On Mon, 20 Nov 2006 18:35:30 -0600, Vic Smith
<thismailautodeleted@comcast.net> wrote:

>On Mon, 20 Nov 2006 10:50:22 -0800, "William" <nospam@pacifier.com>
>wrote:
>>Anyway, I am going to enjoy watching my TV on my computer for Thanksgiving
>>and work out this problem later.
>>
>Just curious about why you like a TV card.
>And It might be useful for those anticipating getting one to discuss
>whether or not it's a good idea
>I had an All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro card for a long time, and used the
>TV functions, including recording shows, etc.
>What I found is that I hardly ever watched what I recorded, and
>just filled up hard drives.

Ok, but that's you. Why would anyone else necessarily make
the same choices?


>Additionally, since I game, I couldn't play and have TV at the same
>time, even to listen to the news.

This makes no sense. You're essentially claiming you, not a
computer with a video capture card, can't multitask.

You can in fact have a tuner card tuned to the news,
outputting on speakers while you're playing a game on same
system. Maybe not with 9700 AIW, but it's only virtue is
that it has the tuner/capture on the same (AGP) video card.

Listening to the news and game sounds on the same speakers
might be a problem, but so it would be if gaming while the
traditional TV set was on.

>The same goes for web browsing,
>which often includes running video/audio which can conflict with
>the TV drivers, causing hangs/reboots.

That's one of the reasons to not use ATI TV/Capture cards,
their drivers can be hit-or-miss. It would be a rather
unusual thing from most cards.


>So I bought a 27" TV for 30 bucks at a second hand dealer.
>It has a beautiful picture, and works fine with a 6 buck universal
>remote I also had to buy. It sits across the room, and I can
>listen/watch to it without it interfering with anything I do on the
>computer at the same time.

If it suits your needs, great. That doesn't mean it's the
best choice for others but it is a good point, to really
think about whether the reality of TV on a PC is as good as
the idea seems at first.


>The AIW eventually burned out, and it's replacement doesn't have
>that hardware/software overhead.
>I do have plenty of space, so that wasn't a consideration.
>Anyway, though it is "neat" to have TV capabilities on the computer,
>it does have its downsides.

I wonder if you'd have felt the same way if it weren't for
the limitation of the particular product you had. There's
nothing wrong with having BOTH, TV on the PC and the main TV
to watch when that's the primary focus.