Watching TV on my PC

[Jeradln82]

Hey, I wanna be able to watch Cable TV through my pc. Is this possible? Do I need a TV tuner card? I have a few questions.
1. Is the TV card a PCI card?
2. What brand should I get?
3. Can I hook up my cable directly to the card?
4. Do I need special software? or does the TV card come with it?
5. Is this a difficult thing to set up?

I have cable in my room but no tv. I figure a TV card will be cheaper than a tv, and with my system speakers it will sound pretty nice.

If anyone could give me some input on this I'd appreciate it.
Thanks
-Jerad

[highrisemech]

ATI all in wonder this is PCI and comes with software.
The cable hooks directly to the card. very easy to set up.
This card is available just about anywhere computer parts are sold.

[morriswindgate]

Very easy to setup and the newer 0nes have remotes. And by the way,unless you get another decoder box from the cable company, all you will have is the basic cable.

[Jeradln82]

Cool Thanks! One other thing though. I don't see anywhere thats says if it comes with a remote..lol. Does anyone know if you can get a remote for it? That would be sooo sweet!

Thanks again highrisemech

-Jerad

[Jeradln82]

lol..thanks morris. you answered when I was replying as well.
OK, can anyone tell me the difference between the $45.00 one and the $65.00 one?

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...tby=14&order=1

Yeah morris, I know I'll only get basic cable, but the ability to watch tv on my pc is just really cool! I'll have to look into getting another box.

[Xayd]

The 65 dollar one comes with cables, adapters, and an external box with some more inputs on it.

The 45 dollar one will probably only come with the card and the sound pass thru cable.

[Jeradln82]

well I guess I'll have to go with the one with all the goodies!

[RenegadeKing]

This one is really nice. Should be better than the ATI. http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...122-132&DEPA=1

Has a remote too. LOTS of good reviews there too.

[Jeradln82]

Hmm..that one looks a little more confusing. It has more connections. I see two cable connectors, which one would I use? lol. I do like the remote thing though! Thanks Renegade

[RenegadeKing]

Well you don't need to hook up all those cables to just watch TV. But they're there if you want them. And I'm sure it has directions on what they're for and how to connect them. Plus it's got the remote and it's cheaper, and I think it has better video quality.

[Jeradln82]

Thanks again everyone!

[Ryan2318]

one is for cable and the other is for the fm tuner that you put on and get fm radio on your computer.

[Jeradln82]

Originally posted by Ryan2318 one is for cable and the other is for the fm tuner that you put on and get fm radio on your computer.

An Fm tuner huh? Hmmm..now you got me all excited again! lol
whats up with an FM tuner? I guess I'll need an antena huh?

[Ryan2318]

its included... just plug it in...

[Jeradln82]

I'm going to be ordering this Leadtek TV card soon. Thank you everyone who helped. This think looks sweet. So, it looks like I'll be able to hook my video camera up to this sucker and save the videos on my hard drive. That is so cool!

I just have a question. It says I can record TV shows. SO, If I get another cable box will I be able to hook that up to the TV card and record movies off of the movie channel? Then after I do that burn the movie to a DVD (after I get a dvd burner ofcourse)? Will the movie quality be DVD quality like I'm watching it from tv or the DVD I would normally buy in the store?

If this card can give me all these capabilities it pretty much pays for itself. A 20" tv cost more then $100 and I already have a 19" monitor. I was also wondering, since you can plug a video camera into it, could I also plug in a game console such as PS2? Or is that going too far?

Thanks again everyone for the info! I'm really excited, this is SWEET!

[casey]

Hi there,
I have 3 of those Winfast 2000 Delux cards running (one at home and 2 others at clients) and they are very, very nice. Just make sure to get the latest drivers off there website (lots of improvements over those released with the cards July/September 2002)

[Ryan2318]

Originally posted by Jeradln82 I'm going to be ordering this Leadtek TV card soon. Thank you everyone who helped. This think looks sweet. So, it looks like I'll be able to hook my video camera up to this sucker and save the videos on my hard drive. That is so cool! I just have a question. It says I can record TV shows. SO, If I get another cable box will I be able to hook that up to the TV card and record movies off of the movie channel? Then after I do that burn the movie to a DVD (after I get a dvd burner ofcourse)? Will the movie quality be DVD quality like I'm watching it from tv or the DVD I would normally buy in the store? If this card can give me all these capabilities it pretty much pays for itself. A 20" tv cost more then $100 and I already have a 19" monitor. I was also wondering, since you can plug a video camera into it, could I also plug in a game console such as PS2? Or is that going too far? Thanks again everyone for the info! I'm really excited, this is SWEET!

I'm not sure if thats illegal or not considering its a payed for movie... but I'm sure its possible as long as you have a dvd burner and a big harddrive... Its not going to look awesome but it should look "ok" depending of what type it records it as (ex. mpeg2) and at what resolution. I'm going to get one myself and yes you can plug in a video camera as long as it connects via a/v or s video and you can also hook up a ps2 with the same connections. Thats what I mainly plan on using it for. You just need to go to radio shack and get a Y cable thats turns two rca (the left and right audio) to a minijack (like a headphone jack...) and that'll let you plug in the sound. See in Socom on the ps2, there is no in game messaging so to organize things with my clan you need to have aim and all that. Well I got fed up with running from living room to bed room over and over everytime i heard an IM... SO i figure it'll be easier to have the game running on my computer so I won't have to move at all.

[Jeradln82]

and I'll also be able to put home movies on DVD as well. That is great. Yeah, I'm about to get PowerLink from Adelphia, So I'm going to by SOCOM Navy Seals to play over the net.

Thanks Ryan for all the help. I appreciate it.