Can I record HDTV shows using any TV Tuner Card or video capture Device?

I was thinking of building my first HTPC with the following components:

Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180
Asus P5K-VM
2GB DDR2-667MHz
Seagate 500GB SATA-2
Saphhire Radeon X1950XT 256MB
(I might buy a new more reliable PSU so any suggestions will be appreciated)

I wanted to be able to record HDTV shows. I have a Rogers HD terminal box. Its not a HD PVR so it has no recording capabilities.

1) Will I get HD broadcast through any TV Tuner if I plug in the cable directly into it?
2) Are there any TV tuner cards which can record in HD as well or do I need another device? or is HD PVR the only solution?

I got this card from BestBuy for around $80 and it records HD and SD shows. In order to record HD programming, you need an unencrypted HD signal through coax, or simply hook the HD box itself to the coax on the card. It works really well and it even comes with a tiny remote and an fm antenna also. hope it helps you out.

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSi...TV+Digital+PVR+(DVB-S_DVB-T)/PCTV+HD+Card.htm

thank you for the help. I will go to bestbuy today and check it out.. although, I would really prefer to have an HDMI port with the card. And would I need a special cable if I were to connect the HD box to my card? say if I don't get HD channels if I plug in the coax directly to the card?

edit: I can't find that product on bestbuy's website here in Canada

The cable box is hooked up to the card via a standard coax. As long as the box recieves and decrypts the hd signals, your video card will decode them and scale them to the 1080p they should be at. I have a dvi to hdmi cable coming from my vc to the minitor and it works fine.

henzo said:

The cable box is hooked up to the card via a standard coax. As long as the box recieves and decrypts the hd signals, your video card will decode them and scale them to the 1080p they should be at. I have a dvi to hdmi cable coming from my vc to the minitor and it works fine.

Click to expand...

The card that you recommended is not available here in Canada (atleast not readily in the market). I was thinking of going with the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600. This one: http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr1600.html

This one is about $100 as well. There is a $70-$90 version as well, the HVr 1250 (http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr1250.html), but I think the 1600 is better with dual-inputs.

I also have the dvi-hdmi setup like you. So all I need to do is connect the Cable box to the TV Tuner via tha digital input? Will that coax cable be included or something? Because I don't think I have a spare one. And from what Ive read, the included software is not really recommended and most people use Windows Media Centre. What alternative do I have since Im in Windows XP Prof SP3?

This card IS NOT what you are looking for. I do have this card. It will decode DTV signals in HD, your converter box DOES NOT put out HD over RF. You will need a capture card with HD type input, either HDMI or component.

BTW i don't like this card much. it's been nothing but a pain in the *** to get working on vista and windows 7, barely works in XP.

wow thanks alot for the info... i was really close to buying it! then I thought maybe this one would be better: http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr950.html

they all advertise that you can record HD cable with these products...that all a lie?

They do tune and record in HD using the internal tuner, but using another set top box or other external source is another story. Most of these cards do not support HD input from other devices. HD cable boxes do not put out HD on the RF.

My issues with the card is that the software tends to be very unstable and slow, and using it with media center was a mess, there was a good 2 second delay between video and audio. This was XP. In vista i gave up on it. In windows 7 VLC can access it but that's it. even pinnacles own TV software did not see it, and i was using their updated versions.

Your best bet would be to get a cable card ready tuner card, once installed your provider should be able to supply you with a cable card, pretty much enabling what ever device that accepts it to act as a digital cable box.

Some TVs and high end media centers have these.

Here check this out.

http://ati.amd.com/products/tvwonderdigital/index.html

I'm sitting here at work with nothing to do lol. and now that you brought this up I'm re-looking into it for my self as well.

I think sp00nix is right about HD capturing from your settop box, you'll need something that can take component input and 1080p. I've heard people talk about the HD PVR for this type of thing but I don't know how good it is.

As a side note, sp00nix, you might want to edit your posts instead of having multiple posts within 10 minutes.... that's the preferred method.