Does anyone use the windows media center as a pvr (dvr) and how does it work with cable?
was wondering how do you use it. i know you need a tv tuner ( any recommendations for a good one?) . so would you hook up your cable to the tuner and would it show the guide. and it it a decent pvr? i was going to buy the160gb from sony but was wondering if i could just get away with hooking up my computer to my cable and tv and using it instead. i’m not technically savvy so any info on setting up a media center would be helpful. also i was wondering if anyone streams movies, tv shows, etc through their computer (via various sites & which do you use) as i wouldn’t mind getting rid of my cable altogether- that’s $120 bill that i could get rid of.
Hauppauge 950Q tuner.
I’ve been using it for a few years. If you have the disk space to hold the shows you record, it’s as good as any other recorder. Just plug a cable into the tuner, the same way you’d plug it into a TV set, set things up (I watch live too) and have fun.
As far as setting up the media center, the default settings work fine for me. (The guide always starts on Channel 44, other than that no complaints.)
I prefer having the shows and channels stay the same, so I pay the cab;e bill (although it’s not $160 even with the internet service I get through it.)
Tuner:
I researched a lot of them before I settled on the 950Q. It gets warm (they all do), but some of them get really hot, some have bad audio bad video, all sorts of complaints. This one works. (And I’m familiar with the accents of the tech support people – their offices are about 15 miles from my house, so we “tawk” the same language.)
TV is Dead? – Skipping adverts/PVR/DVR
