Need desperate and immediate help on info/advice on a TV turner card.

[darkmader]

We're either going with Comcast/DirectTV tomorrow with a HD receiver. We currently don't have a HD television but plan on getting one soon. I spent too much time on newegg reading reviews on TV turners that I'm even more lost then ever.

I have a 24 inch Asus monitor and looking to hook up either the Comcast or Direct HD box to a tv turner, I know I can get the OTA channels (your main local channels I guess) but can I hook the box up to the turner and get HD receptions on the 80 HD channels they provide?

If so, what cable do I need to connect it to the box to the card so I can watch HD cable channels on my tv turner, and most importantly, there is such a massive variety of tv turner cards out there now. I'm looking on spending anywhere from $50-70 dollars on a card that will work fine. My computer is rock solid so I'm not concerned about that but just want to make sure that I can do the cable HD channels on the monitor and any recommendations would be sooooooo great full.

Any info or advice would be so helpful as we're going to save a boat load of $$$ on either or, but just want to make sure my 24 inch 1080 can receive the HD cable channels by hooking up the box to the TV turner.

 

[mfenn]

No, you won't be able to watch most of your cable HD channels with just a normal tuner card. Those channels are encrypted, so you would need a CableCARD tuner (not yet available AFAIK) in order to natively view those.

The "best" solution for recording encrypted channels right now is to get a card that supports using an IR blaster along with component video input from your set top bot.

 

[darkmader]

No, you won't be able to watch most of your cable HD channels with just a normal tuner card. Those channels are encrypted, so you would need a CableCARD tuner (not yet available AFAIK) in order to natively view those.

The "best" solution for recording encrypted channels right now is to get a card that supports using an IR blaster along with component video input from your set top bot.

Wow, you lost me. So if I get a TV Turner I can't plug in my HD box to the card and watch HD channels on my 1080 monitor? The cards on newegg seems they would handle that, but not too sure.

 

[gsaldivar]

Bringing encrypted HD cable channels into a PC is pretty cutting-edge, but there are a few possible solutions:

http://hd.engadget.com/2010/03/30/ceton-infinitv-4-cablecard-tuner-review/

Clearly, this is far from plug-and-play. But if you're comfortable using this as a hobbyist, it looks like a great solution. Also, there is no way you will be doing this for $50-70...

 

[mfenn]

Wow, you lost me. So if I get a TV Turner I can't plug in my HD box to the card and watch HD channels on my 1080 monitor? The cards on newegg seems they would handle that, but not too sure.

No because the box will only output HD signals over component, DVI, or HDMI. You need a card that can either decrypt the signals by itself (no box) or a card that supports IR blasters and one of those 3 inputs from the box.

 

[nerp]

That ceton card is the only solution for HD channels (aside from the unencrypted ones). I currently use a basic tv tuner card and watch unencrypted HD and watch the rest of my cable channels via svideo conneciton.

 

[vailr]

We're either going with Comcast/DirectTV tomorrow with a HD receiver.

What does that sentence mean?
Comcast = cable TV and/or internet.
DirectTV = TV via satellite dish.

If the signal (from whatever supplier) is not encrypted, then it should be viewable by use of a QAM ready TV tuner card. Such as the Hauppauge WinTV 1800 PCIe card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116044
Encrypted channels would need a cable box in the signal line to de-crypt before passing on to the tuner card. This TV card can also receive the free off-air HDTV signals.
Satellite channels would also be viewable, but changing channels would be done via the DirectTV box, not via the TV tuner card.

 

[Paperdoc]

No, you won't be able to watch most of your cable HD channels with just a normal tuner card. Those channels are encrypted, so you would need a CableCARD tuner (not yet available AFAIK) in order to natively view those.

The "best" solution for recording encrypted channels right now is to get a card that supports using an IR blaster along with component video input from your set top bot.

OP, what mfenn is getting at is that most HD channels on either of those services are encrypted. So if you try to tune in one of those channels with your tuner, you get nothing. The way it WILL work is to tune the set-top box provided by the service (a combination tuner and decrypter) to the channel you want, and then feed its output to your computer. So you have to match up the type of set-top box output signal / cable with the input ports available on your computer. Almost always the output is NOT a TV channel, so you do not necessarily need a tuner to do this. Many video cards have digital or analog signal inputs that would match the set-top box's output. (With certain types of connections, video and audio require separate cable connections.)

