TV Tuner card

[CameronDSetty]

Ill preface this with, if this is in the wrong sub section tell me and Ill move it, I wasn't exactly sure where to put it. 

I am going off to college next year and think that a TV Tuner would be a good investment, but I know virtually nothing about them. Do you still have to pay a cable company if you plug straight into a coaxial cable from a wall? Im just trying to learn more about them to see if one is a viable option.

[Geekazoid]

Well, for Free-To-Air TV you'd just need to, like any regular TV, plug an aerial into the TV Tuner card, but if you're wanting more channels then the FTA ones, then, yes, you will probably have to pay a cable company to be able to recieve any extra channels.

[Hoppa]

A TV tuner will work with free TV by just plugging in the coaxial.

But I believe the tuner card won't pick up paid TV services because they are encrypted. So you'll need their set top box that will decrypt the signal.

 

A few years ago I was using a Hauppauge 2200 for digital TV on my PC. It worked pretty well with windows media centre.

But you'll need to research which ones will pick up signals in you country, since frequencies are different everywhere.

[Geekazoid]

A TV tuner will work with free TV by just plugging in the coaxial.

But I believe the tuner card won't pick up paid TV services because they are encrypted. So you'll need their set top box that will decrypt the signal.

 

A few years ago I was using a Hauppauge 2200 for digital TV on my PC. It worked pretty well with windows media centre.

I've used one as well. They're quite handy, especially for recording Doctor Who on ABC.

[Hoppa]

I've used one as well. They're quite handy, especially for recording Doctor Who on ABC.

haha yeah, since VCRs went out of fashion and digital TV came in, we never had anything to record stuff on, so that's why I got one.

[CameronDSetty]

Well, for Free-To-Air TV you'd just need to, like any regular TV, plug an aerial into the TV Tuner card, but if you're wanting more channels then the FTA ones, then, yes, you will probably have to pay a cable company to be able to recieve any extra channels.

Awesome. So I'd be able to get Discovery and ESPN and stuff like that, thanks!

[CameronDSetty]

A TV tuner will work with free TV by just plugging in the coaxial.

But I believe the tuner card won't pick up paid TV services because they are encrypted. So you'll need their set top box that will decrypt the signal.

 

A few years ago I was using a Hauppauge 2200 for digital TV on my PC. It worked pretty well with windows media centre.

But you'll need to research which ones will pick up signals in you country, since frequencies are different everywhere.

Hauppauge was what I was looking at, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116028&cm_re=hauppauge-_-15-116-028-_-Product this in particular.

[Geekazoid]

haha yeah, since VCRs went out of fashion and digital TV came in, we never had anything to record stuff on, so that's why I got one.

Yeah, those Dinosaurs (VCRs) have pretty been dumped now. But they were good while they lasted.

[Geekazoid]

Awesome. So I'd be able to get Discovery and ESPN and stuff like that, thanks!

Like @Hoppa said, you'll probably still need a cable set top box to decrypted the cable channels though.

[Hoppa]

Hauppauge was what I was looking at, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116028&cm_re=hauppauge-_-15-116-028-_-Product this in particular.

Yeah I think that'd be good enough.

I can't see any videos on youtube of it actually functioning (only unboxing)

 

 

Like @Hoppa said, you'll probably still need a cable set top box to decrypted the cable channels though.

I have a feeling Americans get that stuff for free unlike us 

[Geekazoid]

I have a feeling Americans get that stuff for free unlike us 

I didn't think so, but I could be wrong. Some have cut the cable, so to speak, and gone with just Internet TV, with channels like Revision3 and others. So that may be why you think they get it for free, but of course I could be wrong about this also.