Hi everyone,

Just wondering if there are any TV Tuner cards/programs that will up the quality of a SD channel? I can't see how it would ever get as good as HD, but if it gets somewhat close it might solve some of my problems with the whole HD to PC issue. Thanks for your help!

Dave.

I just bought an ATI TV Wonder 650 PCI Express (NOT the PCI model) card. This card has dual tuners (one ATSC and one NTSC) that can be used simultaneously (the analog tuner can also be used for FM should one prefer). The best part about this card is the signal quality. I can't believe the improvement over my old ATI HDTV Wonder. It even does a better job than my LG tuner on weak stations (WNYO-DT is flawless on this card). Overall, I'm very impressed!

From the HVR-1600 product description:

If you live in an area where you can receive both ATSC digital and analog TV over the air, you can switch between analog and digital channels automatically.

Is this a true statement, i.e. is the NTSC tuner capable of detecting OTA channels 2-69 vs cable. I'm trying to decide if I need to hang on to my old TV tuner for analog.

Imaham

Imaham,

I have read the features on the 1600 on hauppauges web page and don't see this mentioned. Did I miss it or did you get that statement somewhere else?

Imaham,

I have read the features on the 1600 on hauppauges web page and don't see this mentioned. Did I miss it or did you get that statement somewhere else?
I got it from:
http://hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr1600.html
Under the heading:
WinTV-HVR-1600 has these great features
It's the 5th bullet in the list.
The reason I ask is, I don't have cable, so a cable-only tuner is useless to me (except for channel 2-13). Maybe this is the wrong thread ?

You can switch from analog cable to antenna (analog or NTSC) easily on the 1600/1800. You CAN'T switch from QAM to antenna since they use the same input.

mr_raider, thanks. Not sure I understand the difference between switching and configuration (as far as the NTSC tuner is concerned). Because I don't have cable, I was hoping I could at least attach a separate antenna to the "cable/QAM/analog/NTSC/TV Connector for Cable TV" tuner on the 1600, and use it as if it were a non-cable NTSC TV. Would that restrict me to the VHF channels (2-13) or would I be able to receive channels 14-69 also. I wondered if anyone tried it because it's not mentioned in the Quick Installation Guide (pdf) as a possibility. The product description refers to "analog TV over the air", but that's possibly a syntax/typo error.

Imaham

Go to Hauppauge's web site and download the manuals for the 1600/1800 and look at the connectors. You can have two simultaneous inputs and each input has different fucntions.

The reason there are 2 inputs is because there are 2 tuners. One is for ATSC and in my proposed configuration would be used for receiving HDTV. It's the other tuner (the top connector on the PCI card) which I'm confused about. It's a "standard definition" NTSC tuner which most people will attach to their cable (which comes from their cable TV supplier).

What I'm trying to find out is, if I don't have a Cable TV supplier, can I hook this top connector up to my own dedicated TV Antenna and use it to receive over-the-air signals on standard NTSC from UHF channels 14 through 69, or is it restricted to the channels supplied by the cable TV companies. VHF channels 2 - 13 are common between cable suppliers and OTA, so that's not an issue, only the UHF channels from 14 - 69 would be affected.

I apologize for not explaining my question very well. I was hoping somebody else might have tried it, and can confirm the claim by Hauppauge that the NTSC input (the top connector on the card) works on either cable or antenna.

Yes, on the HVR-1600/1800, there are 3 F-Type inputs.

ATSC: Mainly used for Clear QAM or Digital OTA(VHF/UHF)
NTSC: Mainly used for Analog Cable or Analog OTA (VHF/UHF).
FM: Well.. FM Radio!

I am currently using a pair of HVR-1800 with ATSC(Digital OTA) and NTSC(Analog OTA) plugged into the card working without any issues. Please note that both tuners (ATSC and NTSC) can work at the same time for a total of 4 recordings in my configuration.

Thanks so much, now I can order my HVR-1600 without WAF problem.

Anyone tried the Sapphire Theatrix 650 that comes with software and remote ??

I used a Sapphire 550 for two years and was very satisfied. The 650 adds ATSC support I believe, so I can't comment on that since it's new, but playback and capture in NTSC was flawless.

Mine came bundled with BTV 3.5 which is excellent software, but no remote. I finally went with a Hauppauge 1800 to replace the 550 this year, since I wanted something on PCI-E, with ATSC support..

Thanks for the reply.

I want to know if the software in the 'retail' Sapphire Theatrix 650 comes with a TV application that supports EPG and closed captioning. They are not putting ATI MMC on the box so I doubt if they are coming with the ATI software like the Visiontek etc.

I certainly won't mind if BTV is included and wound support the above functions for ATSC tuning.

I e-mailed Hauppauge today about the new HD-PVR, and was told that they've "slipped" on their release date, now looking at a late april-may release.

I may be having second thoughts about an HTPC, slightly. The HD-PVR would really make things so much easier for me and my setup.

Anyway, just thought I'd give everyone an update.

I just bought a Avermedia Combo PCI White box dual tuner card from newegg for $89.99 plus shipping. The card works great has 1 NTSC tuner and 1 ATSC/QAM tuner. ATSC tuner has great sensitivity I get more HDTV channels on it than either of my TV's, HDTV wonder or Technisat AirStar HD-5000. I am currently just using the Avermedia software that came with it on Windows XP and plan to upgrade that pc to Vista to try that out. The other two cards run on Myth.

Links to the card:

http://www.aver.com/mpd/combopcie.html

I am unable to find software that will create a DVD that I can watch on an ordinary DVD player.

The last software I tried was "ImTOO MPEG to DVD Converter" but it strangely converts files that was transmitted in HD but were originally re-transmission of SD ok, as I get video and audio stream to the DVD player but those recorded of HD source without the video and only the audio on the player.

Do you know what conversion software works.

I just split the signal going into that first feeds a VCR..so I can record on VCR directly with SD NTSC

Stuart
P4
ATI AIW9600 has NTSC tuner

ConvertXtoDVD

Towerpower, see my reply (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=718455&postcount=2) in your other similar post.

Just a quick question. My plan is to use Vista to watch TV from my Starchoice reciever, and eventually get the HD PVR when it comes out. For the time being will any cheap tuner work? And do I need a NTSC or a ATSC if it is coming out of the starchoice reciever?

Thanks!