I'm looking at installing a TV capture card in my daughter's system so She can have tv in her room. There isn't space for a conventional TV nor spare power outlet. I can easily run a coax antenna cable into the room. I have heard that the performance of these type cards can produce jerky picture etc. I'd rather not spend the $$ only to find out that the result is poor. The system has a 32mb nvidia graphics card. Will this system have enough resources to produce a satisfactory result? I guess the capture card converts the RF signal into some kind of digital that the PC can then process through the graphics card. I don't really need to know how it works. Just whether it will or not on a system with these specs.

The apperance of TV on the computer will depend largly upon the processor speed, available RAM, bus speed, and video card capabilities. For a decent picture with no lag, I would reccomend at least a 1GHz processor, with 256MB of RAM above and beyond what the OS requires. I would also reccomend a decent video card, as this will only help the situation. Most video capure cards today require that the video card is DirectX 8.1 compatible, but if you have a DirectX 9.0 compatible card, the results will be better. It also depends on the available RAM on the video card its self. My old Gefore4 440MX with 64MB RAM would display the video somewhat jerky, (like I was watching a DVD with a dirty surface, or trying to play GTA3 on a 32MB card.). On my new Geforce FX 5200 with 128MB of RAM, the video is very clear, it is just like watching it on TV, only better. The reception on my computer is suprisingly better than it is on my actual TV. A perfect example is FOX reception. With my real TV, the display is very poor, with no audio. But with the TV card, it is near cable quality. I feed both the TV, and the video capure card with the same indoor amplified antenna, so the source is not the question. The computer is on a longer COAX length than my TV, so by all logic, the TV is getting the stonger singal, but this is obviously not the case. The COAX is also of the same quality, it is some stuff I bought from CableOne when I was in town last. It is radiation sheilded and everything. It is the exact same stuff that they run into a house when it is set up for the first time. It cost me $3.00/foot, and it is well worth it. I guess what I am trying to say is that my computer is a better TV than my actual TV is. Other than better reception for reasons unknown to me, my screen is 19", while my TV is only a 13". My TV card is a AverMedia UltraTV PCI 300, and the only complaints I have is that sound is not in stereo, but in monoarul. But this is easily worked around by increasing the "3D Depth" setting on my sound card to the maximum setting. Another complaint is that the cable that plugs into it for the IR sensing diode for remote control is only 4 feet. If it were about 2 feet longer, it would be perfect. The 350 does support stereo sound though. Overall, I am very happy with my TV card, the only complaints I have are the ones I stated above. If I had a longer cable for IR detection, and had actual stereo sound, (instead of mono coming out of 2 speakers), then this card would be perfect for my needs. Now my next step is to get 5.1 Dobly Surround Sound instead of the current 2 channels I currently get. There is only one stupid question, The question that is not asked

Thanks for that. I'm not about to swap my own P4 2.8Ghz with GFORCE FX5200 128mb VGA for my Daughter's Piii 733 so I guess she will just have to watch TV with the rest of us on the 68cm bigscreen (That would be 27inches in the old money) Not worth the AUD$75-$100 that it would cost to find out for sure. I'll get her a dvd rom for it so she can watch her movies and music dvds. I've already checked it for VideoCD playback and there's no problem with that.

I have a P3 750MHZ w/256M.B. SDRAM a ATI 32M.B. PCI Graphics card(no AGP slot) running Windows Me . I have the ATI TV Wonder USB Edition . I luv this produst ,it allowme to have TV in either full screen or a resizable box on my desktop . I mostly have it on while surfing the net, with the news on ! For recording (which takes up alot of H.D. space) you would get better quality with a PCI TV card ,however for just veiwing the USB version works great. It comes with the Quide Plus system ,which allows you to download weekly listings of up coming shows ,movies ,sports etc.

I think a TV capture card will work great with that system. I have had an ATI All In Wonder card in the past with a much slower system and it worked fine. I now have a Hauppauge card ($50 US) and it has a great picture.

I don't think it would be a problem.. I use this card and it is great... http://www.leadtek.com.tw/multimedia/winfast_tv2000xp_deluxe_1.shtml so much better quality than a normal tv.. never have had any choppyness.. it has a very good price too compaired to alot of others that I've see that are overpriced. you can buy this one for 45 from newegg.. here is a link http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-132&depa=0 and you have the minimum requirements beat Minimum System Requirements One available PCI 2.1 compliant slot Pentium II 300MHz or higher compatible PC 64MB of system memory MS Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP Graphics sub-system with DirectX 8.1 or above 16-bit sound card http://www.leadtek.com.tw/multimedia/winfast_tv2000xp_deluxe_1.shtml Shuttle AN35N- Ultra AMD 2100+ 1Gb 2100 DDRAM Gforce 5600 128ddr 120 of 7200 HD space Genuine Win XP Pro UV Clear Acrylic Blue case

Thanks All. I'll give it some more consideration now.