MCE TV Tuner Roundup: Featuring ATI's Theater 550 & NVIDIA's NVTV
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 12, 2005 6:26 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Fifth Place: NVIDIA NVTV
NVIDIA's NVTV launched alongside Media Center Edition 2005 as the first single-slot, dual tuner PCI card with MCE 2005 support. Despite the fact that it is a NVIDIA branded TV tuner, it uses a pair of LSI DVXPLORE codecs. These are the same codecs used on the eMuzed Maui board. However, given the large difference in image quality between the two boards, we'd say that NVIDIA's digital tuners are responsible for NVIDIA's 5th place showing in this comparison.
The convenience of having two tuners on a single PCI card is outweighed by the fact that the NVTV produced the most grainy image out of any of the cards in this comparison. The graininess was very detectable during normal viewing and it definitely impacted the experience.
NVTV
Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250
The NVTV card also exhibited a noticeable amount of ghosting around the Headline news bar at the bottom of the screen, an effect that wasn't present on any of the other tuners.
Note the ghosting above the topmost yellow line
Our final complaint with the NVTV card was related to its displaying of text - there was a lot of noise in any text that appeared on the screen. The text problem was actually one that's common to most of the TV tuners in this roundup, but the combination of that, the ghosting and the grainy picture assured NVIDIA's NVTV a last place showing in this roundup.
Note the artifacts over the letters "NCAA"
At $130 - $140 for a dual tuner card, the NVTV is fairly affordable, but considering the issues that we've had with it, we would not recommend it.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
61 Comments
View All Comments
vailr - Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - link
ATI’s TV Wonder Elite vs. eVGA's NVTV vs. Hauppauge PVR-150MCEhttp://www.techreport.com/reviews/2005q2/tuner-com...
Patman2099 - Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - link
I got a Theatrix 550, its got a theatre 550 chip, but its made by sapphire. its listed at about half the price of the ATI card reviewed. Looks exactly the same too.I love it, works flawlessly in my HTPC
LX - Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - link
Disappointed.Lots of fluff, less information.
Where is the software compatibility tests?
Where is the comparison of the MPEG-2 encoding?
Incorrect statements like:
"For example, the WinTV PVR-250 is identical to the PVR-500, although the latter has two tuners. The PVR-250 is also identical to the PVR-250MCE and the PVR-350."
Check http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/compare_pvr.html
Anand is getting sloppy.
segagenesis - Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - link
#37 - Yep. Ive seen piles of them at CompUSA. Not readily available... maybe in Neverland. Seeing how it IS readily available I would still count it as fair game :PsonicDivx - Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - link
hey, Cygni. Just checked Newegg, guess what PVR-150 instockhttp://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?desc...
mind you this is the retail version. Also the 150 has been out for some time. I've even seen it at CompUsa.
Also check out pcalchemy their prices are good. Also I trust HTPCNews or AVSForums more in terms on product reviews and knowledge on HTPC systems.
GoatMonkey - Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - link
Why is there a sudden interest in reviewing these products just 2 weeks after I make my decision and buy something? I searched everywhere I could think of to find any information about these cards. I finally decided on a Hauppauge 500, which I'm happy with btw, but it's still annoying to get a decent review just *after* I buy something.Next up you should do a comparison of the software side of this: Beyond TV, Myth TV, Windows MCE, Chris TV, etc. How about a comparison of video capture and editing software also. I guess Anand's reviews mostly software, but maybe some other site will pick up this idea. I'm having a great time with Beyond TV btw.
bupkus - Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - link
kjohnson,Perhaps you'd be happier in Red China where ideology police WATCH YOU!
leaglebob2 - Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - link
How can you do a video review and post captured pictures without stating what the capture parameters were? ((of the video stream--not the stills))BTW==what were they?
And assumng capturing was done "at the best settings" how about a review at the lower resolutions for those of us who record talk shows?
You did all that work, and then stopped short.
Thanks///bobbo.
Tiorapatea - Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - link
Oops, sorry, triple post.Tiorapatea - Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - link
"That all changed when Microsoft released Windows XP Media Center Edition. Bringing the first true 10-foot UI to the PC..."Whilst I don't generally like to nitpick too much, I do find the lack of attention given on this site to Linux solutions a bit puzzling. Linux is really not that hard to get going, particularly for enthusiasts. And Anandtech does, I believe, aim to cater for the enthusiast.