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Old 05-29-2007, 03:13 AM   #1
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HDTV PC Tuner


I need recommendations and a little education would be nice too. I have Comcast digital cable in the Chicagoland area, Lombard to be exact. I have the hand full of HD channels they offer and would like to be able to view them on my PC. I keep reading about "amplified HDTV antenna". So i need one of these to view HD content? Doesn't make sense to me. I'm looking at the " ATI 100-715331 PCI Interface TV Wonder 650 - High Definition Personal Video Recorder for PC". You can see it at the link below:

Newegg.com - ATI 100-715331 PCI Interface TV Wonder 650 - High Definition Personal Video Recorder for PC - Retail

Any thoughts and comments are appreciated, thanks.


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Old 06-07-2007, 09:59 PM   #2
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Well i found out that the amplfied HDTV antenna that comes with some tuner cards is for picking up HD signals. Aparently Tv stations are broadcasating HD content over the air and these antennas pick up the signal. I heard any old rabbit ears antennas would even work so long as you have an HDTV. It all depends on where you live/if theres an HD signal being broadcast in your area. Also positioning of the atenna is crucial and annoying from what i've read. You point it in one direction and get a channed maybe a few and then you have to point it in another direction to get other channels. Doesn't sound worth it to me.

At this point I'm not even sure its possible to get HDTV from a cable box to a PC. Does anyone at least know that?
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Old 06-08-2007, 01:19 AM   #3
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[snip]

At this point I'm not even sure its possible to get HDTV from a cable box to a PC. Does anyone at least know that?


You can but it's not like the good ol' simple analog signal days.

The HD digital signal is usually scrambled going to a satellite or CATV box. Thus you have to let the box decode it and then use that signal to go to your PC. But did you really think your TV signal provider would tell you how to do that?



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Old 07-05-2007, 10:05 AM   #4
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I would recommend a card with a QAM capable tuner so you can tune unencrypted channels from the cable system.
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Old 07-05-2007, 10:07 AM   #5
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At this point I'm not even sure its possible to get HDTV from a cable box to a PC. Does anyone at least know that?
Depends on the cable box. If you have one with a firewire port you can plug it into your Windows XP PC and possible record content from the box to the PC by emulating a D-VHS with something like FireBus. However if the channels have the 5C protection turned on it will not work.
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Old 07-06-2007, 02:24 AM   #6
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But will you record HD or SD?



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Old 10-19-2007, 08:28 PM   #7
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Re: HDTV PC Tuner

The hook-ups are tricky and I THINK you can only record "free" HDTV signals. I don't think you can record the HDTV pay channels like HBO, etc. Anyway, here's a source for your shopping:

pcalchemy.com
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Old 10-20-2007, 12:09 AM   #8
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Re: HDTV PC Tuner

Over the air HD signals are UHF. Rabbit ears are VHF.
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