Watching DirecTV on my PC?

[wkabel23]

UPDATE2: Pics (bad qual )

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UPDATE: from what I hear watching DirecTV on my PC is possible yet I don't have any of the software/cables. So do I need to buy a TV Tuner or is there a place to buy the cables I will need?

I recently got a 3 room DirecTV system because I got a really good deal. However, I only have 2 TV's at the moment and I've got the 3rd receiver in the room with my computer. I've been looking at the receiver and I noticed it had an S-Video port.

First of all, is this even possible?

Now, I'm pretty sure S-Video connects to a video card or tv tuner (Could be completely wrong ). I'm pretty sure my Gainward GF4 Ti4200 has an S-Video connector but I don't have the cable. Can you buy Svid cables?

If my card doesn't what type of TV tuner is the cheap yet has good quality?

What software will I need? Would I need anything else?

Thanks

 

[Zirconium]

OK - From what people are saying, it appears as though your card does, in fact, have VIVO capabilities. What you need is to go to Gainward or whatever, RTFM, and figure out how you can input video to your card.

NOTE: S-Video just caries video, as you might guess from the name. Thus, you need to get a cable, which can be purchased from Radio Shack, which converts component audio to coaxial audio (1/8" audio jack). You then plug the two compents into your receiver as well, and plug the other input into your microphone port. it should all work then.

After you have the video inputs and audio inputs figured out, you again need to go to Gainward and see what software they support with VIVO. VirtualDub will probably work if you want to record stuff. They might have some other software just so you can watch TV.

 

[CQuinn]

Anand's review of the Gainward GeForce4 Ti 4200 does include basic VIVO functionality.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1619&p=4

So you also need to find the cable that came with the card to attach to that port.

 

[wkabel23]

Originally posted by: CQuinn
Anand's review of the Gainward GeForce4 Ti 4200 does include basic VIVO functionality.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1619&p=4

So you also need to find the cable that came with the card to attach to that port.

I don't have any of the cables/software that came with the card

Could I buy them from a place like Newegg? Or would Gainward have some?

Thanks

 

[MDE]

I believe that you should be able to use any VIVO dongle that came with an Nvidia card. I swapped dongles between a BFG FX5900 to a Visiontek Ti4600 and it worked.

 

[wkabel23]

Well I don't have a VIVO "dongle" at all

Thanks for the help

 

[wkabel23]

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[wkabel23]

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[wkabel23]

Help

 

[wkabel23]

^

 

[Mloot]

You can usually find some on E-bay. I got the best results when searching E-bay for "VIVO cable."

 

[wkabel23]

Originally posted by: Mloot
You can usually find some on E-bay. I got the best results when searching E-bay for "VIVO cable."

Thanks

Where exactly would the VIVO cable hook up to on my DirecTV receiver?

 

[Codewiz]

Originally posted by: wkabel23

Originally posted by: Mloot
You can usually find some on E-bay. I got the best results when searching E-bay for "VIVO cable."

Thanks

Where exactly would the VIVO cable hook up to on my DirecTV receiver?

The VIVO would hook up to your video card. Then you would plug the S-Video cable from the directv receiver to your VIVO dongle.

 

[nvfx]

You have come to the Right Place My man.
I own a Ti 4200 from Leadtek and it has VIVO, Now your Gainward Should also have VIVO.

Using a TV ON A VIVO FUNCTION IS ONLY POSSIBLE IF YOUR GPU SUPPORTS THE CORRESPONDING FREQUENCIES OF THE TV CABLE, which it unfortunately Does NOT!!!

S-Video is the only option, infact it is really the only option, See the back of your Card, if it has 9 Pin Socket, than you you'll have to buy some weird Cables which would convert the 9 pins into S-Video, other wise there is no option for you. If your Card just has a S-Video Out put, than your card doesnt Support INPUT and so no TV.

Now concentrate here, If your Card truly supports Input ( either through 9-Pins or Other.. ), than heres what to do..

1. Buy a Cable which can convert the Corresponding VIVO Socket into an S-Video Socket ( It shoud have been provided by gainward )
2. Once this step is Done, youll have to Download the Nvidia's Universal Tuning Drivers ( Should be on CD )
3. Make your you have a Player from GAinward to play any input streams.
4. FOR TV, You'll have to buy a Reciever type of a Thing.............

The reciever will take the TV Cable as input and Output through S-Video as is always there, Even if you get a Small device which only converts TV Cable into S-Video, Your Card will not understand the Frequencies thus Sent.

One very easy thing you can do for a successful tersting is using your Existing TV, your TV will have S-Video Outputs at the Back, Plug the TV Cable into your TV, and use the S-Video Cable from TV's Back >>>> AGP Card.

