How do I turn my computer into a TV and is it a good idea?

October 7, 2007 6:11 AM

How do I turn my computer into a TV and is it a good idea? I've just moved into halls of residence at university and I've found that I can't tune my TV because I don't have the right remote. I don't have alot of space (I can't fit my keyboard on my desk at the moment) so I thought it might be a good idea to get a tv tuner for my computer instead of buying a new tv. I've just ordered a macbook so I'd prefer to use that but I also have a desktop PC I could use.
posted by Andy Harwood to computers & internet (13 comments total)

If the problem is that you cannot tune your TV because you have the wrong remote, why don't you drop the <>
Much cheaper than any TV tuner card.
posted by Xoder at 6:22 AM on October 7, 2007

I meant "less than $20" which apparently came out rather garbled above.
posted by Xoder at 6:24 AM on October 7, 2007

Elgato makes a few different TV Tuners for the Mac. We have an EyeTV Hybrid and it's awesome (we don't have cable, though, just over-the-air -- but the over-the-air HD looks great). The recording capabilities work like a charm.

Plus, having a small TV will give you an excuse to get out of your room.
posted by starman at 6:28 AM on October 7, 2007

"If the problem is that you cannot tune your TV because you have the wrong remote, why don't you drop the <>
Much cheaper than any TV tuner card."

You mean buy a new remote? I tried that before and I ended up with the one I have now which can do everything except tune.

In any case I'd rather use my computer if it's not too expensive. It has a bigger screen and better sound and I could really use the space.
posted by Andy Harwood at 6:35 AM on October 7, 2007

I should probably mention that I live in England and I only get the 5 terrestrial channels.
posted by Andy Harwood at 6:47 AM on October 7, 2007

Try Mythtv.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythTV
http://www.mythtv.org/modules.php?name=MythFeatures
posted by cmiller at 7:02 AM on October 7, 2007

MythTV is where it's at. GF said she couldn't watch TV without it. Now I can't watch TV anywhere else, commercials are just that annoying (yes, it cuts most of those out for you). Since you're in the UK I'm pretty sure MythTV works with DVB-T and will gather EIT guide data for you, meaning you won't need to screenscrape.

Myself, I use 2 x PVR-150 and 1 x PVR-350 capture cards, one of which is hooked into a cable box for the premium stations, the rest hooked into the cable itself for the rest of them. On the very rare occasion myth wants to record two premium shows at once, it'll find another showing of one of the shows and reschedule it then so it won't conflict. This was relatively easy to setup using KnoppMyth, but eventually I went the hard way with slackware as the base OS (not something I'd suggest for someone wanting to just "try it out").

You'll need to dedicate the computer to this, of course, and you'll want lots of HDD space. My 300 GB HDD is constantly full, and my average bitrate is only 1.4 Mbits. :-D
posted by shepd at 8:15 AM on October 7, 2007 [2 favorites]

Oh... if you have an MPEG stream coming into the machine (eg: The above PVR cards, or a DVB card) you won't need a lot of horsepower to make this work. < 1 Ghz is plenty, even a P III 600 would probably be fine for one tuner.
posted by shepd at 8:17 AM on October 7, 2007

If you have TV in on a computer already, all you need to do is hook up an old VCR.

Most TV tuners are either for NTSC or PAL, not both, so be careful to check this out carefully.

TV tuners for PC are easy to come by and dirt cheap (less than $25). The software normally sucks badly, but if you get one that is Dscaler compatible you will be very satisfied. Dscaler is ideal if you want to watch tv while using the computer for other purposes, MythTV may indeed be a better solution if you want a more appliance like solution.

If you want to add a TV tuner to a mac laptop, I think you are going to have to spend a little more. You can get them in either external USB2 or express card versions, but availability is much more limited.

In general, for selecting a TV card, check out VCDhelp's capture card list.
posted by Chuckles at 8:50 AM on October 7, 2007

"be careful carefully"? I guess the overly cautious atmosphere of AskMe is rubbing off :P
posted by Chuckles at 8:53 AM on October 7, 2007

Thanks everyone. So the cheapest way would be to get a tuner for my pc and install MythTV?
posted by Andy Harwood at 9:05 AM on October 7, 2007

I was talking with some friends last weekend who'd given EyeTV a try, but sent theirs back because the scheduling software sucked so hard. They're two of the sharpest geeks I know, too, so when they say suck, I imagine a powerful vortex. Given that you have a PC just sitting there, yeah, why not go with Myth?
posted by mumkin at 9:51 AM on October 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

And don't forget your TV licence ;o)
posted by macdara at 10:20 AM on October 7, 2007