TV Tuner Card

[drpootums]

OK, i just want a TV tuner card that has good audio/video recording (i dont want mono-audio recording) that i can hook up to my DirecTv reciever to record shows on my computer. I would like good software with it (i do not have MCE), and would be willing to spend up to $100 (if anything like this can be had for that price....).

Also, does anybody know if I can set it to automatically record a show from DirecTv?


My dream setup for this is to be able to record shows and then just hook up a cable to my video out on my video card to have it play on my TV, and then have an audio out cable going to my sound reciever for the audio playback. I'm not sure if this is possible for that price though....


Thanks!

 

[Penth]

I think your dream is more likely to come true at the end of the year with Viiv and Windows Vista. You can't very easily hook up a DirecTV to a media center. I think I've heard of people doing it through firewire but that could have just been digital cable.

 

[Matthias99]

If you just want to have an analog DVR, you can do that without a problem. It's no different than recording from a cable box. Unless your receiver supports USB or serial control protocols, you will need an IR blaster to change channels. With proper software, you can program recordings in advance.

With satellite, you may be able to get a satellite tuner card, allowing you to capture the original digital signal. However, this is much more complicated. Please see numerous threads over at AVSForum if you want more information on this, as it has been beaten to death over there.

 

[Xyron]

How do you do it with digital cable?

If I can do that I will get another hard drive and whatever else I need. This will fit in well with my new system.

 

[drpootums]

i dont want to get MCE, i want to keep XP for now.

Analog DVR is fine, i dont need anything fancy like HD or anything. I just want a mid-high quality picture quality and decent (stereo or surround) sound.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: drpootums
i dont want to get MCE, i want to keep XP for now.

Analog DVR is fine, i dont need anything fancy like HD or anything. I just want a mid-high quality picture quality and decent (stereo or surround) sound.

If you don't mind very high CPU usage while recording, almost any cheap software-based PCI tuner/capture card will work (though you will need an IR blaster most likely to allow the PC to change the channel on the satellite tuner by itself). The ones with a Conexant chip are a good choice, since there are good drivers available for it. You can couple this with any recording software you like, and most come with some pretty basic software (generally fine for plain recording/playback as long as you are not looking for a 'Tivo' sort of experience).

If you want a hardware MPEG2 encoding card, it's hard to not pick the Hauppauge PVR-150. Very good value for a hardware encoding card.

 

[karhill]

I use BeyondTV (www.snapstream.com) and a Hauppauge pvr-150mce card.

BeyondTV is a great PVR/DVR software solution.

 

[Xyron]

How much will it cost to set this up. I am on a budget.

 

[Markbnj]

How do you do it with digital cable?

You need a tuner card that supports QAM encoding. There are a couple out on the market at this time, tending a little pricier than the standard fare. With one of these you can directly tune the digital cable offering from your provider, including free HD content (but not pay per view, which requires special capabilities from the set top box.) Without a QAM capable card you can tune whatever the cable company offers in the analog spectrum, which is usually something like 50-60 channels.