There are two HOWEVER's, though. One is: how do you select the channel on the set-top box? By hand is easy. But if you want to program the computer to select a channel and start recording it at some later time, you're not there to push the buttons. That is where the "IR blaster" comes in. It is an accessory that comes with many tuners. The software that also comes includes a way to have that IR transmitter put out the coded signals (just like the remote control box that comes with your set-top box) that turn it on and set the channel. Then the computer can handle the resulting signal coming from the box. Not a lot of video cards come with these devices and the software to use them - they are more likely to be included with a tuner.

The second however is: what about tuning in non-encrypted signals, either from that same cable service or from OTA broadcasts. If you need to do that, then of course you will need a tuner anyway. So let's review what features you will need in this tuner.

1. An ATSC tuner able to tune in digital TV from OTA broadcasts.
2. An NTSC tuner able to tune in analog (old-style) TV channels on a cable system, IF you have any on your new service.
3. A Clear QAM tuner able to tune in UN-encrypted digital TV channels on your new service.
4. An input that matches one of the output signals from the set-top box you will get from the new service.
5. An "IR Blaster" device that can be used through the computer's software and tuner card to control the set-top box.
6. The software to control all this - may come with the tuner card, or you may use Windows Media Center to do it.
7. IF you plan to record one channel while watching another, OR record two at the same time through the computer, you need a tuner with two tuners inside. There are a couple of versions of this. Some come with one tuner for analog-only signals (from cable TV if there are any) and a different one for digital signals only, but this puts some limits on which two channels you can use simultaneously. Others come with two separate tuners, both of which are capable of tuning all channel types, so there are no restrictions.

Remember if you want the two channels simultaneously thing, that the set-top box can only handle one of those at a time. So, unless you pay extra for a second set-top box and figure out how to control both boxes from one computer, you will never be able to record / watch simultaneously TWO encrypted HD channels.

 

[mfenn]

OP, what mfenn is getting at is that most HD channels on either of those services are encrypted. So if you try to tune in one of those channels with your tuner, you get nothing. The way it WILL work is to tune the set-top box provided by the service (a combination tuner and decrypter) to the channel you want, and then feed its output to your computer. So you have to match up the type of set-top box output signal / cable with the input ports available on your computer. Almost always the output is NOT a TV channel, so you do not necessarily need a tuner to do this. Many video cards have digital or analog signal inputs that would match the set-top box's output. (With certain types of connections, video and audio require separate cable connections.)

There are two HOWEVER's, though. One is: how do you select the channel on the set-top box? By hand is easy. But if you want to program the computer to select a channel and start recording it at some later time, you're not there to push the buttons. That is where the "IR blaster" comes in. It is an accessory that comes with many tuners. The software that also comes includes a way to have that IR transmitter put out the coded signals (just like the remote control box that comes with your set-top box) that turn it on and set the channel. Then the computer can handle the resulting signal coming from the box. Not a lot of video cards come with these devices and the software to use them - they are more likely to be included with a tuner.

The second however is: what about tuning in non-encrypted signals, either from that same cable service or from OTA broadcasts. If you need to do that, then of course you will need a tuner anyway. So let's review what features you will need in this tuner.

1. An ATSC tuner able to tune in digital TV from OTA broadcasts.
2. An NTSC tuner able to tune in analog (old-style) TV channels on a cable system, IF you have any on your new service.
3. A Clear QAM tuner able to tune in UN-encrypted digital TV channels on your new service.
4. An input that matches one of the output signals from the set-top box you will get from the new service.
5. An "IR Blaster" device that can be used through the computer's software and tuner card to control the set-top box.
6. The software to control all this - may come with the tuner card, or you may use Windows Media Center to do it.
7. IF you plan to record one channel while watching another, OR record two at the same time through the computer, you need a tuner with two tuners inside. There are a couple of versions of this. Some come with one tuner for analog-only signals (from cable TV if there are any) and a different one for digital signals only, but this puts some limits on which two channels you can use simultaneously. Others come with two separate tuners, both of which are capable of tuning all channel types, so there are no restrictions.

Remember if you want the two channels simultaneously thing, that the set-top box can only handle one of those at a time. So, unless you pay extra for a second set-top box and figure out how to control both boxes from one computer, you will never be able to record / watch simultaneously TWO encrypted HD channels.

Wow, excellent post! :thumbsup: Much better explanation of what I was trying to say.