Are All Digital Pc Tuners Hd? And Other ?s, And are all created equal? Options

[Guest_Jayk_*]

I've decided to get a HD tuner so I can FINALLY watch digital tv and HD tv in my bedroom.

A search on ebay reveals that almost all ebay digital tv tuners claim to be HD, from the 20 dollar ones to the 200 dollars ones. Are they all "really" HDTV? I've seen some say "high quality tv" instead of "high definition", so is "high quality" the same as HD, or is it only like DVD quality?

I imagine that software is where it's really at, so can I get a tuner and then just download good software off limewire? Or do I have to have "matching" hardware

I'm using a 19" LCD at a native 1280 x 1024 resolution, is that HD? Will I get the full picture for widescreen tv? (I hate missing out the corners and I hate not having the option of getting a widescreen image fullscreen!)

And finally, I was told this dual tuner from digital now.com was a great buy, but do I need to pay 200 dollars for HD TV? And do I need dual tuner to watch one channel and record another (which is important I guess).

And yeah, my machine can handle it I hope, saved for ages to get a 2.4Ghz AMD and 7800 GT videocard.

Thank you for your help I tried googling these answers, but it is hard to know, seems every site is more interested in selling you something than informing you.

[rosco99]

I've decided to get a HD tuner so I can FINALLY watch digital tv and HD tv in my bedroom.

A search on ebay reveals that almost all ebay digital tv tuners claim to be HD, from the 20 dollar ones to the 200 dollars ones. Are they all "really" HDTV? I've seen some say "high quality tv" instead of "high definition", so is "high quality" the same as HD, or is it only like DVD quality?

As far as I have ever seen all Digital TV tuners will receive HD & SD. The most important thing is your signal strength and cable quality, the next is the Software. I have used Digital Now card and software for 18 months. Their support is first class and they regularly contribute on this forum and are continually upgrading their software. It is arguably the best for multiple cards. You will need two cards or a dual card if you want to watch one show and record another.
Digital Now's website has a good descriptor to help you choose the card most suitable for you.
You can get full screen on all channels--I do on my 42" plasma.
You will need the software to match your card. Although with DNTVLive you can have one of their cards plus a different one and it works fine. You can't use their software without one of their cards.

This post has been edited by rosco99: Oct 18 2006, 02:15 PM

[stevedee3]

The difference between SD and HD is all software. All the hardware does is grab the MPEG transport stream off the air. It's the software's job to find and decode pictures and sounds.

With respect to filling your 19 inch monitor with a widescreen picture, you have two choices. Either you have black bars at the top and bottom, or you lose the sides of the picture. I'm assuming that your 1280x1024 monitor is a 4:3 aspect ratio. Widescreen TV is 16:9, so it'll only exactly fill a monitor with that aspect ratio. Most (all?) widescreen LCDs are 16:10 (eg. 1680x1050) , so you get slight black bars if you want to see the whole image.

Hope this helps.