[jgraymanutd]

Hi folks,

I am wondering if someone can give some help on the best tv capture cards around that aren't too expensive. i've looked on ebay and there are some at just £5, but surely too good to be true...

[emptybox]

Do you mean a video capture card or a TV tuner card?

[peter3hg]

I was going to say a Black Gold card but then I noticed you were talking about £5 tuners. They won't be very good. Until you get up to maybe £40 for a Hauppauge or similar I would steer clear.

[Stig]

Originally Posted by jgraymanutd

Hi folks,

I am wondering if someone can give some help on the best tv capture cards around that aren't too expensive. i've looked on ebay and there are some at just £5, but surely too good to be true...

What do you want to do with it? Watch Freeview, freesat..?

[jgraymanutd]

Originally Posted by Stig

What do you want to do with it? Watch Freeview, freesat..?

I have a friend on a tv programme in a few weeks time, so for recording off live tv, and to keep rather than just sky +ing etc.

My friend's son has a roxio capture thing for his games console, case plugging in leads and on the PC you see the xbox picture. Looking for something along those lines.

Sorry not techy savy at things like this.

[Smudged]

Originally Posted by peter3hg

I was going to say a Black Gold card but then I noticed you were talking about £5 tuners. They won't be very good. Until you get up to maybe £40 for a Hauppauge or similar I would steer clear.

I once bought a USB Freeview tuner from ebay for £5 and it worked perfectly in Windows 7. I'd still be using it today if I hadn't switched to Freesat.

[emptybox]

Originally Posted by jgraymanutd

I have a friend on a tv programme in a few weeks time, so for recording off live tv, and to keep rather than just sky +ing etc.

My friend's son has a roxio capture thing for his games console, case plugging in leads and on the PC you see the xbox picture. Looking for something along those lines.

Sorry not techy savy at things like this.

I think you are talking about a video capture device like this?
That would take the signal from the scart out on your TV (via a scart adaptor) and allow you to record it on your computer, using appropriate software.

That's one way of doing it, but I think you'd get better results using a device with it's own tuner.
I use this one, which cost about £15, and works great with Windows 7 Media Center. If you only have XP then you can use the software that comes with it.
I can't find that specific one on ebay, with a quick search, but there are similar ones on there.
The only snag is that you have to connect your TV aerial to it, because the supplied mini-aerial only works if you have an exceptional signal.

[Smudged]

Originally Posted by emptybox

I use this one, which cost about £15, and works great with Windows 7 Media Center. If you only have XP then you can use the software that comes with it.
I can't find that specific one on ebay, with a quick search, but there are similar ones on there.
The only snag is that you have to connect your TV aerial to it, because the supplied mini-aerial only works if you have an exceptional signal.

That's the one I got from ebay a while ago and I managed to find it here. I think that's actually the seller I bought it from, now using a different name. This model is better than most of the other cheap ones on ebay as it has a standard aerial connection rather than a horrible mini aerial port. It's only a single tuner and it won't give you the HD channels but it's cheap and works surprisingly well.

I think whichever one you get you have to use a decent aerial (i.e. the main outdoor aerial) as indoor aerials aren't usually up to the job unless you have very good reception in your area.. Also, the software is usually bad and not worth bothering with so it's better to use MediaPortal or another free alternative if Windows Media Centre is not an option.