ATI AIW 8500DV vs seprate tv tuner

[oxymoron]

i wanted to know which is better: ATI radeon AIW 8500DV w/ 64 MB of onboard ram, firewire ect. OR a $100 graphics card and seprate TV tuner? i want to build a new comp in march, and i was wondering, based on EXPERIENCE which is the better solution. i read all the reviews, and it seems like the 8500DV is a good card, but then i read the comment section, and its 50/50. i dont know much about the seprate TV tuner, and if any1 has good links, i wiould apricate it.

P.S.
i have lots of hardware questions coming... i am trying to build a sub $1000 system

[BuddhaTB]

I've never had an ATI product so I can't comment on your first question.

As for the TV tuner, there are many models to be found on the net. The downside is that not very many reviews have been written on TV tuner cards themselves. Most of the reviews out there cover the ATI AIW series of video cards that have built in tv tuners. I would just look through Newegg.com and read the reviews written by people who have bought the cards. I find that to be somewhat helpful when trying to decide on which hardware to get. Here's the link to the tv tuner section on Newegg.com
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.a ... n=tv+tuner


And if you haven't already figured it out, here's the Best place to buy computer hardware on the net.
www.Newegg.com

[Avatarew]

I've had extensive experience with both stand alone as well as AIW tv tuner solutions.

The stand alone will always have greater performance. Expect to pay about $80-$100 for a decent tv tuner card. Anything cheaper involves serious compromises in quality.

It really depends on how you will use the tv tuner. For occasional viewing or using as another tv the AIW may suit you. For serious storing/editing features a stand alone tv tuner is your only choice.

[oxymoron]

1st, thx 4 the info. i do want to record/edit shows, but now i have a new question. i dont want to spend more than $200 dollars for the graphic/tv tuner combo. what should i get? i dont want some cheapo graphic card (sis, matriox, ect). which has a better $100 or less solution: ATI or NVidia?
thx for your ans.

[cfitz]

Hey oxymoron, fix your signature! Unless I am missing some counter-culture reference or have forgotten how to apply the transitive property of logical reasoning, shouldn't it read:

"Nothing is better than eternal happiness. Ham sandwiches are better than nothing. Therefore, ham sandwiches are better than eternal happiness."

instead of:

"nothing is better than eternal happiness. Ham sandwiches are better than nothing. There for, ham sandwiches are better than nothing."

cfitz

[dodecahedron]

and at the same time fix the spelling error:

There for

[cfitz]

and at the same time fix the spelling error:

There for

I already had that in the fix, but wasn't going to bother pointing it out. I didn't want to push too hard...

By the way, dodecahedron, I can't believe you replied to my post and thus caught me in my edit of "cultural reference" to "counter-culture" refrence. (Upon some reflection I figured the counter-culture types would be more likely to deliberately violate the transitive property than the normal cultural types...)

cfitz

[Avatarew]

Not too bash you but you have to be realistic. If you used pricewatch or any other of price finder you would see the only possible AIW type that falls into your category of "quality" is a Radeon 8500DV.

Ask yourself: do you need another graphics card? Or do you need tv tuner? Because the answers will be different for each question.

For $100 or less it is neither ATI nor Nvidia. It is either a Pinnacle or Hauppauge tv tuner PCI card (never use USB version.)

[dodecahedron]

and at the same time fix the spelling error:

There for

I already had that in the fix, but wasn't going to bother pointing it out. I didn't want to push too hard...

By the way, dodecahedron, I can't believe you replied to my post and thus caught me in my edit of "cultural reference" to "counter-culture" refrence. (Upon some reflection I figured the counter-culture types would be more likely to deliberately violate the transitive property than the normal cultural types...)

cfitz

i like ham sandwiches...

[dodecahedron]

anyway, oxymoron is correct:

nothing is better than eternal happiness. Ham sandwiches are better than nothing. There for, ham sandwiches are better than nothing.

as far as logical reasoning goes, this is true; since

Ham sandwiches are better than nothing. There for, ham sandwiches are better than nothing.

is a true statement.

[dodecahedron]

besides, considering his hadle name, i would'nt be surprised if this is intentional.
counter culture!

oxymoron, whatddya say?

[dhc014]

I am extremely happy with my 8500DV. The Remote Wonder is fun, and it's nice to have one less card in my case. I kind of get annoyed when watching a "regular" television since I am used to the tiny pause between channel changes because of the digital tuner. Waiting for the channel to change on a TV set annoys me I bought my 8500DV about 2 months after its release and I think that the software and drivers have been greatly improved over time. I really don't have any problems with this card. It is not a very fast card due to the 5.5ns RAM and the core/mem clock frequencies of 210/190 respectively I would recommend either the 128MB AIW 8500 over this card if you want more speed.

[cfitz]

anyway, oxymoron is correct:

nothing is better than eternal happiness. Ham sandwiches are better than nothing. There for, ham sandwiches are better than nothing.

as far as logical reasoning goes, this is true; since

Ham sandwiches are better than nothing. There for, ham sandwiches are better than nothing.

is a true statement.

Ahh... going the tautology route, eh? Yes, I suppose that is a possibility, but then why lead off with "Nothing is better than eternal happiness?" Just to throw us off the trail?

cfitz

[cfitz]

By the way, oxymoron, if you do decide to go the AIW route, Best Buy has the 64MByte AIW 8500DV on sale for $149.99 after MIR this week:

http://www.bestbuy.com/Detail.asp?m=488 ... e=11101499

(I thought I would add something constructive to make up for the ham sandwich debacle I started... )

cfitz

[oxymoron]

thx for the responces (and fixing my quote)

[cfitz]

i like ham sandwiches...

Hmmm???

cfitz

[dodecahedron]

yes.
especially ham and cheese sandwiches!