Chooseing a tv tuner card.

[steven01]

Hi, I need a little help picking out a tv tuner card to record talk shows for under $30. Right now I've got my eye on a KWORLD VS-LTV7131R card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815100129 I noticed that one of the system requirements it says is you must have a SoundBlaster 16 Compatible Sound Card. I don't have a sound blaster but I do have a chaintech 710 sound card. If anyone could tell me if this card will work for me or can give my any links to a better tv tuner for under $30 it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[SexyMF]

Your sound system will be fine.
The KWORLD cards are not very good. Too much on the cheap side.
Picking a card really depends on what you are hooking it up to and what you would like to be able to do.

[edhe62]

I purchased a tuner/capture card about 6 months ago and was looking at the same card as you. I decided to spend an extra $30 though and picked up a Leadtek PVR2000 and have been very happy with it. It's easy to use and comes with a nice capture program that will write directly to DVD or save your video in many different formats.

[steven01]

Thanks for recommending leaktek. I found another leadtek card that's much cheaper. It's a open box card though. Should I take the risk and buy it? or should I just buy it retail?

Open Box: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16814122180R

Retail: http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16814122180

[krupted]

in this case, retail all the way. from what i can tell the open box is only 10 bucks cheaper. with retail you get a remote, cables, manual, and peace of mind that it will work. and full warranty. easily worth the ten in my mind.

[steven01]

Ok, thanks. I just have one more question. Do tv tuner cards require cable tv to work? Because I don't have cable tv. I was just gonna use it to watch local channels. Thanks.

[equinoxe3d]

No, they don't require cable, but the TV tuners I've tried (ATI) weren't very sensitive so you might need a good antenna. Rabbit ears worked borderline in our case.