THE PIXELVIEW PLAY TV Pro 3 tuner does not have the bells and whistles that more expensive cards offer, but in terms of sheer image quality rendered, this card does not disappoint. It is only when you view very fast motion, like racing or following the movement of the ball in sports, the Play TV Pro 3 shows slight blurring. From a slightly longer viewing distance of about four feet (which is the recommended viewing distance for TV), this effect is not noticeable.

Name: PixelView Play TV Pro 3 TV Tuners.jpg Views: 2388 Size: 8.3 KB

At its price range, it offers very good quality, but the lack of an onboard MPEG encoder means you need a fairly fast CPU to handle recording at higher resolution and compression, especially if you are running any other task in the back¬ground. Our only complaint is with the quality of the remote control unit.

Runners-up: The Pinnacle PCTV Tuner Kit offers excellent quality with no visible blurring even during fast motion. The onboard MPEG 2 encoder enables you to use even a budget CPU for your HTPC. The quality of the bundled Media Center compatible remote controller is excellent. The downside is its price, costing over twice as much as the PixelView card. Also it does not come with any PVR software.