TV card or out

[MarchHare]

It's actually a TV-In card (also called a TV Tuner) that you're looking for (TV-Out lets you display your computer on a television).

Can you watch TV in a little window while doing something else?

Yes.

I've never used one before, but I have seen them, and the picture quality is decent enough.

Memory Express has this card for $70 with a remote or $45 without. That card goes in addition to your existing video card.

Your other option is to get a new video card which has a video capture feature included, such as ATI's All-In-Wonder line, although that's a much pricier solution. This card is $230.

[RougeUnderoos]

I don't know much about computers either but if it's 7 years old I gotta wonder if it could run such a thing and if it can, how slow will it make everything else go?

[I-Hate-Hulse]

A 7100 Pro translates to Geforce 2 MX400. Which in terms of modern GPU's makes you slightly below Hutterite and above Amish

I highly recommend one of the ATI All in Wonder Solutions with the Remote Wonder. That remote is a gem - it's RF not IR so it works through walls. You can also record digitally via inputs - you could hook up a VCR and turn it into a AVI file for example. I'll warn you that this is extremely taxing on a computer so your results may vary. Now that I think about it, what kind of computer are you running? it may be too slow for a TV card.

Here's a better price on a card that elevates your graphic capabilities a fair bit too (up to Edmontonian ) Same card as MarchHare's but $30 cheaper and you have Futureshop's 30 day return policy to ditch it if you computer's not up to snuff.

Link

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally posted by fotze@Jun 28 2005, 07:59 PM
So your saying a whole computer replacement would be good?

It depends - what are you using it for, other than the video in?

Are you or are you planning to:

- Play a lot of games?
- If so are they hard core 1st player shooters like Doom?
- or Sport sims like NHL 2005?
- are you using mainly MS Office / e-mail?
- Photoshopping a lot?
- how much would you do with video capture?

[MolsonInBothHands]

My wife's computer has a TV tuner card in it. I think it cost me about $50 from memory express. It doesn't seem to tax the computer all that much. She is self employed, and her time billed expotentially increased when she could do her work and not miss her TV. Best $50 business investment I have ever made.

You can size the window with the TV to whatever you want, or make it full screen, or actually make the desktop a tv screen, keeping the icons over top of what you are watching. You can also set up the computer to record shows to the hard drive, although I always run out of disk space when I try.

[Hack&Lube]

I use an addon TV Tuner card. It's not a TV-out card. TV-out means there's an output for your computer to connect to your TV or home theatre so it's the opposite of what you need.

You need a TV-in card, something with a TV-tuner so that it can get cable channels. I personally use an addon card that is PCI, as I find that with all in one solutions (albeit the all-in-wonders are amazing) mean you have less choice if you need to upgrade.

I did once have the cable split off from my cable modem to try it out in another room once and it worked but I just use the jack that's in this part of my house normally as part of my cable plan.

Something that might be cheaper is some sort of a capture card, I wish these were more abundant, some sort of card that only had RCA inputs. Then you could just take an old VCR and use it as the TV-Tuner and remote and connect the VCR to your computer to do all the work and save you money.

Right now infact, I do have a VCR connected to my TV in because it also helps me in converting old videotapes to digital format but the quality of the connection isn't so great.