Tv tuner card with satellite tv

[adaman2576]

hey all,
I am going to be moving soon and my new house will not have an option for cable. My only option for tv/internet is a satellite provider. I have a htpc that uses a few tuner cards for basic cable right now through WMC. I have never dealt with satellite before... Is there a basic signal that these tuner cards would recieve like they do through cable? Or is it all encrypted and decoded by the settop box?
thanks in advance,
Adaman

 

[huron]

I would assume that you would be running the cable out of the box via coax into the tuner card in your HTPC, right? That would give you access to the channels, not matter if they were encrypted or not...they have to be decrypted so your TV can display them.

Shouldn't that work?

 

[adaman2576]

I would assume that you would be running the cable out of the box via coax into the tuner card in your HTPC, right? That would give you access to the channels, not matter if they were encrypted or not...they have to be decrypted so your TV can display them.

Shouldn't that work?

Yes but then wouldn't i need the box to change channels and my tuner card would just turn into a capture card?

 

[huron]

I've always been able to change the channels on my HTPC through the tuner. I've not used satellite, but with cable (and a box), I was able to do it through Windows Media Center.

 

[awolfe63]

There are no native satellite tuners for PCs right now. At one point, DirectTV boxes had serial ports and some PC software could use that to change the channel. No HD recording that way though.

Best bet is to get a DVR from your satellite provider and live with it.

 

[benski]

I think the only solution is to use a capture card and an IR blaster to change the channels.

 

[adaman2576]

I think the only solution is to use a capture card and an IR blaster to change the channels.

I was afraid that this was the answer because I have multiple pc's with tuner cards and I don't want to rent a whole bunch of satellite boxes. damn

 

[adaman2576]

Best answer selected by adaman2576.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey