Re: Does anyone have a TV tuner attached to their PC?

On Nov 19, 9:43 am, phil-news-nos...@xxxxxxxx wrote:
On Sun, 18 Nov 2007 17:56:06 -0800 (PST) NadCixelsyd <nadcixel...@xxxxxxx> wrote:

| I just purchased a Dell laptop computer with an external TV tuner. I
| purchased a high-end processor. At Dell;s suggestion, I purchased a
| 128mb video card. As a TV, the computer works fine for analog TV and
| for digital TV in 480i. It falls flat on its face at HD. It shows me
| anywhere from 2-8 frames per second. I feel like I'm watching a fast
| slide show. Is this what is expected of a TV tuner card?

In general people are having little or no trouble with HD on a PC with a
built in tuner. Assuming this is a new laptop (since you say Dell has
suggested things for it, I suspect you bought it from Dell and so it is a
new one, and not some antique from EBay), it should have the power to do
this, at least if it is a decent video card.

One possible suspect is a poor signal on the HD station(s). Try tuning
to the alternate channels of the same station as HD. For example if you
get HD on channel 4.1, try tuning in 4.2, which if it is present is most
likely a SD 480i digital program, but carried over the same signal as the
HD one. If that one has the same issue then it is most certainly an issue
with a poor signal on that channel.

Otherwise the video card might not be a good one somehow, or the OS is all
messed up (I'm guessing you got a Vista home edition). Call Dell back and
insist that they get the computer _they_ suggested you buy to work right.

--
|---------------------------------------/-----------------------------------|
| Phil Howard KA9WGN (ka9wgn.ham.org) / Do not send to the address below |
| first name lower case at ipal.net / spamtrap-2007-11-19-0...@xxxxxxxx |
|------------------------------------/--------------------------------------|

Well, I half fixed the problem. - Yes, it's a new PC.

The 15", 900x1440 display was set to 32 bit color. I tried reducing
the display to 800x1280 (It's still HDTV) but that had little effect.
When I set it to 16 bit color at 900x1440, the problem was corrected.
16-bit color looked good enough to me. I couldn't tell the
difference, which makes me wonder what the difference is?? I thought
color was normally 24 bits, 8-each for RGB. I know HDTV color is 12-
bits (four pixels share the same color)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Does anyone have a TV tuner attached to their PC?
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  • Re: Does anyone have a TV tuner attached to their PC?
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