Hybrid TV Tuner (ATSC/NTSC)

October 4, 2007 12:03 AM

How can I get both, ATSC and NTSC on a USB tv tuner, with options to switch between both of them?

I plan on buying a TV tuner for my Vista Media Center PC and I want it to play both ATSC (off the air HDTV) and NTSC (my basic cable - no cable box). I bought a Dell Vostro 200 Slim model, so regular PCI tuners won't fit. The only low profile TV tuner I found was a Hauppauge WINTV-PCR 150MCE-LP, but it only had a NTSC tuner. So basically I'm left with only USB tuners and I came across this: Hauppauge winTV HVR 950. Since my basic cable does not give me HD content on the major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, etc...) I want to have an HD antenna that hooks up to my TV as well as the cable. I want to be able to switch between the two through Vista Media Center. Is this possible with a splitter? a switcher? How exactly should i set it up?

So Basically I want something like this: WinTV-HVR 1600 (which is separate inputs for NTSC and ATSC) on a USB device since I can't fit a regular PCI card.

posted by apple to computers & internet (2 comments total)

Buy 2 tuners and a USB hub.

If you are running MCE, you don't want coax or an antenna hooked up to your TV. (Unless for some odd reason you want to bypass MCE).

I'm not sure what you mean by switch between the two through Vista MCE. If you have two tuners in your MCE machine, there's no switching, your guide will show channels from both tuners.
posted by mphuie at 9:51 AM on October 4, 2007

I don't understand crazy US televisions... But Google seems to suggest that there is a product from AITech that does it, and another form AverTV.
posted by sycophant at 3:10 AM on October 5, 2007