FD: PowerView TV TUNER/PVR W/REMOTE $29.99 NEW!! [Archive]

View Full Version : FD: PowerView TV TUNER/PVR W/REMOTE $29.99 NEW!!

Jon Lai

Sep 3rd, 2005, 08:23 AM

http://www.factorydirect.ca/WEB-COUPONS/B2SGGLE116.gif

Hot?
PowerView TV TUNER/PVR W/REMOTE
$29.99 BRAND NEW!!

edit: NOW $19.99 AFTER $10 REBATE!!

I tried doing some research online but couldn't find any reviews.. typical factorydirect. Anyone even heard of this before?

If the quality is acceptable, then this card would be great for those who don't want to invest a hundred dollars on those Hauppauge cards.

realize

Sep 3rd, 2005, 08:56 AM

u know if they have any free shipping with there orders?

dtcanada

Sep 3rd, 2005, 09:07 AM

u know if they have any free shipping with there orders?

I dont think there is free shipping at FD

Badman

Sep 3rd, 2005, 10:42 AM

Good price seeing that its brand new with a remote. ;)

ledorky

Sep 3rd, 2005, 10:57 AM

Is it Hardware encoding (doubtful) and is it compatible with MCE?

Jon Lai

Sep 3rd, 2005, 10:59 AM

All I'm concerned about is the quality, I really want a TV Tuner but don't want to pay $100 for a Hauppauge.

TheDoctah

Sep 3rd, 2005, 11:04 AM

I'm almost sure it wont work with MCE, however, for $29, even if the quality is mediocre......its really cheap.

With TV cards you kind of get what you pay for.

The best deal i've ever found on a TV card compatible with MCE and actually was rated 3rd when compared to ati, hauppage and nVidia's solutions, is the Emaui TV Tuner, it uses the nVidia chipset with a NEC tuner i believe. Good picture quality. You can get them off eBay shipped for like $40

There is a review of the card on Anandtech's website

silicone

Sep 3rd, 2005, 11:38 AM

Jon Lai

Sep 17th, 2005, 09:29 AM

Just got newsletter, FD is continuing this deal this week. So, anyone interested?

Nubee

Sep 17th, 2005, 10:23 AM

I have an ati tv wonder and the picture on my 20" lcd isn't that good even when tv size is small. I bet this isn't better than the one I have. Just wondering if those hauppauge pvr are any better, does anybody know?

chestnut

Sep 17th, 2005, 10:26 AM

Nubee

Sep 17th, 2005, 10:28 AM

TV Wonder looks a ton better with dscaler instead of the ATI software.

Is that a software I can download for free?

chestnut

Sep 17th, 2005, 10:29 AM

sigh.. just google it. It's on sourceforge

eloytron

Sep 17th, 2005, 10:29 AM

That remote looks exactly like the one that comes with the Twinhan Vision Plus cards used for Dvb-s.

Eduardo

Sep 17th, 2005, 10:31 AM

Well you get what you pay for.

If it's a hardware capture tuner then it costs more.
If it's software capture, then your computer needs to be more powerful, so it costs you more that way...

Sounds like this one is a roll of the dice.

djrobinn

Sep 25th, 2005, 07:49 PM

http://www.factorydirect.ca/WEB-COUPONS/B2SGGLE116.gif

Hot?
PowerView TV TUNER/PVR W/REMOTE
$29.99 BRAND NEW!!

I tried doing some research online but couldn't find any reviews.. typical factorydirect. Anyone even heard of this before?

If the quality is acceptable, then this card would be great for those who don't want to invest a hundred dollars on those Hauppauge cards.

Just bought it today... not bad at all guys... the remote doesn't look anything like it does in the picture.. so don't be fooled.

Quality is very good... even full screen on 1280 x 1025 x 60 MHz. No complaints.. especially for the price. Surprisingly enough, it comes with InterVideo WinDVR.. couldn't believe that they were giving that for free with a serial number and all... not bad.

