Cable tv on a PC

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mresa641

Active Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2008
Messages
40
Reaction score
0
Ive been looking for a legit way to watch tv on my computer. So far I have had no luck finding something that could provide it. So, I turn to you, my fellow brewers, for any tips on how to accomplish this.

My hardware:
Gateway GT5670

What do I need to purchase?
 
SWMBO has been doing this for years and is very happy with it. She has a desktop with Windows XP Media Edition on it and a TV tuner card. It's pretty cool, actually. Works pretty much like TIVO. If you can find XP Media Edition, I'd recommend it.
 
Since I know JustDave loves being +1'd, +1 on the TV Tuner Card. I bought one for the SWMBO and she loves it. Most come with remotes, too.
 
PCTV ( http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/uk/Products/Consumer+Products/PCTV/PCTV/ ) Be surre to change the location to the USA in the upper right corner of the webpage. It defaults to UK.

A USB device that connects to your computer and allows you to watch tv through your PC.

I bought a version from them that connected either an antenna or coax cable to the usb device and I was able to watch TV on my laptop while I was deployed.

Was about $75 if I remember correctly.

One benifit of the system I have is the antenna actually allows me to get the HD signals from the local TV stations in Albuquerque.

Cake
 
TV tuner cards are great. About the only weakness is that you can't watch digital cable on them. If you have vista home edition it comes with media center which is an awesome program for watching TV and DVR etc.
 
These will all work but if you have satellite or digital cable you will need to get an extra cable box to hook up to the computer too.
 
I have a hauppauge WinTv HVR-1800, it wont descramble cable signals but normal signals from an antenna or basic cable will work fine. you can also pass the signal through cable / satellite box to use scrambled or payper view channels. it will display HD signals too.
 
I would recommend a custom built myth box with a pchdtv tuner card http://www.pchdtv.com/--would be able to control any boxes you have, as well as getting analog and unencrypted digital signals. Best of all, old hardware (except for the tuner card) is pretty good for this application so a hand me down that was new two years ago will likely be pretty good on this account. There are tons of specialized distributions which are good at setting up for you without the bs pia stuff that is associated with the myth setup-- mythbuntu, mythdora, as well as the old school knoppmyth. I dont have much use for tv, although three or four years ago i set up a myth box by hand for fun and giggles--worked well (although at that time it was all analog), I just didnt have the time or inclination to watch tv...

Barring new hardware, another route is the miro (used to be called democracy) program--it has tons of tv and shows from around the world on there and is cross platform, works on rss feeds to update daily or on a schedule you input. Its free and open source. http://www.getmiro.com/

Any questions Ill help ya as i can...
 
get a hd tv tuner card. if yuo have pcie get one of those. if not pci since they are pretty cheap now days. you'll spend around 50 to 100 bucks. there are several free apps that turn it into a pvr. if you go with the hauppage you can also use. orb.com and stream like a slingbox. you do not need anything special such as xp media center since the app will work fine an anything above xp home. for more information check out avsforum.com
 
Since I know JustDave loves being +1'd, +1 on the TV Tuner Card. I bought one for the SWMBO and she loves it. Most come with remotes, too.

+2. I used to use SageTV with a Hauppage card, and would stream it to my slightly modified Xbox 1. But, 2 years ago I bought a 55" Sony, and just wound up getting the DVR from my cable company....
 
I use Sage TV with 3 recording cards. You can stream the recordings to any television or computer in your home. They have a nice forum with lots of great add on programs.
 
Back
Top