Help me pick a wireless card, Tv tuner card & bluetooth card

I'll probably find out this was a terrible choice but overstock has what appears to be an ATI HDTV Wonder card @ http://www.overstock.com/Electronics...i_sku=11997710

for $18.99 and $1 shipping. Add in some cashback at mrrebates or wherever you choose......I picked up one as a second tuner for my htpc.

Unless you plan on hooking it up to a cable service, the analog tuner will be worthless soon.

If you do a google on "HP 5188-0178" you will find plenty of sites that list this as "ATI TV TUNER (EASTWOOD, ATSC)" unlike some of the other models on overstock which state analog only. The description on overstock states:
HDTV is the technology of the future. It offers much higher resolution and clarity than analog TV and over twice the resolution of DVDs. The FCC has mandated that it replace analog TV. Until now a special TV was required to receive HDTV (High Definition Television) signals. Thanks to the HDTV WONDER the PC is ready to become the home's first HDTV device. Now you can enjoy crystal clear HDTV broadcasts on your current PC monitor at a very affordable price.

If it is NTSC then their blurb is VERY misleading.

Ok here's a thread @ http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtop...aee5c93afcb810 where several people purchased this card and have already set it up even with QAM and verified it was ATSC so I feel good about it.

agoutihead

You will probably have to provide more info about your system and goals for that system inorder to get the answers you need from those smarter than I. (What OS, HT
software, hardware, OTA STB, Satellite, etc)


That said, I have and Avermedia Duet Tuner that I like. It's a digtal dual tuner that sells for about $60. I use it for OTA but, it can be used for QAM tuning in Win7 and I think Sage TV. For Vista, Avermedia has a downloadable QAM tool which is suppose to allow QAM tuning.

As for wireless card? IMHO wires are good:-)

Hey, for the $20 you're paying, I'd say it's a good bargain!

Like others have asked already, what are your goals for tv, hooking it up to cable, or looking to do off the air broadcast tv (ie ATSC)?

- Josh

Linux drivers may create an issue for you. Be sure to use Nvidia motherboards/video cards for best support. Are you planning on a MythTV box or just running ubuntu by itself?

A concern about a triboot system is you will need to set your recordings up in all the 3 OS, Windows won't record if you are running Ubuntu at the time. I highly recommend picking one OS and stick with it for DVR use. Use a different PC for Ubuntu.

After trying XP, Mythbuntu, and Windows7, I must say Windows7 is my favorite for HTPC use. I run Ubuntu on my desktop. Unless your REALLY know Linux terminal commands I'd stay away from MythTV.

I'm a full time linux user on all my other pc's...the htpc I built though is a vostro 220 running vista...was just simpler since it came with vista and the tuners with remotes I found cheap did NOT have linux support...for an actual breakdown of the htpc parts by cost you can see http://members.tripod.com/~famewolf/htpc_costs.html

skip all that, and go straight to windows 7, trust me no comparison there.




the only way to get HD satalite right now is via the HD PVR capture box, it is a component video device that will capture HD video out from sat box.

there is also cable card tuners, hard to come by, expensive but it gets you HD.

and then there are ATSC tuners, which gets you FREE off the air HD.


can't help you with linux, and what tuner cards work with it, but I can tell you that most you will be looking at will work with both xp and vista and windows 7.


ATSC will be here now, and for years to come, and again its free HD.


the Avermedia Duet, A188, will get you two ATSC tuners on a single card, and is $60

just feed it coax from a good antenna, depending on where you live and how far you are from the broadcast towers, it will get you your local channels in HD.


why not? its free HD.

- Josh

What advantage does wm7 give over xp? Why run a beta that will expire as opposed to a version that will keep working AND have to worry about whether drivers for hardware will work on new version? I hesitated at using vista but it came on the pc already and I figured I'd try it once I turned off UAC etc...

FWIW, W7 RC is what Vista should have been when released.

Think of XP plus improvements, a little of Vista flair and you've got W7.

I can tell you I have absolutely ZERO driver issues in windows 7, hell I am running windows 7 on an old ass Dell D600 laptop and windows provided all the drivers for it out of the box.

on my HTPC, windows 7 provided all the drivers for my mobo, tuner cards, ect.. only thing I did was get the latest video card drivers from ATI and I was set.

Windows 7 media center is where its at, in terms of the GUI, and ease of use for htpc front ends. XP doesn't give you a front end at all (unless it is MCE 2005 edition)

Basically if your pc runs vista now, it'll run windows 7 and better at that.

