i just got a new computer with windows media center thinking it would come with the tv tuner hardware. it didn't. so now i'm looking to buy and install one. any recommendations? i looked at the dell website but really don't know what the difference is in all the products other than price: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productlisting.aspx?Page=productlisting.aspx&spagenum=1&items_per_page=25&orderby=final_price+DESC&sortdirection=&image_flag=True&show_summary=True&category_id=6172&brandid=&sku=&mnfsku=&SearchType=&Pageb4Search=&ModelSelection=&iCompatid=&selectiontypeids=&l=en&c=us&cs=19&SubmitSearch=&servicetag=&ManufactSelection=&ModelName=&category_name=&RPU=&reset=True&k=&mnf=&prst=&prEnd=&InStock=&refurbished=&fe=

any help would be greatly appreciated

10/16/2005 5:03:56 PM

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/ProductDetail.aspx?sku=A0429053&Page=productlisting.aspx&spagenum=1&items_per_page=25&orderby=final_price%20DESC&sortdirection=&image_flag=True&show_summary=True&category_id=6172&brandid=&mnfsku=&SearchType=&Pageb4Search=&ModelSelection=&iCompatid=&selectiontypeids=&l=en&c=us&cs=19&SubmitSearch=&servicetag=&ManufactSelection=&ModelName=&category_name=&RPU=&reset=True&k=&mnf=&prst=&prEnd=&InStock=&refurbished=&fe=

get this, thought u can find it slightly cheaper elsewhere

10/16/2005 5:11:24 PM

Don't get teh PVR-150, get the PVR-500

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815116628

10/16/2005 5:18:45 PM

^ that one costs more because it comes with media center, which i already have. i like the 150 because you can edit stuff out unlike some of the ones i've found. how difficult are these things to install for the not so computer savvy?

10/16/2005 5:24:15 PM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122221

10/16/2005 5:30:31 PM

^^Are you sure it actually comes with MCE? It doesn't sound like it from the description, and I think it would be at least $100 more if it actually did.

10/16/2005 9:57:06 PM

well i'm not positive but it had it listed in the product title. but it comes with a dual tuner which i don't really need or want to pay extra for.

10/17/2005 9:56:20 AM

"Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500 MCE White box WinTV-PVR-500MCE Windows XP Media Center Edition - Retail"

MS MCE /Edition/
its designed to work for MCE, but will probably work just fine in anything else, one guy mentioned linux in the reviews..

its more expensive 'cause its a better card
but if you dont want more than you need, go ahead with the 150 I 'spose

10/17/2005 10:39:12 AM

the pvr-500 says it doesn't come with a dvd decoder.
is this something i would need?

10/17/2005 11:06:02 AM

got the 500 works great. also a dual tuner card means you can watch one while recording another so it is something you need to consider

might want to compare to other cards though since I've read others might yield better image quality,

the MCE reference is intended to denote that this product is only supported for MCE though I'm sure someone has churned out their own linux drivers or the like

there is a hardware mpeg 2 encoder onboard but not a decoder so you would have to buy or download and mpeg-2 software decoder to be able to view the images on the computer


[Edited on October 18, 2005 at 1:56 AM. Reason : can't type]

10/18/2005 1:54:33 AM

well i don't think i'd use the dual tuner, but i do want one with great image quality since I have
a digital flatscreen monitor. Does anyone know a great tuner that gives excellent video quality?

10/18/2005 11:19:47 AM

ok, here's a breakdown of the Hauppauge PVR tuners

first off, the MCE version just means it dosen't come with any extra software or a remote.

PVR-150 - It's you're basic TV tuner card, it has no hardware mpeg compression, thus uses more of the computer power

PVR-250 - Same as above, but it has a hardware MPEG encoder, so the computer works a lot less.

PVR-350 - Hardware MPEG encoder and decoder, which would be good if you wanted to ouptut to a TV also

PVR - 500 - basically two PVR-250's in a single card - just record two things at once or record on thing and watch another at the same time

Oh yeah, and Hauppauge cards are generally regarded as the best cards around

Good Luck!

10/18/2005 1:06:11 PM

what about the leadtek pvr-2000?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122200

sounds like a good card and got great reviews

i'm not to worried about the speed because i have a new computer running at 2.8GHz with an Intel
Pentium D processor and 1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz

[Edited on October 18, 2005 at 1:20 PM. Reason : .]

10/18/2005 1:16:50 PM