Now again, read the above steps to make sure your Card DOES support Input, if it does, all you need to do is to make your you get some cables which can convert the 9-pin socket into an S-video Port, Than install the above drivers and also download the Player, with out the player you cant run any thing, My Leadtek came with its unique Cables and also a PVR Player, and using my TV or a Budget reciever i can View TV on my PC.

BUT YOU CANNOT HEAR THE SOUND, in most occasions you cant, because AGP Card cant take Sound Inputs, more over you'll find Seperate Sound Outputs on your TV.

So why spend some 30 $ and buy a Crap TV Tuner.
i hope you understood every thijng

 

[Pauli]

You don't need a TV Tuner card as someone previously mentioned. The DirectTV receiver will serve as the tuner which will plug into your video card. Your Gainward video card has Composite and S-Video input ports that the DirectTV output signal will go into. The viewing/capturing software will allow you to choose which input port to use for the video input.

To summarize, here's what you're gonna need to do:

1. Get the VIVO cable for your Gainward video card.
According to the AT review of that card, it has a special connector for the VIVO cable, but a picture of the cable wasn't shown. If it's anything like my ATI All-in-Wonder video card, it's a 9-pin connector on one side that plugs into the video card connector and a "block" of connectors on the other end: S-Video, composite video, left audio, right audio.
You're gonna need to hook up the stereo audio to go along with that S-Video cable. I'm not sure where you can get this cable -- you'll have to do some research yourself on this. (Not sure why it wasn't included in your video card -- it should've been!)

2. Get a Composite video+Stereo audio cable.
You've probably seen these before -- it has 3 RCA-style connectors on each end -- one yellow (composite video), one white (left channel audio), and one red (right channel audio). These are pretty common and you can get one at any Radio Shack, Circuit City, or any computer or electronics store. They can be had for a few dollars.

3. Plug the VIVO cable into your video card and plug the composite cable into the other end's connectors. You may need to connect the video card to the sound card, but I'm not sure. Download the manual from the Gainward web site.

4. Connect the other side of the composite cable to your DirectTV receiver's "Output 1" connectors.

5. Download and install your viewing/capturing software. I just checked on the Gainward website and it really wasn't immediately clear to me if this was available for download. You could try to follow up with their online tech support and/or you could just download one of the shareware utilities that are available for this purpose. I believe many of the popular media players should work OK (WinDVD, PowerDVD, etc.). Check out www.dvdrhelp.com for a wealth of info on digital video related topics and share/freeware links.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[nvfx]

You are wrong frankly, You do need a TV Tuner if you wana enjoy TV on PC, why do people waste money on ATI AIW or NVIDIA Cenima Cards than,

secondly what about the Audio, the guy above dosnt mention any thing about Audio, for me i have Problems infact No audio because Audio had to be seperate, which i coudnt get it to Work.

Thirdly my Direct TV method is very easy and will serve as a testing bed incase you dont know what to do, but you will need Program from gainward to run Input streams.

Another thing i noticed with my Ti 4200, The Input/ouput cables would give me Thunder shocks if touched the metal side, unlucky i am sure you wont have this problem.

Again, BUY a seperate TV Tuner, get rid of all the Cable Problems. If you get to run TV with Vivo, you will have to be a bit more careful.

Good luck.

 

[wkabel23]

Originally posted by: nvfx
You are wrong frankly, You do need a TV Tuner if you wana enjoy TV on PC, why do people waste money on ATI AIW or NVIDIA Cenima Cards than,

secondly what about the Audio, the guy above dosnt mention any thing about Audio, for me i have Problems infact No audio because Audio had to be seperate, which i coudnt get it to Work.

Thirdly my Direct TV method is very easy and will serve as a testing bed incase you dont know what to do, but you will need Program from gainward to run Input streams.

Another thing i noticed with my Ti 4200, The Input/ouput cables would give me Thunder shocks if touched the metal side, unlucky i am sure you wont have this problem.

Again, BUY a seperate TV Tuner, get rid of all the Cable Problems. If you get to run TV with Vivo, you will have to be a bit more careful.

Good luck.

Yea I think I'm going to go buy a TV tuner

I think I'll go with a Leadtek Winfast XP 2000 TV/FM tuner

Is this a good Tuner? I don't want to spend much more than that, so if there is something better for cheaper--LMK And will this have all the cables I need?

Thanks for all the help guys

 

[Pauli]

Whoa! Back up there a minute, nvfx! wkabel23 said he wants to watch his DirecTV feed on his computer. HE DOES NOT NEED A TV TUNER FOR HIS COMPUTER! A TV Tuner is only used for analog cable or antenna input, NOT SATELLITE (or digital cable for that matter). His "tuner" will be the DirecTV receiver.

wkabel23, you'd be well-advised to disregard anything nvfx says. He clearly does not know what he is talking about.

