Getting Cable on My Computer.

I've been looking all over the internet but still cannot find a GOOD AND DETAILED article about recording TV to my laptop. So, I've come back to this wonderful website once again.

So, I've heard I'm supposed to be able to hook my cable up to my laptop allowing me to record TV shows and such to my computer using Windows Media Center. I have a Vista laptop. From what I understand, all I need to do is get a USB TV tuner and hook my cable box up to it and plug that into my computer. Is that all I need to to? I haven't purchased one and I want to be clear on what exactly I need to do to get this done properly. Furthermore, does the fact that I have a cablebox matter? Will it somehow interfere in the process of transferring Television to laptop? I don't want to use any over the air tuners since we already have a cable service provider. If you need more information and details to answer my question, just ask for more and I'd be happy to help you help me (so, I guess I'd be happy to help myself).

 

Hey,

I think you are almost there. I dont think you want a TV Tuner. A TV Tuner will will receive a radio signal from a aerial and decode yor channels to view on your TV. I think what you want is a Video capture Device. This will take and Audio Visual Input and allow you to record it.

Something like this will probably do the job depending on the output connectors on your cable box.

You will also need some capture software. I did a quick google and found this which is open source. This may all be a bit fidley so you may be better getting a more expensive capture card that comes with some OEM capture software

 

So, basically I'd use a device akin to Sabrent USB Video input adapter and hook that up to my PC and then use lightworks to record the video as it streams from my cablebox into my PC?

 

Basically yeah. If you wanted to do anything more complex like schedule recording you would need a USB TV tuner for cable TV and Im not sure if such a thing exists. I assume that you have some sort of sim/authorisation card that you plug into your cable box? If so, you would need another card to go into your USB tuner. You would then hook up your USB direct to cable supply and bypass your box.

Like I say Im not sure if such a device exists.

 

USB tuners pick up cable. Most digital cable channels are encrypted and require a CableCARD tuner. However, most cable providers still transmit an analog signal, which does not require decryption but not all channels will have an analog feed available. He should check with his provider to see if they do so.

 

Cool. We dont have cable per say in the UK. Virgin media offer a fibre optic service but that is digital only.