Thread: Help Needed : Buying TV Tuner/Capture Card

Originally Posted by H@rry

:clap: :thumbup:
hey buddy, can u plz post the screenshot of the captured video, if it's good enough, I will also buy the same, Pinnacle one is around Rs 2300...

and one question, wat does this mean
"* Captures video from S-Video or Composite input"
I mean will it work for both DTH and normal cable TV ??

ya this is what it means, it will record from dth services as well as anything which offers video out....

after my research what i found was that pinnacle uses greater cpu than other cards....the difference in quality is not so much that u spend double on it!
look at the humble intex above!, though intex is not good with video from dth, saw after searching here at IBB.

let the card arrive first i'll post a video for you... though i dnt know how gud will it be with the crappy cable available in my area.

i'm sure if it contains a philips chipset then it will definitely give good results.... and yes i'm sure its got the philips chip, 'Philips Semiconductors SAA7130' :thumbup: and it supports stereo while most don't.

this the full model no. PixelView PlayTV Pro 3 PV-A7130P. <--- this is the chip model.

lol ok np...i thought you have already installed it

Thanks for the info....waiting for the captured video !! :thumbup:

hey plz comment on the quality.

Plz send in pics of ur screen shots of ur recording.

my external tuner does everything mentioned above,except for timeshift thingy..

if u can find out what chipset ur card is running on we can figure out if it will support it or not prasun.

"Time-shifting

Time-shifting is another compelling reason to go digital. Quite simply, time-shifting allows the viewer to pause a live TV broadcast and then resume it later on. Imagine you're watching a show and the phone rings. You press pause and answer the phone, but the computer keeps receiving the digital content while the show is paused. This information is written to the hard disk until you press pause again and continue playback. At this point, the recording will continue to buffer to the hard disk while you catch up. Using time-shifting, you can sit down to watch a half-hour show ten minutes after it started, and then press fast-forward to speed through all the advertisements while you're watching.

Time shifting also allows you to record shows and watch them later, and because digital TV is broadcast as an MPEG-2 stream, the computer only needs to decode the broadcast if it's playing it back. So, if you're not watching while you're recording, the PC can simply save the stream directly to the hard disk, which requires relatively little processing power. Bear in mind that this takes a large amount of hard disk space (approximately 1MB per second for an SD stream), so you'll want to regularly archive any recorded footage by burning it to CD or DVD. Also, keep in mind that if you are recording programs to the hard drive, you will require a significantly higher storage capacity to record HD programs as it records at between 2-3MB per second. "

Good Gear Guide - Buying Guide - TV Tuner Cards

i have read the mnual very thoroghly after this discussion.it does not mention anywhere of such a capability..

wil it still be possible without hardware support??

i seriously don't know... i got the card today... it looks good. installed without troubles, remote is cute, pvr software is fine. but i still haven't got the cable split ...

it is giving me the usual white noise and the screeching sound it makes. cudnt figure out how to start the fm though...

which model finally??
why do you need to split the cable??
do you mean the cable-tvs cable??

An offtopic query. Any ideas about the cost of cables per meter which are being used for cable tv transmission. Also the cost of splitter. I shall be needing these as soon as i buy the tv tuner card.

here in delhi,cables cost 15rs/m..
splitter would be for a sub-100 price tag definitely!!

now something bad has happened... after i inserted the IR wire in the jack and switchd on the comp its no longer showing up on my hardware list. !!! i changed the slot restarted removed the IR cable still not showing up!!?? now what...

have you tried using the usb cable??

does it have a usb cable??

and now after trying all three pci slots, when i inserted it in the first slot that i had installed it again comes up in the device manager...!

i was just going to call the shopkeeper.!... maybe the card was loose. or became misaligned after inserting the ir cable?

:lol:...i had thought i shorted something out on the damned thing

remote working great, skips sometimes but working. listenin to radio, and it sounds as a normal music system would sound :thumbup: one strange thing is that u can select radio only through the remote, as well as the source settings.

