Let me see if I have this correct

I don't think you know quite what you are looking for. what you need is a capture card, not a tuner. now, that tuner will work as it has a video input, but it is also tuner, for "tuning" over the air hd, analog cable (which isn't what you need) and unencripted (qam) digital cable (which I doubt your channels are). you will set it up as you describe, but keep in mind that you will be sending the signal to the card with an svideo cable, which is not hd. it will be standard def, 480i. what channels are those? that would tell us whether they are qam or not. if they are that would change things. if you really need hd input you will need to look elsewhere.

Actually Nvalhalla, he has 8 channel output, including SPIDF so he won't need anything else for up to 7.1 audio.

Isn't that the truth! Thank's for clearing up (some of) my misconceptions.

Ok, I don't need the tv tuner card because I have the cable box. The tuner card would pull over the air tv signals, which is not what I want to do.

The channels I was refering to (700-712) are the HD channels that Cox offers. Local channels like CBS, FOX, ABC, ect and also premium stuff like Discovery HD Theater, Mojo, HBO, ect.

So....what do I need to watch HD TV on my PC? All I want to do is use my monitor as my TV. I though I had this all thought out, but I guess not. If somebody could kindly explain it to me, or link me to a thread or website I would be greatful.

Stereo sound is fine for now. I only have 2 speakers + a subwoofer. I do plan to add a sound card later.

Thanks nvalhalla, I really appreciate it.

I talked to a Cox rep who confirmed that I would be able to receive all channels, including HD channels, by using a cable box and a capture card.

Well that's why I was gonna go with a capture card, becasue I can use my onboard sound (or a sound card when I get one). Plus it lets me record, playback, pause, and schedule recordings. Although, I can do all that on the cable box anyway.

Geeze this is way more complicated than I thought it would be. Is it really that hard to just get HDTV on my PC!?

i personally think it may be easier to get a digital tuner card. but god knows what's going to work and what's not going to work with shista. especially 64 bit. If all else fails you could try mythtv, but i'm not sure if that supports windows. I wish i could help you. but i'm not versed on the subject as well as i should be.
i run a hauppauge pvr-150. It's not digital. If you really want to use your cable box to change the channels and it has an analog output, you may not need a digital card. but i would get one just in case you want it anyway. a tuner card can just be set onto channel 3 or 4 or whatever your cable box outputs, then if you don't have a cable box, you may still be able to use just the card to get your tv. ALTHOUGH, i would definitely call your cable company and try to get a hold of someone that knows what they're talking about... to find out if you can directly connect a digital card, because they can have weird proprietary crap built into it to prevent people from "stealing" cable. It's all kinds of messed up mostly because of drmish type crap... you have a long road ahead of you... but i can vouch for hauppage and say they do make a good sturdy card, i can get sound and channels i'm not supposed to get and don't get on other regular tv's. :-p

The same advice I've already given. A digital tuner card is worthless, don't listen to the previous poster, he's confused. You need a capture card that has component inputs to handle HD. It's the ONLY way.