Question about TV Capture Cards

[Rockhound1]

Okay, I have searched the forums and reviewed the posts regarding this subject, and I am still a little confused. I am putting together a new system for my Father. I do not have all the parts yet, but here is what it will have (more or less):

AMD Athlon X2 5200+
Biostar nForce4 Ultra AM2 board
2 GB DDR2 800 MHz RAM
160 GB Western Digital HDD
GeForce 8600GT fanless Video Card
380-Watt Antec Earthwatts PSU
Rosewill case
Vista Ultimate 32-bit
Samsung 215TW LCD Monitor (already has this)

He surfs the Web, e-mails, and does some office-type work. The grandchildren will play an occasional game on it when they are visiting.

I want to set up the new computer so that he can watch TV (in a separate window) while surfing the Web and doing his e-mails.

Here is his current situation: he suscribes to DishNetwork for his TV. He has two DVRs. One is hooked up to two TVs (ViP622 DVR) and one is hooked to one TV (DVR-625) and has a second coaxial run into his study which is not in use. It is this connection that I would like to use to connect to the new computer so he can watch TV. The DVR-625 is not HD capable.

Now, I assume that the digital signal coming in from the dish antennea is being converted into an analog signal inside the DVR and then is output through the coaxial cable. If this is correct, then all I would need is an analog TV capture card in the computer in order to view analog signal, right? I would set the capture card to Channel 3 (or whatever) and use the DVR remote to change the channels? Am I correct, or am I missing something?

If I am correct, then can you recommend a decent TV capture card that provides good picture/sound quality? I was looking at this one in particular (Link) I am not interested in a remote for the TV capture card or its ability to act as a DVR since my Father already has two in the house. It is only important that it give a good clear picture and that it works with Vista.

Sorry about the long post, and thanks in advance for the answers.

:beer:

 

[Rockhound1]

Bump....

 

[mruffin75]

I may be totally wrong (if I am please someone add to this topic), but the signal you get from the Dish network is completely digital (and encrypted?), so you wouldn't be able to decode the signal using a TV tuner card... you'd either have to use an antenna or cable... (and even with cable you can't get *all* the channels as most of them are also encrypted).

It's been a while since I've looked into tuner cards, but I'm pretty sure this info is correct, but again if it's not..please correct me..

 

[Modular]

I believe that mruffin is correct.

Depending on how far away the computer will be from one of the set top boxes (STB), you may be able to use the IR Blaster to view TV on the computer. Basically, the IR blaster will change channels on the STB which would then send that signal to the capture cards' composite input.


Edit: I'm not sure that the MCE of the PVR-150 card comes with the IR hardware. You may need to looking into the non-MCE card such as this one.

 

[Rockhound1]

I figured that since the TV capture card is on the "downstream" side of the Dish box/pvr, then the signal would be un-encrypted at that point. Especially since you can hook any old TV (analog or digital) to the coax and watch... The Dish inputs into the Dish box/PVR and then outputs to the TVs. The Dish box/PVR acts as the tuner and the TVs act as monitors.

See, this is why I am confused...

 

[Modular]

Can you hook up any old TV to the coax and use the TV's internal tuner to tune in the channels, or do you have to change the channels on the Dish box and leave the TV on channel "3" or similar?

 

[Rockhound1]

You have to use the Dish box to change the channels.

I think there are certain local stations you can get by using the tuner on the TV.

 

[mruffin75]

whatever channels you can get using the TV (by using the TV tuner, and not the dish box), then you should be able to get those on the tv tuner..

Any that you have to use the Dish box to tune...you won't get those...and you'd have to use the dish box as the tuner and the tv tuner in the PC would only act as a capture card..

 

[Rockhound1]

Thanks. Any capture card that you could recommend? Something that gives a good quality picture and good stereo sound?