On The Search For A TV Tuner

[Skrying]

Okay, so I'm looking for a $50ish TV Tuner. Now, I have some noob questions:

Will a TV Tuner work with a service like Direct TV? (I feel so stupid right now)
What are some of the key features I should look for?

The only real thing I need from it is to work with Direct TV, be able to record TV to my PC (I'll use this rarely, but it would be nice) and it MUST have a remote even if not a awesome remote, it just needs to have one.

Thanks for any recommends and advice.

 

[see colon]

get one that has a hardware encoder. if you're using it with a service like direct TV you really don't need a remote for your tuner for most stuff, because you'll be changing channels ect with the DTV remote. i guess one could come in handy for recording stuff from a distance...

i've found AVS forum to be pretty decent when looking for user reviews of HTPC stuff. you might look around there.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/

 

[Skrying]

From doing some reading, I think I'll probably go a bit over my budget and get the Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150. Is this a good choice? From what I've read its one of the better ones.

 

[Tim]

From doing some reading, I think I'll probably go a bit over my budget and get the Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150. Is this a good choice? From what I've read its one of the better ones.

´

I have a PVR-150 and am very happy with it. It is way better than the cheapo philips based cards that I also own. I have not compared to any cards in the same price range. The MPEG accelrated recording works great and the card is basically compatible with all the 3rd party software out there (if you don't like WinTV2000).

 

[Simon F]

Okay, so I'm looking for a $50ish TV Tuner. Now, I have some noob questions:

Will a TV Tuner work with a service like Direct TV? (I feel so stupid right now)
What are some of the key features I should look for?

Excuse my ignorance, but what is "Direct TV"?

Where do you live? Do you have terrestrial DVB broadcasts?

 

[Rys]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is "Direct TV"?

I'm pretty sure he means DirecTV. They're a US satellite provider. I'm pretty sure there are some tuners out there that'll work with it, too.

 

[Skrying]

Rys is right.

I think I'm going to get the Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150. I'll get back to you on how well it works.