Need a Dummy's Guide to PC TV with H/W & S/W Recommendations

[BigXor]

Same Question - Different Day

Complete dummy to PC TV here but a an expert AMD PC user.

I never had a use for TV on my PC until I became disabled and need to record TV and Movies. Brain injury (car crash) causes short term memory loss and I have to be able to watch shows many times before I can understand what is going on.

So I need most especially Hardware and Software recommendations for setup then some guidelines to using it.

I have a quad core AMD PC with dual monitors. Using Win XP PRO

I only have a PCIe x1 and PCI slots available.


Any help would be appreciated.

[edDV]

I gave up on my older Pinnacle PCTV card and moved on. The drivers were never stable.

I'm now using Hauppauge PVR/HVR and ATI 550/650.

Software has levels of capability.

- The cards come with limited tuner software
- Windows MCE works great on Vista/Win7 but uses proprietary codecs.
- PVR software is full featured but complex (see: GBPVR, BeyondTV, SageTV)

For Linux see MythTV.

[MOVIEGEEK]

I recommend a ATI videocard such as this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102820

Here are some software recommendations:
http://www.overclock.net/htpc/293548-official-htpc-software-thread.html

[BigXor]

I'm using a Radeon 4670 (Sapphire). I need a TV card (DVR)

[edDV]

I have an XP machine running BeyondTV.

Also have Vista and one Win7 machines capturing with MCE.

For more serious recording I cap from the cable box IEEE-1394 port or from the ADVC in DV.

[usually_quiet]

There is no up-to-date dummy's guide to TV on a PC that I know of, but www.hdtvtunerinfo.com is a good website to look at for tuner card reviews.

Software recommendations: Windows 7 Media Center. It's what I am using. Easy to set up for everything but clear QAM (unencrypted digital cable). Clear QAM will be more difficult to set up regardless of the software you use, assuming the software even supports it.

A large second HDD for storing recordings is a big help.

TV tuner card or capture card recommendations will depend partly on the TV sources you want to record, how many programs you need to be able to watch and record at one time, and your budget.

Possible TV sources:

1. Over-the air digital TV (ATSC) from available full-power stations.
2. Over-the air analog TV (NTSC) from any remaining low-power analog stations you receive.
3. Analog cable
4. Clear QAM = unencrypted digital cable (anything that is viewable using a digital TV without using a cable box)
5. Output from a SD cable box or SD satellite receiver
6. Output from a HD cable box or HD satellite receiver
7. Premium cable

A DVR/PVR or HDD DVD recorder would be easier to set up and there would be less to learn and less to remember. If you have to buy software, plus another large HDD and one or more of the better TV cards, you are getting close to some of those in cost.