tv tuner cards

i was thinking about getting one for my computer. basically i want to be able to turn my computer into a TiVo type thing. is this possible? i've considered getting a VCR but seeing how it's bulky and everything. i just thought it would be cool to be able to record cable shows on my pc, burn them to DVD and share with friends or family. any possibilities?

Well I dont really think so.. because im not sure that there is a way that you can see your TV on the computer screen in the first place.. I know you can do the reserve of that (See your comp screen on the TV, for those who are slow) But.. if I were you and if you have a DVD ripper, just go and rent them or borrow the seasons and stuff from friends then rip away.

Or an easier thing would be to get a P2P program like Kazaa, Limewire, etc.. and download it from there, the only problem would be viruses so buying a good antivirus program would be in order.

I was able to record onto my HD with my tuner card. I believe only some allow you to do so. Check the specs n such of the card..

Well I dont really think so.. because im not sure that there is a way that you can see your TV on the computer screen in the first place.. I know you can do the reserve of that (See your comp screen on the TV, for those who are slow) But.. if I were you and if you have a DVD ripper, just go and rent them or borrow the seasons and stuff from friends then rip away.

Or an easier thing would be to get a P2P program like Kazaa, Limewire, etc.. and download it from there, the only problem would be viruses so buying a good antivirus program would be in order.



You need to smoke less crack.



A computer with a good monitor and a capable graphics card is capable of displaying much much higher resolution than even an HDTV.
The average TV displays a resolution of only about 640x480, even a low res computer set up will be displaying twice that, so you can literaly watch TV and say surf the net at the same time.

If you have a computer that is not more than a few years old then you should have enough CPU power, and a good enough monitor, so all you need is the graphics card and big enough HDD.

I can't help with the graphics card, as I know very little about them, but while you can get seperate TV tuner cards, I would be more inclined to get an intergrated card with at least an S-Video out put so you can play it through your TV as well.

You will need at leat 250gb of free HDD space if you want to start recording lots of TV shows at high quality.
80gb is useable, but only if your recording at low quality, and a 250gb drive is so cheap now you would be crazy not to get one.
If your going to get serious about it, and start editing and storing movies etc, then you need to start thinking about having 512gb+ of useable HDD space.

It can be done. I had a tv tuner card on my old desktop pc. It was pretty sweet. I actually wanna get one for my laptop since i got a 250gb hd for xmas.

I have an old tuner card with a Philips chipset. Nice, clear picture, smooth graphics. Definitely looks better than a TV.

The software has recording capabilities. What you want to do is reasonable. Like moppie said, you're gonna need some good HD space for all that video.

i would recommend a Huappage TV tuner card. if your computer isnt all that, this will work the best as it has a seperate chip on the card for video procs.

i have the entire season of lost on my computer, soon ill burn them to dvd and never watch them again,. but ill have them

Well, if you want to turn your PC into a TiVo, look here: http://www.byopvr.com/

However, I wouldn't recommend it. I was using my computer as TiVo for a while, and it's alright. For one, the 'listing' programs (that allow the TV to know what show is on) don't work that well, and you need to manually update the TV listings all the time. Also, any time you want to watch a show you have to watch it on your computer screen, which may not be a problem for you, but I found it quite irritating.

I say go with an official TiVo box. They're great, and there are ways to 'hack' them and upgrade the HDDs inside. A friend of mine has a TiVo with a 250gb hard drive and DVD burner. Now that's a beast.

As for me, I have a DirecTV TiVo. I find it 100x better than using my PC as a TiVo. Unfortunately, the DTV TiVos aren't hackable, but I find the 70gb HDD enough room.

isnt there something called a snapbox (or something liek that) that would help you.

i had the ati all in wonder one that did it. i didn't get good hdtv reception (i was using teh antenna) so i took it back. But it did record shit from tv onto the computer. uses a TON of HD space.

wow, i'm surprised a lot of pple didnt know about tv cards.
i bought one from ASUS not too long ago, works like a charm. the program tehy gave me to watch tv, though, was kinda gay lookin. ne way, just for some specs, i've got an nVidia 5700 ultra, pentium 4, 80 gb HD. so you see, aside from the semi-powerful graphics card, my computer isn't much, but i can watch TV on it. i just run the cable line into the card, install some drivers, and i'm good to go. i've recorded some SNL episodes, other shows here and there. also transfered to a DVD some Family Guy episodes.

honestly, though, i've stopped using it all together. its just much more convenient to watch on a real tv cuz my computer is in an "office" type of room, kinda secluded. tv's in the living room, so its bigger, and the fridge is closer.

Yeah, i had the ATI one too. When i had it they didnt work with XP so when i got my new computer i just returned it since i didnt have it for long.

vinny, i have a mini fridge right behind me. Stocked full with sprite, barqs root beer, and coors light.

vinny, i have a mini fridge right behind me. Stocked full with sprite, barqs root beer, and coors light.

i'm gonna have to get me one of those.

so you wouldn't recommend one? all i really wanted to do was be able to record TV shows on my computer when i'm away. other than that i would watch it on my actual TV, i dont know if i could use a splitter or something for that. but that's what i wanted to do.

i would. just do what dustin did and get a fridge full of brews behind you. then you're set.

If you have the HD space i say go for it.

ati AIW cards suck soo bad. the huappage cards, than you can get for -$50 from newegg will work awesome. if you have a small drive, you will probably want to get a bigger one. id say go for it. its a fun project to do.

i used to do it, but i broke down and got a real pvr since i liked using my media center to play games.

I have a huappage which cost me $25 shipped, but i forgot the website. I watch cable TV throught it and play my ps2 on the computer since I don't have a TV in my room. The games look a lot better when playing ps2 on the PC, really does look more realistic. I say go for it, but when I was recording gone in 60 seconds (old one) it took about 6 gb for about 2 hr in decent quality ( i had to leave). So better get a large capacity hard drive if you want to record large movies.

You could always convert the files once they are recorded too. 6gb is pretty big for a movie. Most of the ones i have are around 600-800 mb.