While it is true that I have not used your particular video card, I actually have successfully set up my computer to watch and record from a DirecTV tuner.

 

[Pauli]

A simple google search found this photo of the Gainward VIVO cable.

It doesn't look like it provides the pass-thru audio connectors, just composite video and S-Video -- one set for input and one set for output. You'll have to hook the DirecTV receiver audio directly to your sound card with a 1/8" stereo connector to Rt/Lft RCA audio connector cable. The 1/8" connector goes into the "Input" or "Aux" connector on your sound card.

 

[nvfx]

Well it seems there is still a bottle neck, Basiclly the problem is of the Video Cable Convertion.

If You already have a reciever in your Room, WHICH HAS A S-VIDEO OUTPUT, than there are 99 % you can simply use normal S-video Cable to conect the reciever with the AGP Card.

But than my Card supports Vivo and has a 9 Pin connector instead of a Dirct S-video, is that the case for you as well????

While the audio is still a bit of a problem...

Any how Leadtek has introduced thier new TV Tuner, mind if you check that out at leadtek.com.tw

Yse its true it supports TV antenna Cables but if its TV which you wana see than its just what he wants.

 

[Pauli]

nvfx, you still don't get the point here. Here is what wkabel23 said in the original post:

recently got a 3 room DirecTV system because I got a really good deal. However, I only have 2 TV's at the moment and I've got the 3rd receiver in the room with my computer. I've been looking at the receiver and I noticed it had an S-Video port.

It is clear from this statement that he wants to use the DirecTV receiver as his "television" input. NOT A REGULAR CABLE TELEVISION OR TV ANTENNA CABLE! So stop already recommending that he get a TV Tuner card. HE DOES NOT NEED ONE FOR WHAT HE WANTS TO DO!

Okay.

From what I read about his particular Gainward video card, it appears the the "S-Video" style connector is not a proper S-Video connector. I can only imagine that it is a connector that requires a VIVO-style cable (like the one pictured in the link I provided in a previous post). Plugging the S-Video connector from the DirecTV receiver will not work, if I am correct about this (I don't have this video card, though, so I can't be sure).

 

[nvfx]

Well, i know he has a reciever but i did mention in my first post that he will need VIVO Cable other wise he cant do much, its very strange for a Card having VIVO doesnt include the cables.

And have you found the Player for his card, for my Leadtek, every thing was with the package, No Problems..

While for the reciever, if the S-Video Doesnt plug in the AGP Cards, how will you connect the reciever the the AGP Card.

 

[wkabel23]

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Those are pictures of the back of my card, sorry for the bad quality but I think you can tell what I have. How many holes should the Svideo thing have?

Thanks

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: Pauli
nvfx, you still don't get the point here. Here is what wkabel23 said in the original post:

recently got a 3 room DirecTV system because I got a really good deal. However, I only have 2 TV's at the moment and I've got the 3rd receiver in the room with my computer. I've been looking at the receiver and I noticed it had an S-Video port.

It is clear from this statement that he wants to use the DirecTV receiver as his "television" input. NOT A REGULAR CABLE TELEVISION OR TV ANTENNA CABLE! So stop already recommending that he get a TV Tuner card. HE DOES NOT NEED ONE FOR WHAT HE WANTS TO DO!

Okay.

From what I read about his particular Gainward video card, it appears the the "S-Video" style connector is not a proper S-Video connector. I can only imagine that it is a connector that requires a VIVO-style cable (like the one pictured in the link I provided in a previous post). Plugging the S-Video connector from the DirecTV receiver will not work, if I am correct about this (I don't have this video card, though, so I can't be sure).

so how does he get audio input?

 

[wkabel23]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM

Originally posted by: Pauli
nvfx, you still don't get the point here. Here is what wkabel23 said in the original post:

recently got a 3 room DirecTV system because I got a really good deal. However, I only have 2 TV's at the moment and I've got the 3rd receiver in the room with my computer. I've been looking at the receiver and I noticed it had an S-Video port.

It is clear from this statement that he wants to use the DirecTV receiver as his "television" input. NOT A REGULAR CABLE TELEVISION OR TV ANTENNA CABLE! So stop already recommending that he get a TV Tuner card. HE DOES NOT NEED ONE FOR WHAT HE WANTS TO DO!

Okay.

From what I read about his particular Gainward video card, it appears the the "S-Video" style connector is not a proper S-Video connector. I can only imagine that it is a connector that requires a VIVO-style cable (like the one pictured in the link I provided in a previous post). Plugging the S-Video connector from the DirecTV receiver will not work, if I am correct about this (I don't have this video card, though, so I can't be sure).

so how does he get audio input?

Yea, I wondered that too

Couldn't i just run something from the DirecTV receiver to my soundcard or subwoofer?