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    TV Capture Card Question

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by ohsoo, Aug 14, 2008.

  1. ohsoo

    ohsoo Newbie

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    I am looking to buy an external tv capture card, but have no idea what I should be looking for. I basically just want to be able to hook my tv up to my laptop and be able to record tv on my computer (turn my computer into a dvr). I am not sure if a tv capture card is even the right device that I need. I would like to be able to record something as long as a football game (3 hours) with pretty good quality and not pay too much (under $200).

    What products should I be looking at buying?

    Thanks in advance.
     
    ohsoo, Aug 14, 2008
    #1
  2. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

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    What laptop do you have?
    Their are tv tuners made for the expresscard, pcmcia and mini pci port's so you should be covered as long as you have one of them.
    Please note that mobile tv tuners are not all that crisp and clear, so you may not get the crystal clear image you are looking for. Most tv tuners are a bit grainy, cause they have to basically streamline and make them fit into small areas, so they do not have the tv tuning potential a desktop tv tuner has.

    I prefer avermedia or hauppage.
    stay away from ati tuners, they are generally really bad.

    You should be able to get any of them for less than $150, ost ranging from $60 to $120

    K-TRON
     
    K-TRON, Aug 14, 2008
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  3. ohsoo

    ohsoo Newbie

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    I have a dell inspiron 6400, which I believe has an express card slot.
    Do you know what tv tuner I should be looking for specifically?
     
    ohsoo, Aug 17, 2008
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  4. ohsoo

    ohsoo Newbie

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    ohsoo, Aug 18, 2008
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  5. ohsoo

    ohsoo Newbie

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    bumppppppp
     
    ohsoo, Aug 19, 2008
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  6. stewie

    stewie What the deuce?

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    stewie, Aug 19, 2008
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  7. stewie

    stewie What the deuce?

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    And your Dell Inspiron 6400 has an ExpressCard/54 slot.

    I would get this one instead of the one from Hauppauge.
     
    stewie, Aug 19, 2008
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  8. ohsoo

    ohsoo Newbie

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    Thanks for the help
     
    ohsoo, Aug 19, 2008
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  9. Athlon64M

    Athlon64M Notebook Consultant

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    What's bad about ATI tuners? The reception? the software?

    What about the ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner? Any good?
     
    Athlon64M, Aug 19, 2008
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  10. powerpack

    powerpack Notebook Prophet

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    Any reason USB sticks are being left out of the discussion? If there is no technical shortcoming to USB I would prefer over Express card. I would prefer because of the general location of Express card and having to attach either an antenna or coax. Front right is not were I want wires? Also the connection sometimes is the difference in performance of these cards. 6 months ago when I was researching these that was especially true. Back then "over the air" was the only option and weak antennas were the issue.
     
    powerpack, Aug 19, 2008
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  11. stewie

    stewie What the deuce?

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    Yeah the USB ones are not a bad choice, it can give you more room to play, and normally the hardware is more powerful too. The only thing is the ExpressCard bus is a lot faster than the USB 2.0 bus. For TV stuff, I'm not 100% sure which is better to have, a faster chip on the USB model or a faster bus from the ExpressCard?

    EDIT: I just checked the USB version from AVerMedia, I don't think this one has a faster hardware chip.
     
    stewie, Aug 19, 2008
    #11
  12. mtwheezer

    mtwheezer Newbie

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    HI, I'd like to be able to take stuff off my DVR (DirecTV Phillips DSR 708) to my laptop (HP Pavillion DV8000) using a tv capture card. I've tried using my minidv camera as a capture but the loss of quality isn't worth it. So, I'd like to use an external card, and would like some input, recommendations, ideas?
    Any help is really appreciated. Thanks!
     
    mtwheezer, Feb 25, 2009
    #12