TV tuner card

[RightFieldCoder]

I currently pay for an HD DVR set box through Time-Warner Cable. I also have Earthlink. There is a thrid outlet that is not being used. Can I just buy a TV tuner card for my PC and plug it into the wall? Or do I need to pay for the "service" or for some kind of box? This would make it easier for the other housemates when I want to watch Brewers games.

[MHgb]

I believe the answer is yes. You just need a program that will play what the tuner is receiving if the software doesn't come packaged with the tuner already.

 

But yeah, you should have a cable feed coming from all jacks in your house/apartment whether you have a box or not (assuming they are connected to a cable splitter and not dangling unconnected).

 

At least that is my understanding.

[RightFieldCoder]

fwiw, here is the official response from TWC

Thank you for writing to Time Warner Cable.

 

Time Warner Cable can not guarantee or support 3rd party equipment connected to our services. I do not believe a 3rd party cable card would work with our cable system due to our security measures in place.

 

CableCARD is available a la carte only and the cost of the CableCARD is $3.50 per month (plus tax and franchise fees). The CableCARD technology is available by appointment (standard installation charges will apply). There are no self installs available at this time.

 

To schedule a CableCARD installation, please respond to this email with your four digit pin number...

So the $135 a month I give them is not enough, they want to "rent" me the card I can buy at most stores. And that I can't install it myself and pay some monkey that knows less about computers to come in and do it for me. But competition would be bad for them...

 

You can see why I'm hoping someone out there has direct experience with this.

[Brian the Automator]

CableCARD is different from a TV Capture card. A TV Capture card is a card that fits in a slot on your computer's motherboard. CableCARD simulates having a set top box, so that people who have TV Tuner cards that can read CableCARDs. To my knowledge, there aren't many TV Capture cards out there that support CableCARD.

 

An alternative would be capturing output from your set top box by some kind of capture card that has an HD input... I'm not sure if those exist.

[bjkrautk]

Brian's right about CableCARD. Basically, a CableCARD is a physical computer card that fits into your device (possibly a PC, but more often your HDTV or TiVo), and allows it to access the analog and digital channels available through your Cable TV subscription. It's a stand-in for your digital cable box (assuming you have one).

 

Most of the HD Tuner cards that are available for your PC are over-the-air tuners. I've seen a few lately which are able to decode unscrambled digital cable (what's known as a "QAM Tuner" -- that same thing I always advocate that HDTV buyers look for).

 

If you just want to watch FSN Wisconsin, any TV capture card with a QAM tuner will do that and more (you should be able to access your local broadcast HD channels via your cable connection, and possibly other channels as well). If you want to watch FSN HD (or any on-demand or non-broadcast HD stations, like ESPN HD, Discovery HD, or Food Network HD) on your computer, you're going to need some sort of a device that is compatible with CableCARD.

[endaround]

If you don't want HD, most capture cards will read non digital cable channels just fine and allow you to watch and record them. HD is another mater. AMD/ATI has a card that allows for QAM tuning:

 

http://ati.amd.com/products/tvwonder600/pci/index.html

 

And there are probably others out there. This would allow for HD signals plus the regular cable channels. However, HD video can be rather resource intensive so if your hardware isn't up to snuff, it won't matter anyway.

[RightFieldCoder]

If you want to watch FSN HD (or any on-demand or non-broadcast HD stations, like ESPN HD, Discovery HD, or Food Network HD) on your computer, you're going to need some sort of a device that is compatible with CableCARD.

I was really hoping that wasn't the correct answer. I'll probably just pay for the extra box and hook it straight into my monitor then. How come we busted up Ma Bell for "renting" us phones but we can't do the same thing with cable companies?