Need recommendation for digital cable tuner

Swanson Photos said:

I have a Comcast HD STB, have the FULL package - all channels, and can play and record them all...you need to have the right hardware...believe it or not, you will find specific info on this here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...r/default.aspx

You can watch and record "digital cable" over the cable through the set top box!?!(Your digital signal isn't from the antenae?)

I could not find the section regarding hardware requirements of the system. I believe that except for the tuner I'm pretty much ready for the Media Center/Cable combination.

I do not know however whether I am good to go for an OCUR type tuner through ATI TV Wonder digital cable.

Immped, let me re-quote myself...I am using a Comcast HD STB.

The page at my link, which is easy to find when one reads (took me 10 seconds) is:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...l-support.aspx

Now just in case we still cannot read, here is the text of that page:

Windows Media Center supports a number of analog and digital TV signals.
Examples of analog TV signals include NTSC, PAL, and SECAM. Analog TV signals are received through a cable TV feed or over the air, using an antenna. As many countries switch to digital TV, analog satellite transmissions are being phased out of use.
Examples of digital TV signals that are now adopted worldwide include ATSC, ISDB-T, DVB-T, and DVB-S. Typically, these types of TV signals are received through a digital cable feed, over the air using an antenna, or by way of satellite.
Different types of digital TV signals include:

• ATSC. Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) is the group that helped to develop the new digital TV standard for the United States, although Canada, Mexico, and Korea have also adopted this standard. It is intended to produce widescreen 16:9 images up to 1920 × 1080 pixels in size—more than six times the display resolution of the earlier standard. Currently, Windows Media Center supports ATSC in the United States and Korea only.
• QAM.Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) is the digital cable standard in the United States. Windows Media Center supports QAM signals with a Digital Cable Tuner in the United States.
• ISDB.Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting (ISDB) is the digital TV and digital audio broadcasting format that Japan has created to allow radio and TV stations there to convert to digital format. ISDB-T (The "T" signifies a terrestrial rather than a cable or satellite signal) is not yet supported in Windows Media Center.
• DVB-T. Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial (DVB-T) is the DVB European consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial TV. DVB-T is the most widely adopted digital format and is supported in all locales in Windows Media Center. (A DVB-T tuner card is required for use.) For more information about DVB-T, go to the DVB website.
• If you live in Europe and have an antenna that supports DVB-T channels, the scan by Windows Media Center might have identified channels that you do not receive. If that occurs, you can remove the channels that you don't receive. To do so, on the start screen, scroll to Tasks, click settings, click TV, click Guide, and then click Edit Channels.
• DVB-S.Digital Video Broadcasting Satellite (DVB-S) is the digital TV broadcasting method that is transmitted by satellite in Europe and other parts of the world. Whether the digital signal is free-to-air or fee-based, Windows Media Center requires a set-top box to support this broadcasting standard. The DVB-S satellite transmission protocol was created by the Digital Video Broadcasting Project, an industry organization that develops technologies for digital TV.
• Satellite TV is a TV system in which the signal is transmitted to an orbiting satellite that receives the signal, amplifies it, and then transmits it back to earth. Satellite TV signals are a digital format, although most of the standard televisions in the United States have analog format. To enable playback on an analog TV signal, the satellite TV receiver converts the digital signal into an analog format that a standard television can recognize and play back.

There are two digital signal types for satellite TV:

• Free-to-air. DVB-S is the primary signal type for free-to-air satellite TV. This type of program content is available around the world and is popular in Europe.
• Fee-based. The majority of direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV signals are encrypted, and therefore can only be viewed through a paid subscription. Subscribers receive set-top boxes from their TV providers; the set-top boxes decrypt the signals for encrypted programs. Windows Media Center supports DTH satellite content through the TV provider's set-top box.

The TV signals and programming that you can watch and record using Windows Media Center depend on the following:

• The type of TV tuner or tuners installed on your PC or laptop running Windows Media Center.
• The type of signal that you have connected to your TV tuner.
• The type of TV signal or signals that you can receive in your location, assuming there are no physical restrictions in the surrounding area.
• The country or region in which you live and the broadcasting standard that is used.
• The type of TV programming that you subscribe to from your cable or satellite provider.
• Your TV cable or satellite provider.
• The system resources available on your Windows Media Center computer. This includes system resources such as processor speed, memory, and video card capabilities, as well as available card slots and USB ports.

Learn more: How to set up a TV signal

I tend to be very blunt. I find it usually makes people pay attention.

That being said, I also add the following:

The basic information presented online by MS and many others is intended solely as informational aides for those who have a full grasp of the technologies being represented. If you do not, I suggest you not use online fourms or sites to get "recommendations" as often you will unintentionally become misguided.

The Hauppauge website is quite clear about the signals that each device can receive and record and why. They have a support email address and phone number. If simply discerning this basic data is a challenge, I return to the previous paragraph now as there must be an end to the amount of data one can provide to consumers.

Additionally, for many years, MS has at great expense tested and included data online about what hardware will run on the current versions of windows. It is important to note this as they are not the manufacturers, but in my opinion, they do a damn good job of keeping people up to date on what hardware they need to perform a particular task.

The pundits simple do not read or understand it, and should hire those who do.