tv cards and satellite

[shredhead]

I have DirecTV. I have the cheapo RCA box they give out with the free 3 room system. Will the TV cards such as ATI TV Wonder be able to tune channels? All the docs seem to be geared towards cable TV and it seems like the only thing I'd be able to do is use S-Video input to the TV card and tune channels with the satellite box.

Honestly I don't even know if the box can output to S-VIDEO and coax to my TV at the same time.. the only way to test is to do it and see if it works..

Can anyone shed light on this topic?

thanks!

 

[Matthias99]

No, you will *not* be able to tune the raw satellite signal through the AIW card (or any other video capture card that I am aware of). The signal is scrambled, much like the pay channels on cable are (or possibly all your channels if you have digital cable). While you can watch unscrambled cable channels through a video capture card's tuner, you will have to use the satellite receiver to tune satellite TV or pay channels in your cable.

It should output to both your TV and the S-VIDEO out at the same time, but you'd have to check on your particular model of receiver to be sure.