Question about pc TV tuners

Is it pointless to get a tv tuner for a computer at this point? I mean, since they are switching over to digital, will it not work anymore? I'm looking at a product from Hauppauge.

Thanks,

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Comments

supertechCETma

duh, buy a digital tuner?

JDMurray

Have you bothered to actually read the information on Hauppauge's site? It looks like HD is fully-supported by their better products.

HeroPsycho

Would highly suggest looking at an HDHomeRun if you buy a digital tuner. It's the best one out of them all for numerous reasons.

nevolved

Hehe thanks everyone. I really don't know much about TV technology, so after looking over their site I came here.

Pash

I have a digital Hauppage TV card. Works surprisingly well with windows media centre in vista. UK freeview is bad though

Lee H

I would love to connect my virgin media box to my pc and be able to record my fav programs to my pc, has anyone ever done this?

Lee H

UK freeview is bad though

quality of signal or quality of progrmmes?

I think welfare tv in general is bad, not enough choice and only satisfies people who love soap operas, they are all on at different times across all channels so there not competing with each other

Pash

Lee H wrote:

UK freeview is bad though

quality of signal or quality of progrmmes?

I think welfare tv in general is bad, not enough choice and only satisfies people who love soap operas, they are all on at different times across all channels so there not competing with each other

As you know lee we pay a stupidly expensive tv license for poor quality television programmes from the BBC, with the exception of a few quality series (Planet Earth etc). The quality of programmes on all freeview channels is bad, mostly repeats for tv series that have already been exhausted before.

I cant comment for other countries tv offerings but It has never been good over here really.

BeaverC32

This is an honest question --

What is the point of TV tuners? I understand what they do, at least on a basic level, but I don't see the benefit of having one. With TiVo/HD DVRs readily available by just about all cable/satellite providers, I don't understand why someone would opt to use a tv tuner instead?

Maybe I am just not aware of other features available by using a tv tuner...

JayrodEF

I just installed an HDTV wonder I had around into my Vista PC. I just upgraded to Vista to see how I liked it, so far the best thing is the MCE. I've got that hooked up to my Xbox360 so I can use my PC as a DVR and watch shows through my TV. I was amazed at how well it worked and how easy it actually was to get up and working. It works great. As to the question above with what's the point of TV tuners... for me it's that I don't want to pay for satellite or cable, so this is a free (since I've had the TV card for a long time) HD DVR option for me.

HeroPsycho

BeaverC32 wrote:

This is an honest question --

What is the point of TV tuners? I understand what they do, at least on a basic level, but I don't see the benefit of having one. With TiVo/HD DVRs readily available by just about all cable/satellite providers, I don't understand why someone would opt to use a tv tuner instead?

Maybe I am just not aware of other features available by using a tv tuner...

You could make your computer a DVR.

BeaverC32

JayrodEF wrote:

I just installed an HDTV wonder I had around into my Vista PC. I just upgraded to Vista to see how I liked it, so far the best thing is the MCE. I've got that hooked up to my Xbox360 so I can use my PC as a DVR and watch shows through my TV. I was amazed at how well it worked and how easy it actually was to get up and working. It works great. As to the question above with what's the point of TV tuners... for me it's that I don't want to pay for satellite or cable, so this is a free (since I've had the TV card for a long time) HD DVR option for me.

Don't you still need to pay for cable/satellite service to get the channels though?

Another related question -- I have DirecTV in two of my rooms (but not in the room with my PC). Suppose I wanted to buy a TV tuner and then use that with my current service. I assume this means I would need to have DirecTV install another cable and feed it to the room where my PC is, and connect that cable (which would normally connect to a receiver box) to my tuner card?

Lee H

BeaverC32 wrote:

JayrodEF wrote:

I just installed an HDTV wonder I had around into my Vista PC. I just upgraded to Vista to see how I liked it, so far the best thing is the MCE. I've got that hooked up to my Xbox360 so I can use my PC as a DVR and watch shows through my TV. I was amazed at how well it worked and how easy it actually was to get up and working. It works great. As to the question above with what's the point of TV tuners... for me it's that I don't want to pay for satellite or cable, so this is a free (since I've had the TV card for a long time) HD DVR option for me.

Don't you still need to pay for cable/satellite service to get the channels though?

Another related question -- I have DirecTV in two of my rooms (but not in the room with my PC). Suppose I wanted to buy a TV tuner and then use that with my current service. I assume this means I would need to have DirecTV install another cable and feed it to the room where my PC is, and connect that cable (which would normally connect to a receiver box) to my tuner card?

This is the same question that I asked, not sure what DirectTV as I have Virgin Media. I too would like to hook up my TV channels to my PC and record some programmes

Has anybody done this?

JayrodEF

No, I don't pay for any provider. I only get the over the air channels, which is fine for me. I get all the major networks and a couple extras. Granted it's not very "high tech" to have an antenna, but it works.