public TV on a computer

[Draco]

OK this is what I want:

One Pc with tuner card
Just Public Channels
Complettly PC base
Big Ass Monitor

I know i can do this if I had cable but I dont watch that much Tv to pay for
something i will not use that much. Perrty much this pc will then for my
media music dvds and tv all in one. Building the pc will not be a problem
what will is if i build and find out i cant do all i want. So sugestions you
can offer to make this work. Thanks in Advanced

 

[MCheu]

OK this is what I want:

One Pc with tuner card
Just Public Channels
Complettly PC base
Big Ass Monitor

I know i can do this if I had cable but I dont watch that much Tv to pay for
something i will not use that much. Perrty much this pc will then for my
media music dvds and tv all in one. Building the pc will not be a problem
what will is if i build and find out i cant do all i want. So sugestions you
can offer to make this work. Thanks in Advanced

You've pretty much described what you need. You don't need cable TV,
however, you will need an antenna set (Rabbit ears + bow tie) with a
coax connector. Depending on your local reception, you may wish to
opt for an amplified antenna system (the roof mounted ones like your
Dad or Grampa used to use will probably work best).

The better choices for a PCI card are:

-cards based on the ATI Theatrix 550 chip
-The Hauppage 150, 250, or 350 cards.

The TV Wonder cards from ATI are also well supported by 3rd party
software, and is cheaper, but the image quality isn't as good.

If you're on a budget, you can find generic PCI TV tuner cards in the
$25 range. I've no idea of the quality or capabilities of those.

As to the rest of it, I'll leave it up to you to shop around for a PC
that fits your needs and I've no idea what your idea of a "Big Ass
Monitor" or price range is. You could get a projection monitor and a
projection screen (or paint a wall white). That's about as "Big-Ass"
as I can think of for a home setup. It's basically a digital movie
projector that you can hook up to a PC - commonly used for
presentations. It's expensive, figure about $1000US for a lower end
one, but depending on how you set it up, you can have a projected
image as big as the wall.

 

[Paul]

OK this is what I want:

One Pc with tuner card
Just Public Channels
Complettly PC base
Big Ass Monitor

I know i can do this if I had cable but I dont watch that much Tv to pay for
something i will not use that much. Perrty much this pc will then for my
media music dvds and tv all in one. Building the pc will not be a problem
what will is if i build and find out i cant do all i want. So sugestions you
can offer to make this work. Thanks in Advanced

Learn a bit about old and new TV formats first.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=424594

Plug some terms into a search engine, and go looking for
private forums that discuss the construction of multimedia
PCs. For example

http://www.altavista.com/web/results?q=hdtv+dvr+htpc

http://forum.byopvr.com/dvr/index.php

If you are a cheapskate like me, and all you are after is the
ability to watch the evening news on your PC screen, while
you work on something else, a Hauppauge WinTV Go card would
be good enough. There are a ton of old BT848/BT878 uncompressed
video cards out there, with a broadcast tuner on them. You'll
need a good broadcast antenna (I connect a 20dB amp to mine),
as all PC TV is "garbage in garbage out". If you are in a
fringe reception area, you'd be better off with an old TV
that has a good RF front end on it, than trying to jam a
bad signal into a tuner card.

Many countries of the world are experimenting with digital
TV in one form or another. Some of the services offered are
OTA (over the air) and are free. A different tuner will be
required to see them. So, if you wish to see those programs
as well, either a fancier tuner card will do it, or you
could pick up a second tuner card for the new service. I
guess it all depends on how hooked on TV you are. Since
analog TV will eventually "go away", you'll have to learn
about digital TV eventually.

Before you buy the big ass monitor, I think you had better
see the quality of the output first. Maybe the output just
isn't good enough to put on a big monitor. I was pretty
disappointed with my experiments years ago, and the only
source that had good quality signals was from my VCR with
pre-recorded tapes. My broadcast reception is too variable
to make TV on the PC enjoyable. That is what cable is for.
I understand digital TV reception characteristics are
different than analog (likely more forgiving), but since
there is no digital in my area, I cannot tell you about it.
If you live in the woods, probably neither analog nor digital
OTA is going to look good on your PC.

If there are local USENET groups where you live (with your
city name in the title), you might inquire as to the local
reception conditions and channel availability of any new
services. That might give you some idea as to what tuners
to buy and when.

Paul

 

[kony]

OK this is what I want:

One Pc with tuner card
Just Public Channels
Complettly PC base
Big Ass Monitor

I know i can do this if I had cable but I dont watch that much Tv to pay for
something i will not use that much. Perrty much this pc will then for my
media music dvds and tv all in one. Building the pc will not be a problem
what will is if i build and find out i cant do all i want. So sugestions you
can offer to make this work. Thanks in Advanced

The most important part will probably be a very good
antenna. If you're close enough to a tower a moderate
indoor antenna might suffice but otherwise an external
roof-mount type and even an ampflifier. PC tuner cards have
limited to no noise filtering so a very high SNR is
important. What lengths you would go to for less noise when
soon enough the airwaves will go digital- I cannot say.

