TV Tuner

[coxmaster]

Finally! I got my TV Tuner and it looks pretty good right now, for standard definition. I connected my cable to the Digital HD Input on the card and Vista MCE didn't find any channels.. which i thought was odd. The card did detect all my analog cable channels but none of the free HD channels. For my normal TV i have to have a special HD cable box to recieve those channels, shouldnt i be able to get those with my HD reciever on the TV tuner? Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! :icon_tiphat:

[Miker]

Finally! I got my TV Tuner and it looks pretty good right now, for standard definition. I connected my cable to the Digital HD Input on the card and Vista MCE didn't find any channels.. which i thought was odd. The card did detect all my analog cable channels but none of the free HD channels. For my normal TV i have to have a special HD cable box to recieve those channels, shouldnt i be able to get those with my HD reciever on the TV tuner? Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! :icon_tiphat:

Do you have a HD tuner card?

By digital HD you mean free on-air HD TV? You can just plug that in the back of your PC, with out the converter box.

[coxmaster]

1- Yep its an HD and SD Tuner with 2 inputs.. one is digital one is analog.

By free HD i mean the HD that i get through cable. It doesnt cost me anything from the cable company, i just needed an HD box for the TV.

[Frag Maniac]

The digital inputs for PC TV tuners generally only work for over the air broadcasts. You'll probably need to hook up an antenna capable of receiving HD signals. For over two yrs though I've been just using the old roof antenna on our apt building which I get ABC, CBS and NBC on in HD. The antennas designed for it do work better though. I have to fiddle with my coax a lot to get ABC in, then I lose CBS or best case scenario get a weaker signal on it. I've pretty much got two positions figured out that work for the coax though. If you're in a house you can work it out with your own equipment, but if you're in an apt like me you'll be at the mercy of theirs, of which ours is very old and needs replacing.

That's why I have to fiddle with the coax. The lines and connections going to the roof antenna are weak and the antenna itself outdated. I advise you get on the AVS forum and look for the OTA HDTV Reception board for your area and ask one of the HD antenna experts what equipment you should get based on your situation. It has a lot to do with distance from transmitters, objects obstructing the signal (hills, trees, buildings), whether you're in an urban or rural location, etc. I live in the NW USA and we have one of the most knowledgeable HD antenna specialists in the country here by the name of Dan Kurts. If you live here too, esp in the greater Seattle area, he usually knows how to advise people as soon as they give him their address.

There's a site called AntennaWeb too that is commonly used for a basic narrowing down of what type of antenna to use based on where you live. You simply fill out the required info and it takes you to a page that gives you the recommendation. Choosing equipment in many situations gets much more complex than that though. At best AntennaWeb is just a starting point. http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx (http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx)

[coxmaster]

Yes!!! I got it to work! I definately get about 15HD channels (clear QAM) through cable as well as my standard cable.. it looks nice :)

[jellyrole]

I just saw New Egg had that card for $49.99 with free shipping and bought it!! This and my 9800GTX will be good additions to my rig.