tripleione
Posts: 154 +0
Hey everyone. I had a few questions that I wanted to ask before delving into purchasing a TV Tuner card because some of this stuff is confusing me.
Basically, I want to be able to watch simple cable television on my computer. I don't really care about HD, and I don't have any O-T-A channels I'm interested in watching. My roommate has Cox cable for the TV in his room and the living room. We also are using Cox's "high-speed" internet services if that makes any difference.
What I'm confused about is how some of the TV tuner cards describe their specifications. I understand the difference between analogue and digital signals through the air, and I understand the difference between digital television and HDTV, but the thing that I'm not really understanding the difference between analogue cable and digital cable... I was under the impression that cable was digital by default, since it is fed through the coaxial cable in the wall.
I was also wondering about whether a hardware encoder is a "must-have" for a TV tuner card. I would prefer to buy myself a Hauppauge 1600 TV Tuner card but a few of the TV tuner cards on newegg.com are getting good reviews and they only have software encoding. The KWORLD ATSC 115 is one of them that comes to mind. Is a hardware TV tuner card really worth the extra $70? I don't really plan on trying to record a show and watch TV simultaneously, by the way.
Thanks in advance for any advice/help!
Basically, I want to be able to watch simple cable television on my computer. I don't really care about HD, and I don't have any O-T-A channels I'm interested in watching. My roommate has Cox cable for the TV in his room and the living room. We also are using Cox's "high-speed" internet services if that makes any difference.
What I'm confused about is how some of the TV tuner cards describe their specifications. I understand the difference between analogue and digital signals through the air, and I understand the difference between digital television and HDTV, but the thing that I'm not really understanding the difference between analogue cable and digital cable... I was under the impression that cable was digital by default, since it is fed through the coaxial cable in the wall.
I was also wondering about whether a hardware encoder is a "must-have" for a TV tuner card. I would prefer to buy myself a Hauppauge 1600 TV Tuner card but a few of the TV tuner cards on newegg.com are getting good reviews and they only have software encoding. The KWORLD ATSC 115 is one of them that comes to mind. Is a hardware TV tuner card really worth the extra $70? I don't really plan on trying to record a show and watch TV simultaneously, by the way.
Thanks in advance for any advice/help!