HD TV-Tuner Info

[seancky2]

I am a bit confused as to what exactly a TV-Tuner can do on a PC. I am under the impression that you can either use MCE or provided software with the tuner to receive ANTENNA television channels? Are there even that many channels available anymore that are broadcasted over antenna?

Is there not a way to use my AT&T U-Verse service to record/watch HD television? I would love the ability to record and watch TV from my top box from u-verse.

 

[valve1138]

Hauppauge HD-PVR

 

[GeorgeHR]

We have more digital OTA channels than we had analog.

The Haupauge USB tuners are nice.

Lots of software for viewing and for recording.

 

[ambientZ]

You can find out what channels are in your area but punching in your address to:
http://www.tvfool.com/ or http://antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

However your typical broadcast networks are the standard ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW, PBS.

Any of the hd tuners can get over the air broadcasts, you just need the proper antenna. HD antennas have nothing HD about them - in fact theyre usually just UHF only which is bad if you are in one of the few markets that still have a VHF transmitter.

The HD-PVR accepts component input, which is good for capturing the output of a cable/satellite HD box, but useless with an antenna.

A regular HDTV tuner is only good for antenna broadcasts. (if it supports unencrypted/clear QAM you may get some channels on digital cable).

Im not a fan of the haupauge usb stick tuners, ive only had problems with mine. I prefer the silicon dust hd homerun. But i wouldnt necessarily make that kind of investment unless you know you get a decent signal, and actually watch network TV.

Then theres the software side of things, i like windows media center for this, which comes with vista home premium & ultimate, and in windows 7 home premium and above.

(i only watch network tv, and get a good signal, so hdtv tuners work great for me).