[oolunchbox]

I havent used one of the external boxes and the ability to watch TV on your moniter w/o the computer powered on sounds nice, but along with most Tuner cards worth their weight you'll get some good software too... i dont know how big of a deal it is to you but most will come with PVR (personal video record(er/ing) software like a TiVo) and the ability to view a screencap of whats on multiple (usually 9 or 12) channels at a time (kind of like a visiual Programming Guide)... if those matter to you, i say go tuner card (i hear the ATI All in Wonder Radeon 8500 is pretty slick, but pricey) if you can live without the PVR and Visiual guide... go with the external box