent them up.