Best TV Tuner card that is also good at capturing?

[Gazza]

I am looking for a TV Tuner card that also has hardware encoding features like MPEG and stuff. I have a really cheap Happauge TV tuner card I bought lke 2 years ago that can only capture uncompressed, but it's a pain to capture uncompressed. My system is a 3.0ghz P4 with a gig of RAM if that helps.

If it I could also hook up the red, yellow, and whit composite connectors that would be great.

I am pretty much just going to be watching TV with this, playing video games (that's why the composite connectors would be a plus) and capturing VHS tapes / TV shows for burning to VCD or DVD.

Thanks.

Also, if you could keep the price under $100 that would be great, but I don't know if that's possible.

[presto]

I have an ATI All I Wonder Radeon 7500 on one computer and the older ATI All In Wonder Radeon on another. They both work fine on my XP systems with the latest drivers installed. Maybe you can find a deal on the older card on ebay.

[Gazza]

Well, I was kind hoping for a stand alone TV Card / Capture card since I already have a Radeon 9800 pro (it's not AIW, though).

[freestyler]

Thought about the TV Wonder? Also made by ATI, pretty nice card - it's the same thing as the TV tuner / capture device built onto the All In Wonder cards.

[lordsmurf]

Thought about the TV Wonder? Also made by ATI, pretty nice card - it's the same thing as the TV tuner / capture device built onto the All In Wonder cards.

No it is not. The TV Wonder has a BT chipset, and the ATI AIW Radeon is a Theatre chipset, and twice the card of the BT.

[freestyler]

Thanks for the clarification Smurf - I ASSumed it was, hehe.

It is a viable option for him though.

[lordsmurf]

No problem, we're all learning something on these boards.

Anyway, given that he/she doesn't want to give up the AGP card already in the system, that ATI TV card will probably work.

Just be aware of its limitations regarding resolutions and audio sync issues, as well as the inability to be used past ATI MMC 7.9 (though I hear there are hacks to get to 8.0).

However, it's still better than most other sub-$100 cards out there. But honestly not a vast improvement over the user's current capture card.

The other option is a PCI ATI AIW 7000 or 7200 card. That may even give the user the option for multiple monitor displays, which isn't too shabby. Those can be found on eBay and other places for about $75. I have one, and it's great.

Maybe look into the ATI 7500 VE PCI cards, as they are PCI versions of the ATI AIW 7500 cards from what I've heard and was able to discern off a box. Still haven't seen the chipset though, so I won't swear by it.

[scottvf]

I will never buy an ATI video card again. The drivers SUCK!! I've talked with several people and they all had problems with drivers. And pc magazines say the same thing about their drivers, and customer service isn't much help.
I use Leadtek's video card and a friend is going to get their tv capture card. I use leadtek's video card to capture (vivo) for capturing vhs tapes.
The Card is Winfast TV2000 XP Deluxe
http://www.leadtek.com/multimedia.html

[lordsmurf]

I will never buy an ATI video card again. The drivers SUCK!!

This depends mainly on which card it was. Some of the lower-end cards levae much to be desired. And some system hardware is not compatible with an ATI (cheap soundcards and VIA KTX133 mobo).