I purchased a home computer a few months ago and would like to set it up to view TV on it. I'm a novice with this set up. My questions are what is the best TV card for my PC? DO I even need one? What kind of accessaries do I need to make it work. I would like to watch HDTV on it and record shows when I want to. I have comcast cable digital that also has around 15 HDTV channels. Any help would be appreciated, Thanks This is my current computer config: OS: Microsoft XP Media center Edition 2005 (update Rollup 2) Processor: Intel Pentium D processing cores (3.2ghz, 800MHZ FSB, 2x1MB L2 cache with a 400 watt power supply) Chipset: 945G chipset with DDR2 Support Hard Drive: 500GB (2-250GB) Serial ATA II/300 7200rpm hard drive Memory: 4GB DDr2 SDRAM dual channel Expansion slots: 1-PCI-Ex16 Expansion slot 1PCI-E x1 3 PCI in which 2 are avaible External Ports: 6 usb 3 IEE 1394 firewall 1 serial 1 parallel 2 PS/2 1 RJ-45 integrated LAN, 1 VGA, 1 Mic Monitor: FPD2185W 21" Black wide screen High-Defenition LCD Performance falt screen (21" viewable) with 4 Powered USB Ports Video: NVIDIA GeForce 7800 with 256MB DDR3 Memory, Dual DVI and TV out Network: Intergrated Broadcom 10/100/1000 (Gigabit) ethernet Links sys router
Yes, you'll need a TV Tuner/Capture card. Currently there are none that will accept the signal from your comast box, and PVR in HDTV. You can record from an analog card, and it will be widescreen, but not HD.
I have a similar questions, I want to record off my TV (Time Warner Cable (basic cable no boxes) ). I curretnly have a ATI Radeon 9250 pci 256 Mb graphics card (I haven't opened the box yet until I know for sure I can do this. 1.) It has a S-Video and composite connectors for TV/VCR will I be able to record using that? 2.) What software will I need that is legal and free to download to record off of the tv, and is it possible included in the software? 3.) What graphics card that is about $200 or less do you people suggest I trade for if I can't use my current one. Also will I be able to use this on a LCD or flat panel tv if I ever upgrade to one.
Choosing a TV tuner for a MCE PC is a bit easier than just picking any TV tuner out there. The first requirement is that the tuner has official MCE support. You'll need a MCE driver for your tuner to work with the OS, so if one isn't available for the card that you're looking at, then you know to look elsewhere. In other words it's not just any tuner card that will work with MCE ! Here's a few you can look at that are recommended for MCE ATI TV Wonder Elite Hauppauge's WinTV PVR-250 AVerMedia M150 Those cards are approved for use with MCE (( Source :- http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2393 ))
