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Tuner questions

D

d3stiNy

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 1, 2003
Messages
170
So I have some questions on TV Tuner cards.

I am going to have HDTV box in the living room, but for my bedroom I dont want a Cable box, but I still want HD.
Now from what i have read, I believe that the cable company still needs to come install something into my computer so that HD can go through my computer. Is this true? I dont want to run a cable from the box in the living room, just from a jack from the wall.

Also, what is a good tuner card to get for this project.

Thanks in advance
 
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Your post is a little confusing. If I understand you correctly, you have a computer near the TV in your bedroom and want to get the HD channels off of it. You paid for an HD Set-top-box and the accompanying HD service and expect this service to be extended throughout your house.

Working under that assumption you can't get the same HD channels unless you install a cablecard tuner in the computer.

However, you can get the FCC mandated free HD channels (the ones broadcast over the air by the local affiliates (CBS, FOX, NBC etc.) You would get these whether you had that HD STB & HD service or not. To pick these up you need a TV tuner card that supports QAM (I don't think they will send HD under the other standard ATSC[OTA only?], but I'm not sure). Just pick up a card that supports ATSC and QAM (they prolly all will) and you can pick up the "unencrypted QAM" or "Clear QAM" I mentioned above.

You shouldn't have a problem grabbing one for <$100.
 
The FCC hasn't mandated anything, every MSO can encrypt the network channels whenever they want. The rest of your post is correct.
 
You can get some of the basic channels, but you'll only get maybe 5-12 HD channels off a scan, thats all I got.

What you really need is a tv tuner that supports cablecards, a big topic of discussion this year, especially with the new Ceton cards coming out. Anyway, im actually buying (arriving Monday) an HD tuner card from ATI (i bought it from Dell) that supports cablecards.

I can then call my cable company, have them come by with a cablecard then install it (and they provision it) then get full HD channels (even my premium ones like science and hbo) on my HTPC.

Then if i want (this is where you'll wanna take notice) i could get a media center extender (if you have an xbox 360 thats an extender) and put it in another room, which has no cable and no box, and use hte media center extender to get all my cable channels, since it'll look at the main HTPC server for cable. Nice right?

Maybe thats the route you need to go?
 
Ya Adam I think I might do that. However, can I do that on a PS3? And what did u buy from dell? I tried looking online but couldnt find a tuner card from ati on the website:confused:

And Karkas no I dont have a cable box, and I dont want one in the bedroom. Sorry about the confusing post
 
if they are they have to supply a free decoder box to supply at least locals in clear qam
 
The last time I looked into cable cards you couldn't just buy a tuner that had a cable card slot yourself, and even if you could, it would not work without a specific motherboard and windows activation. Is it open now?

Edit: nm, this article clears it up.
 
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