total noob questions

[sketchy1]

ok, i have never explored tv tuners or anything with computers in all my years of using them and tearing them apart and putting them back together.

i have cox digital cable in las vegas and want to view tv programming on my second monitor. since it's not analog cable, i assume i cannot just plug the coax straight into a tv-tuner and receive all 400 or whatever channels of digital signal. should i run the coax out from the cable box into the tuner? will that solve it? or is there no way to get digital cable signals on your PC?

ok, now assuming you CAN receive a digital cable signal on your pc, what would be my best card to purchase? which would be a good budget buy to compare to the best overall card?

 

[Filter0jh]

From one noob to another,

I just got into the tv tuner thing as well. In the course of my research I have found that there are two types of cards - analog and digital. You can look for a digital bundle from Snapstream.com or if you just want the card ATI makes a couple of digital tuners. I do not know if Hauppauge makes a digital, but everyone I have talked to says they are the best manufacturer. A big consideration involves windows media center. If you have it then most of these cards are apparently much more difficult to get running. Another feature to consider is finding a card that does the encoding itself. Some of the ATI cards don't and putting them in can be a real drag on your system. As far as the specifics of using the cards with a digital system, I am no help because my setup is still analog. I have been looking into this for a couple of months and I hope this helps.

 

[pat]

ok, i have never explored tv tuners or anything with computers in all my years of using them and tearing them apart and putting them back together.

i have cox digital cable in las vegas and want to view tv programming on my second monitor. since it's not analog cable, i assume i cannot just plug the coax straight into a tv-tuner and receive all 400 or whatever channels of digital signal. should i run the coax out from the cable box into the tuner? will that solve it? or is there no way to get digital cable signals on your PC?

ok, now assuming you CAN receive a digital cable signal on your pc, what would be my best card to purchase? which would be a good budget buy to compare to the best overall card?

Digital cable, just like satellite Tv need what is called a decoder. To decode the digital signal so that it can be watched on your tv. Digital signal use encryption. that means that, contrary to analog cable, where channel were added with some kind of jumper outside your house, digital cable receiver can be programmed to allow or block channels without any hardware modification. Those software key are sent to your receiver and the receiver will allow or block channels according to your subscription.

This is where the problem lies.. you cannot simply add a tuner and expect having all of the digital channel, because your card dont have either the appropriate decoder or appropriate way to lock/unlock channels. Digital tuner(not to be confused with digital decoder) don't help there because, to simplify thing, they digitally process analog signal.
Maybe some kind of card could be available that support some cable distributor and legally allow you to view digital signal on your computer, or, illegal hardware and software allow just that. Google might help you there...