TV Tuner card (for MCE?)

A

ADWill9

New Member
I've been doing a lot of research into TV Tuner cards, and I'm hoping to get some advice before I purchase one.

I have built a pretty decent computer which I had intended to serve as a hub for all my roomates and I to share our music, pictures, videos, etc. It didn't occur to me until recently that I could also use the computer as a DVR, with a tuner card. I already have an unused copy of Windows Vista Home Premium, so I figure I might as well use the Media Center that comes with the OS, despite mixed reviews for Vista... The end goal would be to use the TV as both the source and destination for the computer (no monitor attached).

The things I'm unsure about:

1. How does it connect with my Comcast cable box-- does it just get inserted in-line before the TV? I guess I wouldn't mind purchasing a MCE remote, to get rid of the Comcast remote, but how would On Demand work?? Would it operate with the MCE remote somehow, or would I still need the Comcast remote for on demand? I want to get a tuner card with 2 tuners... how do I get two coaxial inputs from my comcast box? Is it just a splitter?

2. I want my roommates to be able to connect to the computer and utilize its iTunes playlists.... if I'm recording a tv show and watching one at the same time, while my roommate is switching around between albums on the computer, is it going to lag up?? The last thing I need is laggy tv.

Thanks, I love this forum!!
 
If you want to use a single remote, you'd either need to find a universial remote for the computer, or some kind of software that could act as a "remote blaster" as some devices have. As for two tuners, I doubt you could use them unless you had two boxes to connect to your computer. If I'm not mistaking, the only want to tune into a station is to use the tuner, correct? IE you must be using some sort of input(RCA/SVHS) or on something like Channel 3?

Find a tuner that has a true real-time encoder on it. As long as the tuner's got a real-time encoder, I doubt you'd get much, if any lag.
 
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