PC TV Tuners

Is anybody using TV tuners in their PCs? I'd be curious to hear experiences and recommendations in this area. I'm looking at a couple different scenarios:

- PC as a personal video recorder.
- tuner in 1 PC that can "broadcast" (via network) to other PCs in the house. i think sagetv has a product that does this.

 

I think the best solution currently is windows xp MCE 2005 and a HD tuner card or 2.... I've had a HD tuner card for a few years and it can be flaky at times, but I hear that MCE makes things a snap.... sasha probably will have better input than I =) also check out avsforum for ongoing discussions...

 

I use a TV tuner in an old PC to record shows, then I compress them and view them on my laptop. I find with the amount of travel I do, it is the only way to keep up with shows.

I would suggest getting an old ATI Wonder VE (should only set you back about $20-30) and start "experimenting" with that. As for OS, I use Linux and an outdated program called webvcrplus. It allows me to pull schedules from the web and setup record times. The software included with ATI card does the same for windows.

As for simulcasting a TV feed, there are some issues with that. First, all receivers would need to be on the same channel. Second, you will probably lose some quality in the process.

ooo000 WoooHoooo 000ooo

 

I have been doing this for OTA HDTV since 2000. Stream TS files over my ethernet network, no problem. Search my old posts for details.

 

I have the above mentioned TV Wonder VE. It's actually a very nice card and works well. I wish it recorded at higher res (it max is 320x240).

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