HD Tuner for PC

[mwgwin]

Anyone dabbled in running their off the air HD through a card in their PC? I see ATI has a "THeater 550" card that looks like it would work. I figure that way, I can just record onto my hard drive and save myself from buying a DVR. Just curious if it works well and if you need a powerhouse PC (or video card) to make it worthwhile. I have an AMD 1.8Ghz, 1GB RAM, ATI Radeon 9600 Pro (128MB). Local shops dont seem to carry them so Im stuck buying from ebay where I cant return...just wanted to get some feedback first. Thanks in advance for the help.

Mike

[aud19]

I believe the Hauppage (sp?) card is considered the top product in this category. Someone correct me if I'm wrong...

[PewterTA]

Hauppage is the best, the processor might be a little bit slow...but it should still be decent enough. I recommend a 2.4Ghz min, usually.

[aud19]

Yeah but an AMD 1.8 is like a Pentium 3.0 :lol:

[audioqueso]

Yeah but an AMD 1.8 is like a Pentium 3.0 :lol:

No... not really. An AMD 1.8Ghz is not like a Pentium 3Ghz for straight encoding required by video or audio compressing. AMD will excel Intel is in 3D applications. For this, you might want more power.