 

[JohnS]

The most important part will probably be a very good
antenna. If you're close enough to a tower a moderate
indoor antenna might suffice but otherwise an external
roof-mount type and even an ampflifier. PC tuner cards have
limited to no noise filtering so a very high SNR is
important. What lengths you would go to for less noise when
soon enough the airwaves will go digital- I cannot say.

You know I havent used an antenna for a TV in eons. Someone I know
doesnt want cable and only wants to use an indoor antenna for her
condo PC + tuner. So I go buy a $15 rabbit ears antenna Philips. I
figure there are two huge TV tower antennas --- the broadcasters , one
of the towers is TWO BLOCKS away. I can even see it from my window.
Its right in the middle of town by the beach.

You know I cant get even ONE channel !!!!! NOTHING comes in. I was
flabbergasted. I know its a condo and theres buildings inbetween her
condo and the antenna but its two freaking blocks away. Youd think ONE
channel would come in.

 

[JohnS]

OK this is what I want:

One Pc with tuner card
Just Public Channels
Complettly PC base
Big Ass Monitor

I know i can do this if I had cable but I dont watch that much Tv to pay for
something i will not use that much. Perrty much this pc will then for my
media music dvds and tv all in one. Building the pc will not be a problem
what will is if i build and find out i cant do all i want. So sugestions you
can offer to make this work. Thanks in Advanced

BIG ASS monitor. Not sure technically how big that is but...........

Prices are really coming down. Its still expensive though for a PC
monitor thats big ass. People have been getting widescreen ones in
the 20-24" range from DELL , Gateway etc. I think prices have ranged
from 500-800 or so. Ive seen some cheaper widescreens that were
smaller.

The real deal here is LCD TVs. The Syntax Olevia 26" HDTV LCD is whats
been on sale and several other generic firms selling similar models at
Microcenter , Costco etc. The Syntax has been on sale at Office depot,
Microcenter, Circuit City and Compusa for $499 after a hefty 200
rebate usually since Nov.

Compusa has been having a sale on them the last few weeks. The HVX
model which is better than the HVE . I think in fact last week they
were having the sale again. You never know when these will end though.
Compusa or anyone else may not have another sale like this for a
while.

I love it. Its big and great for HDTV. The caveat here is LCD tv dont
have as high resolution. This one is 1366 x 768 I think. Kind of
oddball but many TVs are around there or lower. Fine for TV but low
for a big widescreen PC which may have 1600x1200 or so.

Im actually using it for a PC screen right now though I still have my
Viewsonic 19". Like Ive mentioned if you do serious graphics work
layouts etc get a PC monitor but for everyday use its actually not
bad at all.

--------------------------------------
PC you can build one - AMD X2 3800 or single AMD 3200 is fine.
Or there are many DELL deals and deals at your local ODepot , CC or
COmpusa almost every other week.

TV tuner ---- the Hauppauge 150 or ATI 550 theater chip based card is
fine. If you want the whole package with remote ---- Id have to say
the ATI if you get one of the 80 buck retail packs is cheaper and some
reviews say it has better image quality. I think most of the ATIs come
with Power Cinema from the makers of the older POWERVCR not the best
software.

The 150 is fine though but the retail pack is usually around 99 or so
that comes with software and remote. Im not sure what software it
comes with but it may be some proprietary prog.

Theres a whitebox OEM version at Buy.com for 65 but its only the card
and drivers. No remote or software. You can use GBPVR a very good free
program you can download .

The most acclaimed software to use with your TV tuner is MCE win and
Beyond TV which is another $50 I think. Sage TV gets good reviews
too.


Since you only want PUBLIC channels --- these only get the analog
channels. If you want the digital channels you need a cable box.


If you want HDTV even OTA with antenna ---- you need to get ANOTHER
CARD. A HDTV digital card. These have come down in price and theres
the ATI card as well as tons of other cards.

 

[Mike Walsh]

Use a receiver or video card that will receive digital broadcasts. Even a mediocre signal will result in a good picture.

 

[Draco]

Just want to say thanks all For the Input. Like I stated before biulding it
wont be a problem nor would the cost.
Yes I know the frase Bis Ass Monitor is not very techinal and I do realize
that I will SPend Some cash towards it. I wont more thinking like 24 or 30
incher range. I just realy wanted to know if and how it can be done.

 

[JohnS]

Just want to say thanks all For the Input. Like I stated before biulding it
wont be a problem nor would the cost.
Yes I know the frase Bis Ass Monitor is not very techinal and I do realize
that I will SPend Some cash towards it. I wont more thinking like 24 or 30
incher range. I just realy wanted to know if and how it can be done.

Once again LCD TVs are way way cheaper but PC widescreen big screens
have higher res. DELL just came out with a 30 inch widescreen PC
monitor but I think its super high around 2000-3000 bucks.

I think I saw deals on Gateway 20 wides PC screen for 500-600
The DELL 24 " wide for PC was 800-1000.

The LCD TVs I think you can get a 32" for 1000 or less when rebated
and on sale.

 

[Andy]

MyHD PCI HDTV Tuner/Decoder Card
http://www.digitalconnection.com/Products/Video/mdp130.asp

 

[Draco]

Yes I know flat screens are nice and all but i thinking i will going with a
crt they tend to be on the cheaper side and have better res from what I am
led to believe. I also know there are some high end lcd's that are bad ass
but they will also hit the pocket book more deaply.