Cable Televison On Computer Questions

[Monnie Rock]

Hello Everyone,

I have not used my computer before to view cable television in the past but I would like to move to this setting. Do not want a Television and a computer monitor in the same room.

Currently I have Comcast Cable televison with a cable box to have On-demand,HDTV, and some premium channels. This is downstairs connected to my HDTV. What I would like to do is, my computer room is upstairs, to be able to watch all the same content as I watch downstairs but through my computer,on my computer monitor, possibly using Vista's media center. I have an outlet with the coaxial cable in my computer room that is a "home run" to the main line coming in my house.

What do I need to make this possible?

Would really appreciate some advice from the experienced users here.

Thank you,
Monnie

[Bman212121]

Originally Posted by Monnie Rock

Hello Everyone,

I have not used my computer before to view cable television in the past but I would like to move to this setting. Do not want a Television and a computer monitor in the same room.

Currently I have Comcast Cable televison with a cable box to have On-demand,HDTV, and some premium channels. This is downstairs connected to my HDTV. What I would like to do is, my computer room is upstairs, to be able to watch all the same content as I watch downstairs but through my computer,on my computer monitor, possibly using Vista's media center. I have an outlet with the coaxial cable in my computer room that is a "home run" to the main line coming in my house.

What do I need to make this possible?

Would really appreciate some advice from the experienced users here.

Thank you,
Monnie

The only way that I know of right now to get everything that you want is to get another STB from comcast, and then use a component input. It's honestly easier to just not use the computer at all. If you have component inputs on your monitor just connect that to a STB and be done with it. The reason I say this is because there aren't many devices that can accept the cablecard necessary to view all of the things you want to see. Even if you get a device that might work, it is a royal pita to get it working.

If you wanted to record shows you could use some type of component input but that's not the easiest thing to find either.

I'd love to see if anyone else has input on the subject, but as far as I know there currently isn't a way to make it work easily.

If you're really adventurous you might look into this:

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

It's an ATI external tuner that can use cablecard. From everything I see it sounds like you have to be running Vista Media Center, and for the most part it will only work with an OEM pc that was built for that purpose. Not sure if this FAQ still holds true, but a lot of it is probably still relevant.
http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/archi...10/954764.aspx

[CaptNKILL]

My brother has been using an ATI Theater 550 PCI-Express TV Tuner for a couple years now and it works great for recording and watching shows through the PC.

[Tuork]

Why don't you give THIS a try?

From what I understand, it should work for what you want.

[Bman212121]

Originally Posted by Tuork

Why don't you give THIS a try?

From what I understand, it should work for what you want.

That might do the trick. Hook your STB to the slingbox, then access the slingbox from the network.

[Monnie Rock]

Thank you everyone for your input. I need to read about all of these things. Especially the slingbox.


So much of this stuff is written in marketing babble. Have to really read carefully to see what I can do with a product.

Guess one alternative would be connect my STB to the DVI-I connector on a monitor, use the DVI-D for my computer(Monitor I am looking at has 1x DVI-D 1x DVI-I). Switch back and forth from the input selector on the monitor.

But geeze, I was wanting to keep cables,connectors, and crap down to a minimum. Plus I wanted to just use the Vista's Media Center to control what I wanted to watch. With all this technology, seems there would be an easier way to have it all integrated. Really hoping to control everything from the computer.

Please elaborate how you have your systems configured, the pros and cons.

Once again, I really appreciate everyone's input. Let's keep talking about it.


Thank you,
Monnie

[einstein_314]

Yeah the whole HDTV thing is a mess if you want to use it with your computer. I was looking into it the other day actually. Where I am my cable provider is Shaw. If I were to order HDTV I HAVE to use their cable box to decode the signal that is sent to me. There is no other way to do it. So my options from there are

a) run component to a HDTV capture device (like the Hauppauge HD PVR) and record TV that way. All control of the channel and stuff would have to be through cable box (so no using VMC)

b) the DTV terminal that shaw uses (Motorola somethingerother, it's a pretty common one I think) has a firewire port on it. Apparently you can install hacked firmware on it so that you can use the firewire port to send a unencrypted feed to your computer. But it's through firewire, so you have to use a specific program with it (most programs can't just display firewire video).

c) forget about the computer and just use it like normal.

I decided it was too much of a hassle to even bother with. I'm just going to keep downloading the TV shows I want in HD.

[Monnie Rock]

Looks like from the reading I have done, If I want to use Comcast On-Demand, I must use a STB. Anyone else can confirm this is not true?

Even if I use a Cablecard, On-Demand will not be available. So I was told / read.

[aceflier]

Yup you know me I work for the cable company...

Im a service tech and the only way u will get On Demand is through your digital/hd box.

It is like that cause the hub is set to your cable box. Numbers on the bottom of the box.

That way if u rack up $300.000 in porn they know that box is on your account and is sent to you.

I have a HD/DVR w/51 inch HDTV and my pc hooked to it.

Use DVI/HDMI for computer and HDMI for the HD/DVR.

I wish i could go optical out of my box to my pc for audio 5.1 but so far with my Xfi i havent been able to get that to work.

BTW i still yet to get messanger to contact you lol.

IM me your username perhaps I can help.

[nrdstrm]

I currently use a slinbox connected to my router. I can access my slingbox on my desktop hardwired, my laptop wirelessly, and I use the web app when I'm at work (so all I have to do is install a plug in instead of installing software, so the admins don't get all pissey.)

I only have a sling solo, which is fine for my 19" LCD and 15" Lappy, but if your using something like a 42" for your monitor, you may want to read up on slingbox HD (I've never used it, so I don't know how much better the quality is on a large TV).

The sling is connected to a stand alone STB. I do this, because if I put it on an STB that has a tv connected to it, either person can change channels, etc (the person watching the TV and the person using the slingbox).

Also, I have Verizon's home media DVR, which allows my STB to access the content on my DVR. Because of this, I can access my DVR on my slingbox as well...

I've yet to try them, but there are 2 sling recorders out there now to record slinged material. One is open sauce and free, the other is a trial then pay $30 type thing. I've heard they work quite well and will record at whatever quality the sling is streaming at...

Nice little setup if you don't need super high quality video.

Hope that helps!