[URGENT] Which TV tuner card works with digital TV?

[yalag]

Hello, Im interested in buying BeyoundTV but first I need the right tv tuner card and I am not sure.

I am in a urgent need for a working tv tuner card for work related reasons. I am planning to grab a tv tuner card from the list below:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...sp?CatId=1427&

However, I am not familiar with TV technologies. I believe that my cable service (Rogers in Toronto/Canada) right now is a digital one and I am not sure which card will work with a digial cable service.

I did research and read that with digital TV, I have to first connect the cable to the cable box, and then to my tv tuner card, then change channel with the remote for the cable box. But I dont want to do this, since I want to have both the TV and Computer viewing different channels at the same time.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

[bnflaherty]

See if this helps:

http://www.snapstream.com/products/beyondtv/buywiz.asp

[yalag]

Over at another forum, I just read that there are no currently no tv tuner cards that can capture channels above 100 because they are digital and encrypted by the tv provider. Is this true?? Does this mean I can never watch channels over 100 with my computer without first going through their tv box?

[bnflaherty]

Yes -- you will need to use a cable box with the tuner card.

This will require the use of an IR blaster for control of the box.

See my Signature for examples of Tuner Cards and an IR Blaster.

[yalag]

so if under that setup, how is it possible to view 2 different channels with my TV and the computer? if it goes through the same box

[bnflaherty]

If they are Both going to be of the Upper Digital channels -- you will need multiple boxes and blasters.

In my case -- I have 2 tuners going to the lower channels -- not using the box -- and one Input of one of the tuners -- hooked to the cable box for the digital channels.

[yalag]

if that is the case then how come some of those cards say they are digital tuner cards if they still requires a box?

Also, if I wanted multiple boxes, where do I get them?

[bnflaherty]

The only mention of Digital on any of the cards -- refers to HDTV.

As far as BTV is concerned -- That would be OTA HDTV -- nothing to do with cable.

As for multiple boxes -- that would be the Cable Company

[mlomker]

Originally Posted by yalag

if that is the case then how come some of those cards say they are digital tuner cards if they still requires a box?

Not that I want to confuse you even more, but there is something called QAM support built into some of the HDTV cards. It allows the card to tune to unencrypted digital channels. The problem is that QAM is not fully functional in BTV yet and most digital channels are encrypted--you basically can only tune the local channels, public access, and the shopping networks (it varies with every cable company). QAM is what the geeks are playing with right now (myself included) because you can often get the local HDTV channels that way...nice if you are in a poor reception area.

[Bigbird999]

"digital tuner card" means it is a tuner card that converts analog tv signals to digital files which are recorded on your hard drive.

BB