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I've got a spare computer and can get 2 rooms included in installation - but what kind of hardware would I need to get to use the computer for reception? It's a desktop, not a laptop, and has to be something external.
Also, which is better, satellite or cable? They're about the same price for local broadcast only.
[edited by: Marcia at 1:31 am (utc) on May 9, 2009]
Also, I'm pretty disappointed with the small breaks in reception, which seem to happen several times a day, even in good weather. Usually that's just a few seconds of lost audio and video, sometimes just audio or a pixelization of the video. Frustrating.
Customer service is a mixed bag, sometimes great, sometimes terrible. Oddly enough, the terrible service usually revolves around billing, imagine that!
The answers depend on where you live (from your profile I see USA)
What you seek is a "tv tuner" for your computer. They come in a number of different kinds. Looks like you seek an external device, hence a "USB TV tuner" or even "USB TV stick" would do the trick for you.
I'd suggest a trip to the local computer supermarket, they should have a small collection of this stuff, if the above search keywords don't help enough.
As to inputs: you want to hook it up to your cable and your satellite decoder.
The more expensive models are going to focus on either more inputs or either more hardware to turn your computer into a "tivo" without putting much strain on the computer's CPU (hardware mpeg encoding).
Top of the line models typically go for a firewire connection to the computer, overkill for what you seek to do.
In the US:
- Your digital free over the air tv is encoded using "ATSC"
- Your analog tv encoding is "NTSC"
- Cable (unencrypted) uses "clearQAM" I think
[Caveat: I don't live in the US]
If it covers those, you should be set.
I had to go through three different tuner cards before I found one that actually did the job. If possible have your computer shop hook one up and SHOW YOU IT WORKS for your area, or have a guarantee of return to try a different model. Some of these critters just don't work.
For me it means that when I am working, I can watch TV at the same time, instead of having to take the attention away from the screen to the TV. Also turns my 22 inch lcd into full screen TV
swa66, thanks for all the information. Those are the protocols, and when I called the customer support from the website of the electronics store, she recommended one but said it'll do cable, not satellite; but I wonder if she meant cable input or coaxial cable.
In reading reviews, I've read a number of people saying they had to try different models and brands before finding one that worked for them.
tangor and netchicken, what kind of processor do you have? Brand/model?
That way you can hook up the satellite decoder's output onto it.
The model I had came RCA/Coaxial. It would tune analog channels over cable. also had an antennae for both TV/FM. Picture was good enough, it could also be used to record however I would not be using it for that purpose for capturing from VHS or anything important. Even had a remote....
*of course you'll need a converter box for this model as they are pre digital broadcast era.
tangor and netchicken, what kind of processor do you have? Brand/model?
AMD dual core 64, 4 gb ram, xp 64 pro. For me it was the ram that got in the way with one product... wouldn't support > 3 gb. Card I use accepts all cable/sat input as well as over the air, which is what I use... I don't "pay" for TV. In my local area there are 51 channels of over the air... and so little time to watch 'em all. :)
What makes the difference is 24" or better widescreen lcd at 1680x1050x32 for that true HD experience. Also helps to have kick a$$ sound, which I do since I am a musician when I'm not piddling with webworking.
Ultimately I ended up on the "high end", but even so, that was way less than the price of a similar size lcd hdtv.
I ended up calling Fry's (where I got one of the computers) and the gal in the computer department said my computers' processing speed wasn't fast enough to pull in TV reception.
What I ended up buying is a flat panel TV from a chain store that pulls in the TV from TW cable (which I signed up for), and can also use a computer as input - as a monitor. Most TVs nowadays also have monitor capability, but the specs have to be checked to make sure.
So it's doing the same thing, but not relying on the computer's "power" to get TV broadcasting.
Thanks!
Assuming you have s-video in on your computer.
the gal in the computer department said my computers' processing speed wasn't fast enough to pull in TV reception
Huh? They probably misunderstood that you wanted to record it in a highly compressed format. Just showing the stuff: I did that on an original Pentium think it had 75Mhz or so ..., and I doubt you still use one of those.