Go ahead and buy it... the remote's not the greatest though.

yatko

Sep 25th, 2005, 08:03 PM

Just bought it today... not bad at all guys... the remote doesn't look anything like it does in the picture.. so don't be fooled.

Quality is very good... even full screen on 1280 x 1025 x 60 MHz. No complaints.. especially for the price. Surprisingly enough, it comes with InterVideo WinDVR.. couldn't believe that they were giving that for free with a serial number and all... not bad.

Go ahead and buy it... the remote's not the greatest though.

Can you try this with media portal?
http://mediaportal.sourceforge.net/
Especially report on the remote please.

Thanks

bloctete

Sep 25th, 2005, 08:08 PM

whats FD?

Jon Lai

Sep 25th, 2005, 08:10 PM

Just bought it today... not bad at all guys... the remote doesn't look anything like it does in the picture.. so don't be fooled.

Quality is very good... even full screen on 1280 x 1025 x 60 MHz. No complaints.. especially for the price. Surprisingly enough, it comes with InterVideo WinDVR.. couldn't believe that they were giving that for free with a serial number and all... not bad.

Go ahead and buy it... the remote's not the greatest though.

Wow.. this capture card is actually decent? I'm surprised. Is the brand really POWERVIEW or is it just rebranded? I was attracted to buy this when I was in the area last week (@Ikea) but wasn't sure of the actual quality since it was so cheap. Anyone else used it before?

BTW, can u take a picture of the actual remote? thhx.

Jeff146

Sep 25th, 2005, 08:37 PM

whats FD?

Factory Direct

djrobinn

Sep 25th, 2005, 08:55 PM

Can you try this with media portal?
http://mediaportal.sourceforge.net/
Especially report on the remote please.

Thanks

:mad: :( crashed and burned man... didn't work with Media Portal from sourceforge... said "No TV cards detected" sob sob sob... uninstalling now.

Jon Lai

Sep 25th, 2005, 09:02 PM

:mad: :( crashed and burned man... didn't work with Media Portal from sourceforge... said "No TV cards detected" sob sob sob... uninstalling now.

The capture card burned up?

lithiumli

Sep 25th, 2005, 10:06 PM

i think what he mean't was that the software didn't work with the card.

The capture card burned up?

andicus

Sep 25th, 2005, 11:24 PM

TV Wonder looks a ton better with dscaler instead of the ATI software.
Dscaler doesn't support Hauppauge PVR250 or PVR350 cards, or any ATI AIW cards? WTF?

Azenha

Sep 26th, 2005, 04:40 PM

Is it Hardware encoding (doubtful) and is it compatible with MCE?

You need a hardware encoding TV tuner card for MCE to recognize the card. The TV features of MCE will not function with non-hardware cards. This card is NOT a hardware encoding card.

I have quite a number of TV tuner cards (PCI and USB) and I have to admit that if you want a quality picture, get a Hauppauge PVR series card. I have a PVR-150, PVR-250, and a PVR-USB2 and the picture quality on each of these is great. They seem to enhance the signal and fill in the "snow" on your reception. You end up with a nice quality pictures.

I also have a WinFast PVR2000, two Hauppauge WinTV USB units, an Avermedia, and several generic BT chipset cards, and non compare in terms of picture quality to the Hauppauges mentioned above.

Personally, go with a PVR-250 or a PVR-USB-2 in you want to use it with MCE. I've shelved my PVR-150 as it seems to be unable to auto-tune about a dozen of so cable stations. You manually have to fine tune each of these dozen stations to get sound. Otherwise you end up with video, but no sound. And, if you're using the card on Windows MCE, there is no fine tuning option. There is fine tuning available, however, on the hauppauge TV application that comes with the retail box.

