TV Tuners... 1

[sone4200]

Looking to get a TV Tuner, but confused on what to get. I want to be able to connect only my digital cable (Insight). I have an HD monitor, and getting HD channels would be great. I'm confused only as to this digital conversion thing thats happening.

What technology would I need? I think analog MAY work, as our cable company has built in converters. But, as for HD? What is ATSC, and all those other options?

USB or internal better?

A few of my options I have been looking at are:
Pinnacle PCTV HD Stick USB 2.0 TV Tuner
MSI VOX II USB Pen Drive TV Tuner
KWorld USB ATSC/Analog TV Stick (ATSC 330U)**
Pinnacle - PCTV HD mini Stick USB 2.0 TV Tuner
KWorld PlusTV HD PCI-115 ATSC HDTV TV Tuner Card

The one marked with ** I heard good things about

 

[paparazi]

For starters I'm no expert...but what I do know is Digital is definately the way to go as the analogue signal is slowly being phased out (turned off)
Also, internal PCI/PCIe cards are always going to be better than using external plug in types with the limitations of USB2 bus BUT! the convenience of a dongle type that can be shared with other users maybe prefered for laptops.
So for desktop....internal (in my opinion)
I also understand that digital tuners that have 'twin tuner' capability are prefered because they offer additional features such as: viewing one channel whilst recording another etc and much more...
Software is the king.....so good support and utilities that generally come from the bigger brands is desireable.
Now I'm sure others will be able to be more specific than me about brands/models etc.
Martin

On wings like angels whispers sweet
my heart it feels a broken beat
Touched soul and hurt lay wounded deep
Brown eyes are lost afar and sleep

 

[BadBigBen]

Paparazi hit the nail right on...

What is ATSC, and all those other options?

ATSC stands for Advanced Television Systems Committee, which is a standard (?) to replace the aging NTSC TV standard used in the US... other words it is DIGITAL...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATSC_Standards

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[Lemon13]

as an addition 2 Paparazis post, get one with a at least mpeg2, better mpeg4 hardware encoding, and of course digital.