HDTV Tuner Card

[basshive]

I have had great success shopping at //www.pcalchemy.com

I picked up some FusionHDTV cards from there, but they have a great selection for all your HTPC needs.

[waterhead]

Things haven't changed much for the home user. In fact, with windows Vista they may have gotten worse. Vista is set up to lock down any attempt to copy licensed media.

There are no capture cards that will allow you to view and/or capture encrypted broadcasts (cable). The best that you could do is to use an output from a cable box to a PC with a capture card. Some say this can be done if your cable box has an active firewire port. Otherwise you would have to use the composite output, and this is not HD.

There was an announcement, a while ago, that ATI had developed a cable card for a PC. I haven't heard much about it since the initial unveiling of the card. But you can bet that it will only be compatable with the Vista OS, with its DRM to prevent you from doing anything with it.

I think that there is a HDMI input card, but it is too expensive for the home user. It would most likely overload your computer with the amount of data that is sent through it.

[WIwinger]

Thank you basshive and waterhead for the information.

Yes, cost would be an object.  It just seems the next logical step in a TV capture video card would be a cable plug in HDTV card.  There are cards now for over air HDTV, and it would seem easy, for the untrained person like me, to expect an HDMI plug in.:wave:

[Doug Mohr]

Thank you basshive and waterhead for the information.

Yes, cost would be an object.  It just seems the next logical step in a TV capture video card would be a cable plug in HDTV card.  There are cards now for over air HDTV, and it would seem easy, for the untrained person like me, to expect an HDMI plug in.:wave:

Media companies do not want you to be able to use your own gear on their system. For starters, the recorder boxes that they rent you creates a revenue stream for them, plus it limits what you can permanently archive. A PC based decoder would leave unlimited, unencrypted archive capabilities and that scares a company that looks forward to selling you the same content multiple times.

It is not a mater of technology that prevents companies from making HDMI input cards, but politics. If Cable company "X" contracts manufacturer "Y" to build them 250,000 set-top recorder/decryption boxes, manufacturer "Y" isn't going to risk losing that by making D.I.Y. cards available to the public and angering Cable company "X"

Doug

[waterhead]

Actually, here is a link to the HDMI input card that I was referring to:
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34318

It costs a lot less than I remember. At $250 it is affordable, but will it do what you want? Please buy one and try it out...and let us know how it works.

Paul

[waterhead]

Actually, here is a link to the HDMI input card that I was referring to:
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34318

It costs a lot less than I remember. At $250 it is affordable, but will it do what you want? Please buy one and try it out...and let us know how it works.

Paul

[Doug Mohr]

Actually, here is a link to the HDMI input card that I was referring to:
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34318

It costs a lot less than I remember. At $250 it is affordable, but will it do what you want? Please buy one and try it out...and let us know how it works.

Paul

From Blackmagic's Spec Page:
"The HDMI standard sometimes includes copy protection encryption, such as commonly found on DVD players and some brands of set top boxes. When connected to these copy protected sources, the HDMI specification defines that Intensity cards cannot capture. Always confirm copyright ownership before capture or distribution of content. Intensity media file formats are fully compatible with DeckLink and Multibridge capture cards. "

It sounds to me like it will not record any protected content.

I can't wait for HDCP spoofing where you can program a card like this to appear as your HDMI Television.

[waterhead]

Yes, but does a cable box's HDMI output have copy protection in it? I don't know (or care), as I don't have cable.

[kevbeck122]

The boxes won't let you watch if you don't connect to an HDCP compatible set... so I would assume it wouldn't work.

[oz]

Here's a short thread on the Hauppauge-WinTV-HVR-1600.  It works with Vista, but I'm not sure if the QAM tuner works.  Right now it's $65.49 from Amazon or CC (after rebate).

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=522672