Dual tuners give you far more flexibility but increase the cost.
Which kind of signal do you need the tuner to handle? To receive standard
TV signals over the air, you need an analog tuner. To receive high-definition TV
signals over the air, you need a TV tuner capable of receiving digital signals.
To receive cable, both your cable system and the tuner card must support
QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation, a kind of digital cable tuner).
Which forms of video input do you need? Most TV tuners accept standard
forms of input such as S-Video and composite video, but it??™s wise to verify
that the tuner has a connector for the type of input you??™re planning to use.
Do you need a remote control? Many TV tuners come with a remote control
for controlling playback from across the room. A remote control is especially
important if you plan to watch the TV shows on your TV rather than
on your PC, as described in Project 12.
You can install two or more TV tuners in the same PC, and you can have both standard tuners
and digital tuners. However, you cannot install a digital cable tuner and a standard TV tuner at
the same time. If you have a standard TV tuner and want to upgrade to a digital cable tuner, you
must remove the standard TV tuner first.
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caution
Project 5: Turn Your PC into a Media Center 47
You must also make sure the TV tuner supports Windows Media Center in
Windows Vista.
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