New Antec Fusion mATX HTPC case for $110.59 + s/h after $25 MIR until 11-19-06

[lhotdeals]

In for one ! Thanks OP!

Does anyone have any suggestion on a good HD tuner card?

Also if I use this HTPC (with tuner card) with my TV and my cable box, how do I connect the 3 to avoid image quality losses? Sorry to sound a bit newbie, any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[abre]

Originally posted by: lhotdeals
In for one ! Thanks OP!

Does anyone have any suggestion on a good HD tuner card?

Also if I use this HTPC (with tuner card) with my TV and my cable box, how do I connect the 3 to avoid image quality losses? Sorry to sound a bit newbie, any help would be greatly appreciated!

It really depends on what type of cable box you have. Some boxes have firewire output that will allow you to capture a digital HD signal. With other boxes you can only capture an analog signal (s-video, composite). You'll want to read up on your box and what types of outputs it provides. Then you'll want to decide on what software you want to run to capture TV before buying hardware. See what cards are best supported by the OS/Software you want to use. You may also need an IR Blaster to send remote control commands to the cable box to change channels.

 

[bigsnyder]

Does anyone still have an active link for the original $25 rebate? Link in the original post is
dead.

C Snyder

 

[tomt4535]

Originally posted by: bigsnyder
Does anyone still have an active link for the original $25 rebate? Link in the original post is
dead.

C Snyder

I saved it. PM me if you want it.

EDIT: I ordered this last Sat, and it still hasn't shipped yet. Has anyone else's shipped yet?

 

[aeroguy]

Originally posted by: scootermaster
No, your specs look good, put for me to pull the trigger, I'm going to want a complete solution. Actually, I've got the money, I'm just waiting for Vista. I want Cablecard/HD tuning, with good (i.e. NON-ATI) software. Hopefully I'm not wasting my time.

You do know that CableCard enabled PCs will only be available from OEMs like Dell and HP right? You will not be able to build a DIY CableCard enabled PC in the forseeable future.

I'm quoting below from Chris and accident over at thegreenbutton.com:

Just getting the OCUR (CableCARD Reader) is only 1/3 of what you need to make it actually work. So, even if ATI decides they can sell them to the public via retail it will still not do you any good. You need the rest of the stuff from Microsoft, which they aren't going to be giving away in retail copies of Vista.

Don't forget the 4th part, which is the cable industry. even if you could run cablecard in a DIY system, the cable company still needs to install and activate the cards for you at which point they will say "not a certified device".

Very true. Although, the "non-certified" device will come up when the other bits you need from your OEM/Microsoft are not there. Only the OCUR needs to be certified by CableLabs, however for the device (in this case the MCE PC) to be authueticated to the network by the cable installer you need the stuff from your OEM/Microsoft."

 

[Jimmy]

hey tomt4535, I ordered one on Sun the 19th and it shipped out. Supposedly it'll be here Monday.

 

[bigsnyder]

Mine arrived today. Still in the box, but packaging looks OK.

C Snyder

 

[Trianon]

Whoever needs rebate PDF, PM me your e-mail, I will e-mail it to you.

DM

 

[Jimmy]

Got mine on Monday and finally got a chance to put it together today. I have to say I'm pretty impressed! It's extremely quiet, in fact I can't even hear it running unless I get really close to it. The cable management seems like it's going to be a bit of a pain, but it's not like anyone's going to see it anyway.

I'm looking forward to getting it in my living room and starting to experiment with it. Thanks OP!

 

[marulee]