Up until recently we've had DirecTV and Dish Network in our house and just recently got Verizon Fios TV, which means I can fianlly hook up a TV tuner card to my PC and start recording TV to my PC.
But I don't know anything about TV tuner cards and what the differneces are.
My question what is the best card internal card I can get? And will I need to run the coax from a verizon set-top box then to my pc, or can I run a coax connection straight to the back of my PC?
There are 2 types of tv tuner cards software encoders and hardware encoders.
If you want to build a DVR get the hardware encoder type tuner card. These cards do all the video/audio encoding on the card (computer cpu is not used). You can have more than 1 of the hardware encoder cards installed on 1 PC at the same time (example if you have 3 cards installed you can record 3 different shows at the same time). These cards will allow you to record in the background and keep using the computer for playing games listening to music etc with no slowdown.
The software encoder type cards are excellent when you only want to watch TV and not do to much recording, these use the CPU to do all the video encoding and also will take over the computer soundcard. When recording video, the computer will slowdown.
There are other minor differences some are HD (high definition) and some use PCI and the newer ones are PCI-E.
I own both types hauppagauge pvr-150 (hardware encoder) and the msi tvanywhere plus (software encoder).
As far as connection, It depends if the verizon tv signals are encoded on the coaxial cable. From looking at FIOS forums it states that all channels are encrypted except local channels and music channels not sure if it's for HD and SD channels. If this is the case the cable(fios) box will have to connected all the time.
Would I have to have the box in front of me? Or could I run the coax through the wall to my PC and then back to the box? I'm not 100% on how these things work, I just want to be able to watch recorded TV on my PC. And I don't want to buy something I don't need or won't work. --PB
The trick to recording Cable/Satelite/FiOS HD channels is to use firewire. Companies are required to offer set-top boxes with HD firewire output, and this can be captured with a PC.
Okay, so how would I go about doing that? I reckon that I would still need a TV tuner, right? I just need a quick step-by-step guide on how to be able to use my computer as a dvr. --PB
1.) A fiosTV box with firewire output
2.) A PC with firewire input
3.) An infrared transmitter, such as the IR blaster.
4.) The software
I don't have a good guide for this offhand, but google should have all the info you need. Other than the fiosTV box setup, the process is the same for cable and satelite, and there is a lot of info in doing these.
The software is mediapc software. Some windows xp versions (media edition only) come with it built-in.
I own sagetv, I had it for 3 years and is excellent TV software. Once you pay the $80.00 that's the only cost, the TV guide is updated for your area at no further cost. I keep it running 24/7 like a VCR and it always records my TV shows.
Other software is beyondtv, it is also very good software and more TIVO like. Free software is also available mythtv among others but require more knowledge to setup. All these softwares have 2 week trials so you can test then out. But these software are only worth the price if you will be using your PC as a always on DVR.
For occasioanal TV viewing the free christv or the tuner card software is all you need.
