TV tuner card

theDreamer

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 11, 2006
Messages
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So, after having my HTPC for almost a month now, there is one thing I left out because I was unsure if I wanted or was going to need it, TV tuner card. After a month of use, and more research I have found it would be exactly what I need in this setup.

A bit of background so you can help me make the best choice:
~Will be getting AT&T U-verse this month (YAY!!!!)
~Want a card that will last (PCI or PCIe is fine)
~Have fell in love with VMC and want to be able to control and use from inside VMC
~Storage will be on another computer, WHS system

What I want to record:
~HD (best as I can) - only care about standard channels, i.e. Fox, ABC, NBC, etc. Want to watch my television shows in HD if I can.
~Record SD for other channels, if I ever want or need to.
~Record two HD channels at once.

I have read through the AVS HTPC thread and they recommend these two:
~AVerMedia AVerTV Combo PCIe (link)
~Silicondust HDHomeRun (link)
There is a bit of a price difference and one is network and the other is internal PCIe, but I am really unsure of how this works in the end. When I setup my cable and TV tuner card, how do I do this? Coaxial from wall to the cable box, and then coaxial from the cable box to the TV tuner card?

Thanks for any help, still a bit new to all of this HTPC information and so far I am loving it. Finally got my server setup with my movies, can now browse by movie poster thanks to mymovies software (thanks all for tips here), and now my HTPC is my center piece of my setup. Still waiting to find the end of what this HTPC can do, and so far have not found it.
 
I believe U-Verse is IPTV and does not broadcast anything using QAM. That means that a regular tuner card would not work. You're on the right track with hooking the set top box to a card. For recording HD, the only method I know of is outputting component video from the STB into a Hauppauge HD-PVR. You'll also need to setup IR blasting to allow your PC to change the channel on the STB. However, this will still only allow you to record 1 channel at a time. You'll also need to verify that there is EPG data available in VMC for U-Verse.
 
Not 100% sure what IR blasting is, my case has a built in IR receiver, already controls VMC and PowerDVD (almost perfectly). That does suck about AT&T U-verse, and was unaware of it not doing QAM. I will have to do more reading then on what people with AT&T U-verse did, thanks for the input.
 
IR blasting is connecting a dongle from the tuner card to the cable box, so it can change the STB channel.
 
IR blasting is a cable that connects to the HD-PVR box on one end, and the other end has an IR "eye" that you place over the IR receiver on your set top box. Thus, the PC can send a signal to the STB telling it to change the channel.

EDIT: Nm, darkmaw beat me to it.
 
Went over to avsforum to ask around, and it looks like I am out of luck with this since I am getting AT&T Uverse. I am a bit heartbroken, but I will be getting a DVR from AT&T so I can at least record a bit.

racerguy32, what are you referring to? A TV tuner card, you can pick them at any place, newegg, directron, tigerdirect, etc. The two in my original post are the top recommended that I have read up on.
 
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