Recommend a TV tuner?

[zami]

Recommend a TV tuner?

I have two Ubuntu boxes I'd like to get TV tuners onto - one desktop, one notebook.

The desktop has a few free USB2 ports, and some interior slots (not sure what sort - I'll have to crack it open to see).

The notebook has a few free USB2 ports, and one free PCMCIA slot.

Is there any difference or benefit between PCMCIA, USB, and interior slots? What about the exterior tuner boxes?

Also, when shopping around, are there any brands, types, features, etc I should avoid?

If it makes any difference, I'm hoping to hook up to a plain analog coax cable - no HD needed.

If there is a thread somewhere already discussing such things I would appreciate a pointer to it.

Thanks!

-zami

[Periswell]

most will work. i have a compro videomate dvb-t200 and that works. i really demends on what program you are going to use (eg. mythtv, linuxmce, kaffeine).

-joshua

[zami]

Thanks!

I guess I just don't understand why the great price variances. Some differences are obvious - like HD or not, radio or not, comes with a remote or not, etc, but there have been a few examples where the only difference I can see is brand name, and price.

I don't have my heart set on software yet. I was leaning towards MythTV, but only because I'm more familiar with the name. LinuxMCE intimidates me. I didn't like Kaffeine as a music player, but I'd give it a try again as a TV player.

-zami

[Macintosh SE]

I have been using the Hauppauge PVR-150 MCE since December 2007. It works beautifully, but I was completely unable to find any working GUI tools for it. Therefore, I wrote my own shell script to set up recordings. If you can find one of these cards, buy it. I highly recommend them.

[Merovius]

I've used the ATI TV Wonder Pro PCI card for a couple versions now without any problems.

TV Time runs it perfectly.