BTW, Staples is clearing out their Hauppauge PVR-250 for $50. I picked one up two weeks ago on the clearance rack.

to_munda

Sep 26th, 2005, 05:01 PM

Just bought it today... not bad at all guys... the remote doesn't look anything like it does in the picture.. so don't be fooled.

Go ahead and buy it... the remote's not the greatest though.
Is that right? I am surprised coz I bought it a couple of days ago, installed it, but it wont work. I kept getting some kind of error after downloading the SW. It even changed the driver config for my LCD when I tried to delete the pgmme.
I am not that tech savvy, I was just trying to see if I can make it happen but no :(
Any suggestions/ ideas?
Tx

Jon Lai

Sep 26th, 2005, 05:35 PM

BTW, Staples is clearing out their Hauppauge PVR-250 for $50. I picked one up two weeks ago on the clearance rack.

Which location? Do you know if its chainwide? $50 is hot considering there's many of those $10 off $10 coupons nowadays... How come this was never posted?

can2000

Sep 26th, 2005, 06:00 PM

I have PVR-150, it works fine in my one newer PC (2.4G CPU), but it doesn't work in my older one (PIII 500, in WIN2000 version). Anything I misssed? Thanks!

You need a hardware encoding TV tuner card for MCE to recognize the card. The TV features of MCE will not function with non-hardware cards. This card is NOT a hardware encoding card.

I have quite a number of TV tuner cards (PCI and USB) and I have to admit that if you want a quality picture, get a Hauppauge PVR series card. I have a PVR-150, PVR-250, and a PVR-USB2 and the picture quality on each of these is great. They seem to enhance the signal and fill in the "snow" on your reception. You end up with a nice quality pictures.

I also have a WinFast PVR2000, two Hauppauge WinTV USB units, an Avermedia, and several generic BT chipset cards, and non compare in terms of picture quality to the Hauppauges mentioned above.

Personally, go with a PVR-250 or a PVR-USB-2 in you want to use it with MCE. I've shelved my PVR-150 as it seems to be unable to auto-tune about a dozen of so cable stations. You manually have to fine tune each of these dozen stations to get sound. Otherwise you end up with video, but no sound. And, if you're using the card on Windows MCE, there is no fine tuning option. There is fine tuning available, however, on the hauppauge TV application that comes with the retail box.

BTW, Staples is clearing out their Hauppauge PVR-250 for $50. I picked one up two weeks ago on the clearance rack.

Azenha

Sep 27th, 2005, 04:18 PM

Which location? Do you know if its chainwide? $50 is hot considering there's many of those $10 off $10 coupons nowadays... How come this was never posted?

It was posted about a month or two ago within the discussion relating to the PVR-150 when it was going for $75 at Staples after PM.

Do a search...

Azenha

Sep 27th, 2005, 04:28 PM

I have PVR-150, it works fine in my one newer PC (2.4G CPU), but it doesn't work in my older one (PIII 500, in WIN2000 version). Anything I misssed? Thanks!

I suspect that you have some conflicting drivers. I had a similar problem when I tried to plug the card in to a machine that had a DVB-S card in it. For some reach, the drivers were similar and uninstalling drivers for one card would remove the other card's drivers. I ended up having to physically install each card and drivers in a certain sequence (DVB-S first, followed by the PVR-150, or was it the other way around?)

My suggestion is to:

- physically pull the card out
- run the hauppauge hardware unistall program (HW___.EXE)
- go to regedit and check for any BT chip driver references and delete them (usually left over from older TV or capture cards)
- turn the machine off and re-install the PVR-150.

In terms of old machines vs new machines, I've used my PVR-150 on a Compaq PIII 933Mhz, a Compaq AMD XP 2200, and my recent home grown 3gig Intel with no problems. All were running Windows XP. The only problem that I've encountered with the PVR-150 is the tuning issue on those dozen of so TV stations where I get video, but no sound, until I fine tune the station.

