My Problem: W/ fall TV starting back up, I'm realizing that there are certain times in which there are 3+ shows on at the same time that I want to record. Plus I would like to record and store certain TV shows for later viewing.
I am wondering if anybody could help me out, by answering a few questions about TV Tuner cards (in english - I'm not really computer savvy).
Right now I have two cable boxes (Comcast). One is a HD DVR box, which can record two shows at once. The other box does not contain the DVR function (an extra $10 - so $120 a year). The non-DVR box is in my downstairs, located directly beside my computer.
My computer is a HP Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ 2.30 GHz RAM: 3 GB Running Vista 32 Hard drive: 500GB w/ about 250+ GB of free space. Not great, but serves its functions.
Anyway, based on these specs, what kind of TV tuner card would a more computer savvy person recommend. I would like to stick around $60-$100, but I have no idea where to begin. Will that much $ get me a decent card? Will any card work, or do I need to buy a certain type?
And when installing and hooking everything up, does the cable cord that runs into the TV now go into the computer, or do I need to by and additional cord in order to run the cables to the cable box -> TV -> computer?
IDK, any advice would be appreciated. I've tried hitting the web, checking out howstuffworks.com and other things, but they've really just left me more confused than anything.
A TV tuner is basically a cable box that needs coax running into it and your computers hard drive acts as your DVR. One thing to note is that you will only be able to watch and record standard cable on a TV tuner which is 2-99. Anything above that is encrypted and needs to be decrypted by a company issued cable box. As for HD, your local channels will be there but cable channels will need a box. I don't think there is a way to run the cable to the box first and then to the tuner. Well, I suppose you could set the tuner to always record on channel 3, but you'd have to have the settop box set on the channel you want to record and setup the time you want to record. Kind of like recording on VHS.
I personally run MythTv as the backend software and have an older Hauppauge tuner card. Since you are running Windows you might take a look at GB-PVR which isn't as fully featured as MythTV, but will be much easier to get up and running. The GB-PVR website should give you a full list of supported cards and a good HowTo.
Willing to spend $60-$100 now, but not $120 ($10 bucks per month) sounds weird to me.
See if AT&T U-verse is in your area. Then you can record 4 shows at the same time and possbily pay less than what you're paying now.
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Madison wrote:Willing to spend $60-$100 now, but not $120 ($10 bucks per month) sounds weird to me.
See if AT&T U-verse is in your area. Then you can record 4 shows at the same time and possbily pay less than what you're paying now.
Ya, I have about $100 of personal cash on me right now. I'm not wanting to dip into my bank to solve this problem. weird, I know.
I checked into switching to U-verse a few months ago (when my comcast promotion ran out), but in order to get the HD DVR box + internet, it was going to cost around $119 a month. Which is about $30 more than what I pay for my comcast.
i dont have any help to offer, i just wanted to rant about how it costs me an extra $20 a month for a 2nd HD-DVR tuner ($15 for the box, $5 for the 2nd digital signal...which sounds like a rape job to be and i'm still not convinced it's correct, but whatever)
I don't watch as much TV as I used to but almost everything I watch is available on Hulu or the broadcasters website after the TV airing. If you aren't worried about watching them immediately maybe that would be an option instead of going to all the trouble.
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by woodson_28 » Mon Sep 21, 2009 8:31 pm 