The pc I am typing this on, is windows 7 64bit, with 8gigs of ram and this pc is already 3 - 4 years old and its runs great.

also you don't have to turn UAC off in 7, its less obtrusive, and actually works, and btw I wouldn't recommend turning UAC off, really helps prevent getting spyware as they can't install if you have UAC turned on.

- Josh

Hmm things to think on...my vista install has some anti spyware apps installed and is using media portal as my frontend but appreciate the info!

P.S. The tuner came in today and got it in the htpc...worked fined but I did have to salvage a bracket off an old ethernet card to use with it since it came with a weird one the hp computers probably use. It did work as atsc digital.

the HD PVR is ONLY if you want to DVR HD content.


I've seen it as little as $160, but again just a reminder the HD PVR is only a single tuner, so you will only get one feed, IE you can record two at once with it.



That is easy, ATSC tuners like the Avermedia Duet, A188, will get you Two ATSC tuners, so you can record up to two ATSC HDTV shows at once and is cheap, like $60 best price for a dual tuner out there right now.


No you don't and no its not. Coax is just a transport medium for getting a digital signal to your cable box or sat box.

Once your cable box or sat box, decodes the signal, you don't want to take coax out of the said box and into your tuner cards, that is the absolute WORSE signal quality you can get (once it is decoded)


first you are talking about satellite, now you are talking about cable tv. you need to pick one, because what service you go with, will determine how everything is hooked up.

If you go with cable tv, you can get the 1 - 99 channels, (as long as those are still analog) with just a coax feed right into an NTSC tuner card.

but if you go with satellite, you need to deal with IR blasters, and Svideo capture cards for SD, or the HD PVR for HD.



yes the Avermedia Duet, is a dual tuner card, on a single card, so it has two tuners, even though it is only fed via a single coax, it splits it on the card itself.

It'll get you two ATSC feeds, so you can watch live tv on one, and record on the other, or record on both all at the same time.


saves money, and saves heat, and space, ect...


ugg, why?? go with something nicer, better like media center or sagetv.

- Josh

again HD or SD. that is the question.

IF sd, yes it can do both, as an SD tuner is just a capture tuner really. It'll tune in NTSC SD off of cable, then with a SD sat box, it'll also capture in Svideo or composit SD video from your sat box.

but with Sat there is no way around NOT using a sat tuner box, and then you'll need an IR blaster to change the channels on the sat box.


nope. Sat and cable boxes "decode" the encrypted digital signals. Specially with sat, each and every single sat channel is digitally encrypted so you'd need a sat box to first tune in, and decode the channel before you can capture it and record it.

with cable tv that is a different story, you CAN sort of replace a cable box, with a htpc, however you can ONLY do that with an ATI cable card tuner. which for the most part only comes with OEM pc's you purchase form manufactures like Dell, Gateway, HP, ect...

before you could ONLY use cable card tuners with OEM pc's but things have recently changed since then. there are "hacks" to get self built htpc's to work with cable card tuners. The problem is finding cable card tuners, ebay is the only place that is reasonably priced and the premium right now for a single cable card tuner is around $200 on ebay.

more info on setting up cable card tuners on diy pc's: http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/05/12...-media-center/

also with cable card tuners you HAVE to use Vista meida center or Windows 7 Media center, it won't work with linux or any other PVR apps.


sort of yes. goes....... coax from wall ====== into set top box ======= svideo or composit out of set top box ======= into SD tuner/capture card.

then you'll still have an IR blaster to control the channel changing from your pc to the set top box.

there is also the HD PVR which will capture in HD video via compoent cables, however if you wanted to use media center, currently that doesn't work.



again, you DO NOT WANT coax from the set top box, to your htpc, Svideo first for SD, then composite if you cant do svideo.

and if you do the HD PVR, that is component video from the set top box to the HD PVR box which is a usb box into your htpc.

COAX cable is only going into your STB to get the signal from the provider, but once the STB decodes the signal you don't want coax.



nope the HD PVR is an external USB capture box. http://www.geektonic.com/2008/06/hau...irst-look.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YojTzfO6QNQ

so yes the HD PVR is only a capture box that takes in HD video from an HD cable box or HD Sat box, that is it, it does not replace the need for a HD box from your tv provider.



if you are doing that with sat tv, you'll need two sat box's for dual setup then. Stuff starts to add up eh?



I can honestly tell you linux just isn't there for HTPC use. specially not for noobs. IF you don't fully know linux, don't even bother. specially the deep deep dives into linux.

The two absolute BEST PVR apps for htpc's, Media center (vista or windows 7) and then SageTV. Those are the ONLY two apps i'd even both recommending. Yes there is MythTV but I can't even tell you if the HD PVR is even support with mythtv or not.

HD PVR is support by SageTV that I can confirm.

- Josh