Does SP2 *Really* Let You Use a TV Tuner?

[mutefan]

I bought and sent back a tuner from a major off-price online
accessories dealer. The "device" was "unsigned" and almost destroyed
my machine. Someone at BestBuy told me XP will not support any
television tuner at all unless you upgrade to Windows Media
Center...and then told me you can't upgrade to Media Center. (Last
time I'll seek the genius of the Geek Squad.)

I found a tuner, "Artec," listed on some ancillary sites associated
with MS' Media Center main site. All I want to do is watch television
on my three year old, XP Home Edition, SP2, laptop.

I just want to know if this is a pipe dream.

 

[nl]

I bought and sent back a tuner from a major off-price online
accessories dealer. The "device" was "unsigned" and almost destroyed
my machine. Someone at BestBuy told me XP will not support any
television tuner at all unless you upgrade to Windows Media
Center...and then told me you can't upgrade to Media Center. (Last
time I'll seek the genius of the Geek Squad.)

I found a tuner, "Artec," listed on some ancillary sites associated
with MS' Media Center main site. All I want to do is watch television
on my three year old, XP Home Edition, SP2, laptop.

I just want to know if this is a pipe dream.

Of course you can. There are plenty of freestanding cards and dongles
that act as TV tuners under XP. Hauppage do a few, and although their
software and customer support have a so-so reputation, they're a
better bet thatn a no-name brand bought from China off eBay. (Not
that units like that are always bad... I have one called Savvy TV
relabelled by Toshiba currently running under XP SP2).

If you install a tuner under Media Center using Media Center drivers,
it basically replaces the client software from Hauppage or whoever
with a Windows Media interface, which is easy to use, and designed to
be controlled from the far side of the room. It's not essential, but
it's pretty and it works (mostly).

And you can upgrade to Media Center, in the sense of installing Media
Centre on top of XP Home. But you won't find a 'Media Center Upgrade
Edition', you'll have to buy the full product, or at least the OEM
version.

Note that Vista Premium has Media Center built in and you can buy
upgrade and OEM versions quite cheaply. If you decide to take this
pat do so with circumspection as there are still lots of driver issues
with Vista (which is why I have two copies of Vista sitting on the
shelf I haven't got round to installing - I don't want half my
hardware to stop working.)

 

[Merlin]

I bought and sent back a tuner from a major off-price online
accessories dealer. The "device" was "unsigned" and almost destroyed
my machine. Someone at BestBuy told me XP will not support any
television tuner at all unless you upgrade to Windows Media
Center...and then told me you can't upgrade to Media Center. (Last
time I'll seek the genius of the Geek Squad.)

I found a tuner, "Artec," listed on some ancillary sites associated
with MS' Media Center main site. All I want to do is watch television
on my three year old, XP Home Edition, SP2, laptop.

I just want to know if this is a pipe dream.

I'm watching TV right now using Windows XP Home and a Hauppauge WinTV PVR
150 card.

 

[Jerry]

I bought and sent back a tuner from a major off-price online
accessories dealer. The "device" was "unsigned" and almost destroyed
my machine. Someone at BestBuy told me XP will not support any
television tuner at all unless you upgrade to Windows Media
Center...and then told me you can't upgrade to Media Center. (Last
time I'll seek the genius of the Geek Squad.)

I found a tuner, "Artec," listed on some ancillary sites associated
with MS' Media Center main site. All I want to do is watch television
on my three year old, XP Home Edition, SP2, laptop.

I just want to know if this is a pipe dream.

Stay away from that "someone" at Best Buy because he/she doesn't have a
clue. I've been using an nvidia video card with tv tuner with XP Home,
works great.

 

[Poprivet]

I bought and sent back a tuner from a major off-price online
accessories dealer. The "device" was "unsigned" and almost destroyed
my machine. Someone at BestBuy told me XP will not support any
television tuner at all unless you upgrade to Windows Media
Center...and then told me you can't upgrade to Media Center. (Last
time I'll seek the genius of the Geek Squad.)

Yes. All you need is a tv-tuner card to receive and watch TV. You may also
need a new video card if you want to send the signal to a TV/VCR if the
tuner or your current video card doesn't already have a "TV-Out" connector.
Pinnacle Systems makes a decent tuner.

Whoever it was at BB is a total moron about computers; avoid them at all
costs w/r to information you need.

BTW, what you've sought out here is really experience; that's better than
the geek squad any day.

Pop`

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Stay away from that "someone" at Best Buy because he/she doesn't have a
clue. I've been using an nvidia video card with tv tuner with XP Home,
works great.

Getting technical advice from sales people at Best Buy (whether it's
that "someone" or anybody else) or any similar big box store is
*always* a bad idea. These people are chosen more for their
willingness to accept minimum wages than anything else. If they had
any real technical skills they could almost certainly get a better job
somewhere else.