It looks like this one is able to receive both over the air and cable digital signals so it will be good for the big switch. As for the card itself, I am not too familiar with TV tuner cards so I cannot say about the quality. I am interested though. I have been thinking about building a HTPC.
yea... i've posted on a few different forums but I haven't really gotten many responses and I don't want the sale to expire, so I'm just gonna go and buy it now.
thanks for your feedback! As far as HTPC's go... I want to convert my computer into one, but I don't intend to watch TV "through" my computer. I'll have my cable connected to the television... but I want the tv tuner card so I can record shows that I miss because I don't have PVR... :)
sorry to reopen a fairly old thread but at least BoxyBrown showed interest, and maybe others will to so I thought I'd give a little feedback after I purchased the visiontek tv tuner hd 650 pci-e.
So the hardware is amazing. compared to a tube tv the reception is virtually identical on standard definition channels, and over 90% as good on the HD feeds compared to my samsungHDTV...
The bundled software is horrendous... don't even bother installing it, especially if you are using vista sp1 because windows media center is by far the superior software compared to the ati media center.
Also, I purchased this card for around 70 dollars including shipping... I didn't want to invest a lot of money because I was worried the quality may not be as good as I want. In retrospect, I HIGHLY recommend 2 things:
1. Do NOT buy a visiontek model of the ati HD 650. as I said, the hardware is great... but visiontek tech support is awful, and even their forums are completely useless... You're better off spending an extra 20 dollars or so and getting it from one of the other ati affiliates.
2. The remote that came with this thing is also crap. It gets the job done, as it's better then sitting by the computer and using the keyboard/mouse... but there are waaaaay better options out there... companies like MSI bundle the ati remote wonder pro which is significantly better... or buy this without the remote bundle, and instead purchase the microsoft media center remote which is like 30 dollars (I would opt for this option since I recommend you use microsoft media center anyway, and you'll get the most mileage from their own remote)
All in all, i'm very happy that I purchased the HD 650... however I will never purchase another visiontek product.
