Getting the right Card.

[emccalment]

I have been doing some reading for the past hour or hour and a half and don't really understand too much of what I've read. Mainly due to terminology and an uneasy grasp of how TV works I suppose.

I'm looking to get a PCI TV Tuner for my old PC and put mythbuntu on it for my step daughter. In the end I may revert back to a Windows Media Center solution, but we'll see how that plays out. Currently we use Charter cable, but as the Army moves us around we are likely to switch a few times.

So, I'm not sure what kind of tuner would best suit my needs, or why most of the ones I see only have S Video and/or a Coaxle input. Aren't there methods of TV use that don't use Coaxial cable, like satellite TV, or any type of HDTV?

Are there cards that would cover both satellite TV applications as well as regular cable? And does anyone know of a good one that works with Linux/Mythbuntu? I would appreciate any help, I'm feeling a bit lost.

 

[popatim]

Most tuner cards are designed to work with either antenna or unecrypted cable channels. Which card works best for you will depend on what you need. THere are some cards out now that will accept a cable card from your cable company and allow you to receive encrypted channels that way but I have no experience with these. There are some that work with satellites also but many sat channels are encrypted and I dont have any experience with these either. Hauppauge cards have always worked well for me with cable or antenna. You could also try an HD Homerun network tuner box (still needs an antenna or cable input) and mostly these work great also (* on windows or linux)

edit - I'd like to refer you to AVS forums as a great resource for these kinds of questions because I'm sure there are many more to come.