HDTV Media Center Questions

If you are using a set top converter box, no, you won't pull HD. Yes, you should get a TV Tuner card if you want to do time-phase TV recording though MCE. I'm not a big fan of AIW, under the premise, "Jack of all trades, master of none." HD tuner cards only pull content over-the-air (OTA), so you're limited to what you can pick up via an external antenna, in your area. Here's an article showing some relative comparisons of picture quality, none of which will be as good as the source broadcast on your TV, but your TV will work fine for displaying captured content, quality dependant on the available inputs for secondary video sources. I think your card has dual dvi outputs, so if your TV has a DVI input, that would give a great picture.

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Yeah, it is. We're in the grip of the cable conglomerate. There's talk that we'll be able to acquire internal digital cards, so the "box" can be eliminated, but even then, we'll still have to rent them from the cable company. Echh!

Depending on the outputs on your box, you can capture the digital image from the set top box, with a digital tuner or capture card, but time-phase recording (and internal channel selection) is eliminated under MCE because you're chained to that box. Good luck. MM