:clap:

When will you post the captured video ?? I'm eagerly waiting for it

i think tomorro, its probably gonna be the linea ad .. got the splitter but have to find some more stuff from the market to get the thing done.

harry if u wud like to buy it, here is the listing eBay India: PIXELVIEW PCI TV TUNER CARD INTERNAL PLAYTV PRO3 @4%VAT (item 370148809195 end time 28-Jan-2009 16:54:53 IST)

the seller is just great.

and its windows vista compatible.

the recorded fm has some treble lost, but i'm not looking forward to record songs .

maybe its some setting issue.

how much for the tv tuner?
where did u get it?

and above all,r u happy with the quality?

about the quality, i have yet to see the tv... the remote looks good tho misses sometimes and the buttons are kinda soft (i have been spoilt by sony in this regard) but get the job done very well, the card itself looks good, fm quality is very good.

got it for 1100bucks, splitter 100bucks... got it from ebay from a great seller at nehru place... m happy for now.

the remote's range is very good, and picks up signals from a lot left or right of it...

also the cable mess has multiplied behind the cpu 3times! and that too when i have added cable tv!

the cable mess... right!! the worst thing about deskops...
if i clean the back of my desktop table, there will be enough dirt to make a desert..so i just leave it there.

talkin bout dust, i cleaned the inside of my cpu before installing the card, the vacuum cleaner's filter had a ~1cm thick coat of dust when i finished :lol:!


Update
ok some more good news, i had noticed that the card had a stereo audio connector on the pcb itself, much like the power connector's found on graphics cards. thankfully i had a stereo cable linking my dvd writer to the motherboard, i took it out from the drive (since i rarely listen to audio through that line) and plugged it on the card.

switchd on the pvr app, selected internal streaming for audio and voila, the rear cable connecting the audio out and line in is gone! and the treble loss after recording (which i reported earlier) is also gone!! recording fm in perfect quality now and somewhat less of clutter behind :thumbup:

i cudnt resist posting this fact, the remote works at whatever angle (horizontal as well as vertical) you point it anywhere in my room! :w00t:

update
ok found u can change the source from mouse too.. but also found that the system is not able to record without the line-in being plugged in, i.e. i will have to disable internal streaming too, and the treble loss was probably due to the encoding of the audio file.

update

ok so i did not get the time to buy some plugs for the splitter and the end that goes into the card, but i just hooked it up to the card and scanned... the quality is very high, recording here Video rec

u will see quite a bit of disturbance, but remember its a temporary setup. its of star cricket, one of the channels received at better quality, ironically i hate cricket..

timeshifting is working like a charm on windvr, not tested on the software supplied though, it will probably use too much cpu on the bundled sw.

Just saw ur vid. Quality is good, but y is it stretched vertically ??

that was an aspect ratio issue... can easily change to anything... scanning with the bundled sw with much better results ...

i'm getting better reception on this sw than the tv itself!

hey i watchd the recording but i don't see it stretched? its normal 4:3.

nop not normal 4 me.

Its like 2inch width and full screen height.

Originally Posted by StarryKnight

talkin bout dust, i cleaned the inside of my cpu before installing the card, the vacuum cleaner's filter had a ~1cm thick coat of dust when i finished :lol:!

Is it safe to clean inside of the cabinet with a vacuum cleaner, there are delicate parts on the motherboard, isn't there any chance of damage to the IC's or any electronic hazard??

@danny not if u take care not to touch any component. i clean without a brush, hovering 1 cm above the board.

so i finally installed the cable after 6 long hours of working on it ... the reception is very good, some channels even look better than on the telly. but there's just one problem thats bugging me, there's interference with the cable and whenever i plug it in, i get a low hum from my computer's speakers..
i made sure to keep the cable away from all electrical appliaces but i thing the problem is coming from the pole itself... damnit.

found what the problem is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_loop_(electricity), How to Eliminate Hum or Buzz



i found one more thing, that the humming is being caused by the shield mesh inside the coaxial. i will try to disconnect it from the cable plug, hopefully that will solve the problem.

i was wrong, disconnecting the shield from the plug took away most of the signal instead of the hum :lol:...

Originally Posted by danny86

Is it safe to clean inside of the cabinet with a vacuum cleaner, there are delicate parts on the motherboard, isn't there any chance of damage to the IC's or any electronic hazard??

there are special vacuum cleaners for cleaning computers.they are very small and can be safely used for cleaning the cabinets.though i have only used them to clean the keyboard,i think they cn be used to clean the inside of the cabinet as well.