Hello all. Recently i learned off these TV tuner cards. From what i have seen you put it into your PC and can plug your cable line into it and watch and record TV (is this correct?). It also seemed pretty odd to me that their is a severe lack of TV tuner cards to purchase (is there any reason for this?).
If you can watch and record TV with it i would be interested in investing in one for my secondary PC that im about to get up and running and would like some suggestions
What os? Microsoft is trying to take away the tuner option unless you pay what they want. Upside, there are ways around it. I use KMP player. vlc player, ect. I recommend vista with the older tuner cards or linux. Xmbc has me mostly, completely satisfied.
I have one, they are getting less useful for cable tv as they have started encrypting all of their channels. Basically if you need a cable box to watch tv, then the tv tuner probably won't work. To test to see what channels you would get plug your cable into the tv but bypass the cable box, whatever channels are available there are what you could get with a tv tuner.
It does however work well for digital OTA tv, if you get good reception you can get all the broadcast channels in HD for free and use your computer as dvr with something like Windows Media Center.
well thats one thing. I havent decided on a OS yet. I have all the parts for the secondary PC except RAM, HDD, and OS
On my main PC i use windows 8 and im most familiar with that, but im not really biased per se to windows 7
I dont have a cable box, nor do i even really know what a cable box is
Ok, so you just use the TV's internal tuner to select channels, right? If so all of those would be available to use on with a tuner card.
BTW, you don't really need a card you can just get a small usb device that you plug you coaxial cable into.
Vista and windows media center would be the path of least resistance. Almost plug and play( If i remember right) Mostly depends on your tuner. By win 7, they started changing stuff. I got my running but not well or fully.
yup, usb seems like a pretty easy install option.
As in i just use my TV's remote to pick channels then yes.
Would a USB device have less quality?
Im not really to concerned about being able to record multiple shows (at most i would only need to record 2 shows at once) at once but i would prefer the purest quality possible
How difficult would it be to find a copy of full version of vista?
I would prefer to purchase it via amazon if possible
Well, i have one but i am not gonna sell it because of the ease of the tv tuner and free windows media center. I am clueless where you can find vista in this day and age. Ya, it is the main reason i still have vista on a machine.
Dont know about usb always used internal cards. Never like the way they just hang off the pc with a cord attached.
Windows Media Center also comes with Windows 7, it is also available as an added upgrade to Windows 8.1
Based on what Freaksmacker said it made it seem like TV tuner functionality is "cut out" or "dumbed" down in post vista WMC (unless i was taking his post the wrong way), would windows 7's WMC work the same way in terms of TV tuner functionality.
If it is just as good or better i would probably go with 7 simply because i dont want to pay for WMC in 8 and i would probably prefer having a newer and "better" OS than vista
I've used it in both Windows 7 and 8 and it works fine.
In a way yes. It will very important to great the right tuner for what ever os you choose. Some of the issues have to with drivers not supported that kind of thing. Plus Microsofts wants to either force you to buy approved hardware/software ect.( Which i looked at and they are out of their mind) I still have the same digital/analog tuner i have had since xp. I can even get it to work with 8 but not with full functionality. So do your research. I know this other guy makes it sound as simple as that. I sure it can be but not always if your mixing and matching generations of tech in tuners verses os's. I use kmp player with my old tuner now. Maybe the media center price has come down? Just giving a heads up is all. Decide on a os. Get a supported tuner for the os. Make sure the mediaplayer will support the first two. Driver issues are a bitch.
Hmm well it appears I do have a copy of vista. I had a old laptop that is now broke and has been gutted. I remebered that it was running vista and looked at the back, I got the key, loaded up vista on a VM on my current PC and it the key is genuine
Bit unrelated but since i found this vista key and installed it on a VM would i need to "uninstall" the key from the VM so i can install it on my PC?
Ok. Well now since it seems i have a copy of vista im going to use that for this PC. Could you recommend a TV tuner card on amazon?
I also need RAM and HDD for this system, im looking at this RAM: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HWQUXJ8/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER (Since im using a APU i need faster speed ram for better gaming performance (i might do a little gaming on this PC) and it appeared to be the cheapest 2133 mhz RAM i could find)
I was also looking at this HDD: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0088PUEPK/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AZ8ZZL30AH7DI (i have this as my storage HDD in my current rig and havent had any issues with it)
Also could you give me some insight on how much space it takes up when you record shows?
http://www.amazon.com/ATI-Wonder-650-Combo-Tuner/dp/B00138CXT4/ref=sr_1_78?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1415758773&sr=1-78&keywords=tv+tuners+for+pc This the one is used for vista and i am still using. It worked well for vista but i cant personally recommend it. ( Plus, i cant believe that price is so high. I cant remember what i paid for mine but it was not even approaching that price) Hauppauge has some tuners that back in the day were well thought of and more affordable. Edit: I just noticed there are linux drivers for this. Woot :)