I hope this helps...

can2000

Sep 27th, 2005, 04:38 PM

Thanks so much! I will try your advice tonight. :)

I suspect that you have some conflicting drivers. I had a similar problem when I tried to plug the card in to a machine that had a DVB-S card in it. For some reach, the drivers were similar and uninstalling drivers for one card would remove the other card's drivers. I ended up having to physically install each card and drivers in a certain sequence (DVB-S first, followed by the PVR-150, or was it the other way around?)

My suggestion is to:

- physically pull the card out
- run the hauppauge hardware unistall program (HW___.EXE)
- go to regedit and check for any BT chip driver references and delete them (usually left over from older TV or capture cards)
- turn the machine off and re-install the PVR-150.

In terms of old machines vs new machines, I've used my PVR-150 on a Compaq PIII 933Mhz, a Compaq AMD XP 2200, and my recent home grown 3gig Intel with no problems. All were running Windows XP. The only problem that I've encountered with the PVR-150 is the tuning issue on those dozen of so TV stations where I get video, but no sound, until I fine tune the station.

I hope this helps...

fhofho

Sep 27th, 2005, 05:00 PM

Do you know that www.cwo.ca is selling for same TV-Tuner card (but no brand) for the same price, $29.99?
http://www.cwo.ca/weeklyflyer2.php

You will get the same TV-Tuner card, same driver disk, but a better remote control (not credit card size control).

I bought one at cwo.ca and I can managed to use the IR with girder with a proper driver installed.

can2000

Sep 27th, 2005, 10:09 PM

Finally ...it works! THanks again, Azenha!
One more question, how can I enable the caption? Thanks in advane!

I suspect that you have some conflicting drivers. I had a similar problem when I tried to plug the card in to a machine that had a DVB-S card in it. For some reach, the drivers were similar and uninstalling drivers for one card would remove the other card's drivers. I ended up having to physically install each card and drivers in a certain sequence (DVB-S first, followed by the PVR-150, or was it the other way around?)

My suggestion is to:

- physically pull the card out
- run the hauppauge hardware unistall program (HW___.EXE)
- go to regedit and check for any BT chip driver references and delete them (usually left over from older TV or capture cards)
- turn the machine off and re-install the PVR-150.

In terms of old machines vs new machines, I've used my PVR-150 on a Compaq PIII 933Mhz, a Compaq AMD XP 2200, and my recent home grown 3gig Intel with no problems. All were running Windows XP. The only problem that I've encountered with the PVR-150 is the tuning issue on those dozen of so TV stations where I get video, but no sound, until I fine tune the station.

I hope this helps...

can2000

Sep 28th, 2005, 09:33 AM

Does WinTV 150 have caption funtion? Thanks!

prod

Sep 28th, 2005, 11:47 AM

Looking for my first tuner card. Do either of the FD or CWO cards come with guide software?

sf1

Sep 29th, 2005, 02:57 AM

does this tv tuner have captioning function?

Azenha

Sep 30th, 2005, 01:45 PM

Finally ...it works! THanks again, Azenha!
One more question, how can I enable the caption? Thanks in advane!

The caption function is application specific and not TV-tuner based. Any TV-Tuner card (regardless of price) will give you captions if the application supports it. Captions are embedded in the TV signal. You must use an application that supports caption decoding.

I currently use WindowsXP MCE and I get captions with all my Hauppauge units. In fact, prior to moving to WindowsXP MCE, I used to run Intervideo Home Theatre with an old AverMedia TV98 card (non-hardware BT chipset 1998 TV card) and I had captions.

Check the Help section of your application, click Index, and type in "caption". If the application has this feature, it will tell you how to activate it.

can2000

Sep 30th, 2005, 08:56 PM

Thanks so much for your reply!
BTW, can I use MCE in win2000 system? where can I download it? thanks!

The caption function is application specific and not TV-tuner based. Any TV-Tuner card (regardless of price) will give you captions if the application supports it. Captions are embedded in the TV signal. You must use an application that supports caption decoding.

