TV Tuner card for Desktop PC

[Amarok]

I'm just curious if anyone has any recommendations for a decent TV tuner card to watch TV on my PC. I am currently using a PCTV HD 800i PCI card from Pinnacle. It works occasionally, and other times it inexplicably doesn't work at all. What do you guys use?

[jdcarpe]

When I had a HTPC running, I was using the HDHomeRun from Silicon Dust. It's external and connects to your LAN. Works very well.

My external HDD bought the farm, so I gave in and bought a Tivo.

[Hak Foo]

I use a Hauppauge HVR-1250.  It's basic and acceptable.  They annoyed me by trying to charge for software updates for people buying the cards OEM, so I'm not sure...

I've also had Dvico cards; theirs is the best pack-in software IMO, but my luck has been poor with them.  One blew up because I jostled it in an open install, one was faulty on arrival, and the other is lost in my parts bin.

I had a Leadtek card, and it came with lame software and virtually no ongoing support.

[josh6135]

I have a Hauppauge WinTV DCR-2650 Dual Tuner Cable Card TV Tuner, with a cable card and it works perfectly. I can record two things at once , which is a great feature. It works perfectly with Windows Media Center and it is overall a much faster experience compared to using a cable box. Also a cable card is usually under $3 per month while HD DVR cable boxes are usually way over $10 per month usually closer to $20.

[shawn o]

I used a cablecard provide by Comcast free of charge (by law). It goes into my pc via a Ceton cablecard tuner. I get all the HD channels as my TV does!

[rowdy]

I have a cheap Leadtek USB dongle.  It works intermittently - very intermittently.

Unfortunately the location of the computer is not convenient to run an aerial cable, so that is probably the reason.  Tried some rabbit ears on it, and it improved slightly.

The provided software is hideous.

[Amarok]

The  PCTV HD 800i PCI I use works perfectly sometimes, and other times the picture becomes horribly out of sync with the audio, the picture/audio stutter together, or one or the other stutters. It's super frustrating. I have Cox cable so I'm going to see if they offer sometimes like Comcast does for you, rowdy.

[rknize]

I use a couple of pcHD3000 cards, but they only work with QAM.  I use them with MythTV.

[TheProfosist]

I have a ceton usb and hauppauge colosus. I have setup pcs with the highest end hauppauge dual tuner as well.

[Rafen]

+1 for hauppauge.

I have one of these in my computer now, can't remember which model, but this thing works every time and works amazing. You won't regret spending the money on one.