PC digital cable tuner card?

[RyanA]

I've got an old PC lying around from when my brother moved out. Lately I've been thinking about turning into a TV recorder. I have digital cable. Who's got the scoop on tuner cards? It's also pretty old, my brother bought it when he enlisted, maybe 7 years ago.

 

[carbine15]

I have a home theater PC and I've been tuning in and recording non-digital cable for years until this last month when Comcast went all digital for their expanded basic. My computer is about 3 years old and doesn't have a pci express slot. I'd like to tune in the digital chanels for beyondTV but have no idea what card to use. I think RyanA's question is basically the same as mine.

 

[tiktok 22]

I have two setups. One with a hauppauge pvr-150 and another with an autumnwave on-air GT. Both great tuners. Without getting into details here is about the best place to start to find a tuner that suits your needs.

 

[carbine15]

I have the PVR150 also. Can I use it with an IR blaster to tune in my digital channels and avoid having to get a digital tuner card?

 

[tiktok 22]

I have the PVR150 also. Can I use it with an IR blaster to tune in my digital channels and avoid having to get a digital tuner card?

No, It's an analog tuner only.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

For an older pc in particular, you'll want a tuiner card that handles the mpeg decoding in it's own hardware, rather than pushing it off onto the PC's CPU. As a general rule of thumb, the less expensive the tuner, the more likely that it will have tougher minimum requirements of the host PC for that reason.

Having said that, I've tried a few tuner cards including the AutumnWave external, the Fusion-5 USB external and a KWorld thubmbdrive tuner. The best of them for a slower pc has been the Fusion 5.

 

[carbine15]

What I meant of course is that I could use the set top digital tuner from comcast with an IR blaster to tune in my channels into my pvr150. I'm pretty sure it'll work as soon as I get compatible parts.

 

[tiktok 22]

delete

 

[tiktok 22]

What I meant of course is that I could use the set top digital tuner from comcast with an IR blaster to tune in my channels into my pvr150. I'm pretty sure it'll work as soon as I get compatible parts.

Gotcha, It should work as long as the box outputs analog.