I currently use WindowsXP MCE and I get captions with all my Hauppauge units. In fact, prior to moving to WindowsXP MCE, I used to run Intervideo Home Theatre with an old AverMedia TV98 card (non-hardware BT chipset 1998 TV card) and I had captions.

Check the Help section of your application, click Index, and type in "caption". If the application has this feature, it will tell you how to activate it.

Shingo

Oct 1st, 2005, 12:40 AM

Just wondering whats MCE?

Thanks so much for your reply!
BTW, can I use MCE in win2000 system? where can I download it? thanks!

can2000

Oct 1st, 2005, 01:09 AM

Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition

Just wondering whats MCE?

toalan

Oct 3rd, 2005, 10:18 PM

I bought this unit.

There are a few problems with my unit:

-there is some vertical distortion on 35% of the channels
-the record function with crach my computer the moment I activate it.

Overall for my particular case this tuner is a good buy, on channels without vertical distortion the picture is pretty good. I do not really care about recording stuff since my harddisks are pretty small. I just wanted a card so that I can watch tv on my BenQ projector. Right now I am watching UFC on the projector and it is pretty satisfying.

michael1996

Oct 3rd, 2005, 10:39 PM

superpal3

Oct 5th, 2005, 04:18 AM

this looks like the standard generic tv card.... does capture in avi format (ie HUGE files for short videos) and it's all software -- will definitely NOT work with MCE and you'll be disappointed largely in the utility of this card. The PVR functionality is questionable at best. There are many generic drivers for these cards which are typically a BT848 chipset but in the few that I've tried the installation is usually a pain --- good luck but I if you're interested I can sell you a couple of these for $20 each and they are brand names...

I have a Pine Tuner that I got a couple of years ago brand new from Future Shop on a blow out deal for $14.50...it has this (BT848) chipset and trust me thats all its worth. Its like getting a TV signal on your computer with snowy reception. You just aren't going to watch this too long if you have a TV. It came with Dscaler software which is some kind Beta testing version of TV tuner software that was very poor. I tried Ati tuner software which "I borrowed" that was incompatible with BT848 chipsets and then moved on to Lifeview Fly98 software on advice of Pines contract support tech, this finally worked, but its not great. Also putting on the software is complicated, I have learned how but it's pain, disabling devices, and removing old drivers, and typing in DOS paths etc.
Also tuner software can screw up the sound on your computer if you don't shut the tuner down right, audio feedback, the sound from a channel continuing to play after you shut the tuner down etc. Just picky stuff.

I'm suprised to hear that Ati Tuner cards deliver the same mediocre results. I don't know what chipset, tuner card or software is good, but my set up which works doesn't get high marks.

coooldude

Oct 5th, 2005, 07:39 AM

For those who have bought the card, how is the picture quality using the PVR software. Can you compress it to whatever format you want? I have a Hauppauge WinTV FM and the recording sucks. It takes up huge amounts of HD space for a very short recording. Need one that does nice compression.

TTony

Oct 5th, 2005, 10:36 AM

http://cwo.ca/weeklyflyer2.php

they have something similar

toalan

Oct 5th, 2005, 11:21 AM

apparently beyond tv works for this tuner, I tried it. I did not record anything because the interface is very tough to use for me, but I was able to watch tv with beyond tv. Beyond seems alot more stable than the windvr software included. The descaler program that some guy posted does not detect my card, I will fiddle around with it when i have more time.

Actually this tuner has pretty good picture quality, my only reservations with this tuner is that it tends to crash my computer very often, i think it is mostly a software issue though.

