TV tuner card for digital recording on laptop

[xcaptain_jackx]

I am just starting to learn to author DVD's and use my new recording software, and I have a question. I have an XP MCE 2005 laptop, but unfortunately it came without a TV tuner. I want to buy a good quality card, but I'm looking for a reasonable price (under $100). I wanted to use my computer instead of purchasing a Tivo or other DVR system, but I can't take advantage of Media Center until I get a Tuner. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be very grateful.

[redwudz]

You could look at this one at Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814100016 It appears to be MCE compatible. But note that it does not work with digital HDTV.

An alternative might be a USB type tuner. This one from Hauppauge looks interesting: http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_hvr950.html

If you want HDTV options, cost is higher though: http://www.digitalconnection.com/Products/Video/fusion5usb.asp

Those are all just suggested options. I don't necessarily recommend any of them.

With MCE, you need a MCE certified product to fully work with the OS, so options may be somewhat limited, especially with a PCMCIA card.

But others may have better suggestions.

And welcome to our forums.

[edDV]

Laptops imply over the air reception rather than cable/dbs. The February 17, 2009 analog NTSC shutoff date is fast approaching. Keep that in mind when you buy portable analog TV tuners.

These aren't yet certified for MCE but are the tip of the future.
http://www.hauppauge.com/PAGES/products/data_hvr950.html
http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/157075.aspx
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3336&review=Hauppauge+TV+Tuner+Review

The major con is it does not have hardware MPeg2 encoding for analog inputs like the PVR series. You would need to use CPU power to encode analog in. ATSC inputs are already encoded to MPeg2_TS.