MPEG-2 TV Tuner Adapters

The Bottom Line: The Plextor PX-HDTV500U Mini Digital HDTV Receiver provides a cheap and easy way to watch and record HDTV on your PC. We recommend this compact tuner and antenna kit particularly for laptops that feature Microsoft's Media Center app.

Specs: Plextor PX-HDTV500U Mini Digital HDTV Receiver - ATSC HDTV receiver - Hi-Speed USB, Hi-Speed USB, - External

The Bottom Line: The Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-USB2 offers admirable image quality, but you'll need to bring your own A/V cables.

Specs: Hauppauge WinTV PVR-usb2 - TV / radio tuner / video input adapter - Hi-Speed USB, Hi-Speed USB, TV tuner - Hi-Speed USB - External, S-video input, Composite video input, Stereo - max sample rate: 44.1 KHz

The Bottom Line: The Plextor ConvertX PVR is an affordable USB TV tuner with a decent software bundle, but its performance is less than stellar.

Specs: Plextor ConvertX PX-TV100U - TV tuner / video input adapter - Hi-Speed USB, Hi-Speed USB, Video capture adapter - Hi-Speed USB - External, S-video input, Composite video input

The Bottom Line: Of the external TV tuners we've seen, we recommend the Diamond XtremeTV PVR600 above the others for its strong image quality and inclusion of A/V cables and a remote control.

Specs: Diamond XtremeTV PVR600 USB 2.0 Power Pack Edition - Video input adapter - Hi-Speed USB, Hi-Speed USB, Video capture adapter - S-video input - External, Composite video input

Editors' Take: If you're looking for 3D graphics and a TV tuner in a single card, ATI's new All-In-Wonder X1900 looks like the new leader of the pack.

Specs: ATI Radeon X1900, 2560 x 1600 / 60 Hz, 256 MB, PC, 2

The Bottom Line: Whether you're looking to turn your PC into a DVR or simply want to watch TV on your desktop, the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 does the job at a reasonable price.

Specs: Hauppauge WinTV PVR-150 - TV tuner / video input adapter - PCI, PCI, Video capture adapter - TV-in - Plug-in card, S-video input, Composite video input

The Bottom Line: Diamond's XtremeTV PVR550 provides everything you'll need to turn your desktop into a media center PC, but its TV image quality isn't perfect.

Specs: Diamond XtremeTV PVR 550 - Video input adapter - PCI Express x16, PCI Express x16, Video capture adapter - S-video input - Plug-in card, Composite video input

The Bottom Line: Aptly named, the ATI TV Wonder Elite is easily the best PC TV tuner card we've seen.

Specs: ATI-TV Wonder Elite Remote Control Edition - TV / radio tuner / video input adapter - PCI, PCI, Video capture adapter - S-video input - Plug-in card, Composite video input, Stereo

The Bottom Line: Hauppauge's WinTV-PVR-500 MCE is a good choice if you want to record two programs simultaneously, but it assumes you have a Media Center remote and the correct decoding software.

Specs: Hauppauge WinTV PVR-500MCE - TV / radio tuner / video input adapter - PCI, PCI, TV tuner - S-video input - Plug-in card, Composite video input, Stereo

Editors' Take: ATI's next-gen family of high-end graphics cards is fast, but the cards are not as elegantly designed as Nvidia's competing GeForce 7800 series.

Specs: ATI Radeon X1800 GTO, 256 MB, PC, 2