Thread: What exactly can I do with a tv tuner card

I have cable tv through Comcast here in South Florida and want to watch tv on my pc because I share a house with two roommates and even though my room is the biggest of the three, I would much rather not have a tv in my room if I can help it. I was looking @ getting ATI TV Wonder™ HD 650 Combo PCI Express because I have always liked the ATI brand and have never had problems with them. But basically my question is this: can I just plug the cable cord into the card and BAM! I can watch anything on my pc as i can my tv? Will I need another box from the cable company (more money!!) to watch HBO or SHOWTIME or channels such as those? I would like as much info. as I can as reading the different reviews for different products by different reviewers did not answer my questions. Thank you in advance!!

I believe you would still need the cable box to get your movie channels and other digital channels. You'd be able to get most of the basic and expanded basic channels. I'm running an older t.v. tuner card and get channels 2-70 something but can't get the channels like my cable box.

when going to the upper channels i think you need the cable box to decode the signal. Even with an HDTV you'd need a cable box. I've heard several manufacturers of t.v.'s want to develop a built in cable box so you dont have to got that route but i dont think they have any models that do yet. Perhaps I'm wrong. Hopefully someone else with a little more knowledge will help you out. Any which way good luck.