If you’re thinking about building a home theater PC (HTPC) and you’re looking for good TV tuner cards out there, then you should definitely read this review of the new NVIDIA DualTV MCE card here at Digital Trends. The DualTV MCE card comes with dual analog TV tuners and also features 3D Noise Reduction, a 3D Comb Filter, and a ViXS Xcodell MPEG2 Encoder. Other features include an FM tuner, a wireless remote control, and the ability to record from S-Video or composite video sources. You can find the official product specs on the card here on NVIDIA’s website but I thought I would list some of the functions here:

     *  Dual-channel TV reception and A/V capture
          o Source type: analog terrestrial broadcast, analog cable broadcast, and analog A/V signal from set-top boxes or other A/V equipment
          o Signal type: radio frequency (RF from antenna, cable TV, output of set-top boxes) or baseband (S-Video or composite video)
          o TV standards
              - NTSC board: NTSC M/N
              - PAL/SECAM board: PAL I, B/G, D/K, SECAM D/K, L/L’
    * Dual-stream MPEG2 A/V encode with MediaSqueeze technology
          o Video: MPEG2 MP@ML, 720×480 (standard definition)
          o Audio: MPEG1L2
    * Uncompressed A/V capture
          o Video: 720×480 (standard definition)
          o Audio: PCM (16-24 bit per sample, up to 48 KHz)
    * FM radio tuner
    * Internal splitter for RF with in-line signal amplifier - only a single RF input is needed for the two internal tuners
    * 3D comb filter and 3D noise reduction with PureVideo technology
The verdict from Digital Trends:

At $169 for the basic product and $219 for the version with the remote control, the NVIDIA DualTV MCE is a sizeable investment. On the one hand, the NVIDIA DualTV MCE is the best analog TV tuner for transforming your PC into a PVR. You won’t find better image quality anywhere else, and for the amount of technology that’s present in the DualTV MCE, it’s a good value.

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