Azenha

Oct 5th, 2005, 12:04 PM

I have a Pine Tuner that I got a couple of years ago brand new from Future Shop on a blow out deal for $14.50...it has this (BT848) chipset and trust me thats all its worth. Its like getting a TV signal on your computer with snowy reception. You just aren't going to watch this too long if you have a TV. It came with Dscaler software which is some kind Beta testing version of TV tuner software that was very poor. I tried Ati tuner software which "I borrowed" that was incompatible with BT848 chipsets and then moved on to Lifeview Fly98 software on advice of Pines contract support tech, this finally worked, but its not great. Also putting on the software is complicated, I have learned how but it's pain, disabling devices, and removing old drivers, and typing in DOS paths etc.
Also tuner software can screw up the sound on your computer if you don't shut the tuner down right, audio feedback, the sound from a channel continuing to play after you shut the tuner down etc. Just picky stuff.

I'm suprised to hear that Ati Tuner cards deliver the same mediocre results. I don't know what chipset, tuner card or software is good, but my set up which works doesn't get high marks.

Try the generic drivers off SourceForge:
http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/

I've used these generic drivers on a Zoltrix TV-Max TV-Tuner card that I got for $5 off the newsgroups and I was able to capture at 640x480 at 29frames/s on a stripped down AMD XP2200 machine, with no noticeable loss in dropped frames.

The generic TV-Tuner/Video capture application from the above link also works well for anyone wanting something basic (watch TV, change channels, and capture whatever you are watching to an AVI file - no scheduling though).

Oh yes, these generic drivers also support Digital-TV signals such as those transmitted by cable companies and which carry their premium pay TV-channels (specialty channels, PPV, interactive channels, etc.). Of course the signal will be encrypted so I'm not sure how much good this will do you - unless you work for the cable company and know how to decrypt them.

The drivers even support AM/FM radio reception on BT chipset cards. Most of the BT chipsets will support radio reception even if the card was not originally advertised or sold as having this capability. The generic drivers noted above will activate this feature on most BT chipset cards - assuming the chipset allows for it. I have some success on the Zoltrix TV-Max as well as an Avermedia TV98 card. Some success means that I got a radio signal, but was not abloe to change stations. I'm sure that if I were to play around with the setting/configuration I might have gotten it to work - but my objective was TV and not radio so I never went any further.

killuminati

Oct 11th, 2005, 08:19 PM

I am having absolutely no luck with this thing.

I tried the drivers on the cd they sucked. I found SAA7130 drivers and I got a little farther with them. Ive tried Dscalar, windvr and beyond tv. I cant get any picture or sound. I autoscan the channels through windvr but I dont have anything showing up.

whats the deal??

toalan

Oct 11th, 2005, 10:25 PM

I had the same problem, in the manual it says do not put the card in the pci slot that is directly next to the AGP slot. I changed the slot and it worked.

nic99

Oct 11th, 2005, 11:04 PM

Can anyone recommend an inexpensive TV tuner card compatible with a laptop? The price should be around $60 bucks.

killuminati

Oct 12th, 2005, 03:43 PM

so I plugged in my video camera to the yellow(composite?) plug and it works. But it shows up under TV/Cable setting for all the softwares Ive tried so even changing the channel just shows whatever my video camera is outputting. When i change the softwares to Composite I get static but cant change the channels. Im guessing this is a driver problem but I cant find any drivers for this thing. any ideas?

weedb0y

Nov 26th, 2005, 09:35 PM

Anyone know if there is a Guide software for this card? I purchased it today.. Works with WinDVR and K!TV already..

very nice card!

guy312

Apr 15th, 2006, 01:55 AM

I bought the $30 TV Tuner from Factory Direct. Not bad for the price but....

I can't get the remote control to work! I plugged the IR remote control "signal receiver" into "Remote" jack (the pink jack) in the TV card. that's all there is to it right? any help/advice?

would this be a software or hardware issue?

mrken

Apr 15th, 2006, 04:12 AM

Jon Lai

Apr 15th, 2006, 08:20 AM

You should have created a new thread in the Computer Hardware section rather than bumping up a thread that is over seven months old.

Doesn't matter. I've updated the original post - It's noy $19.99 after $10 rebate so I guess it's worth a bump.