TV tuner

[TomJ]

Looking into the possibility of purchasing a TV tuner. However, before I do so, I want to get your recommendations, comments and feedback before I make a fool out of myself at the store

- What do I need to know about TV tuner cards?
- Can a TV tuner card help me see all of my cable TV channels?
- Do I need a specific TV tuner if my TV isn't HD or digital yet?
- Is there a specific TV tuner for analog TV sets?
- Do I need to ask anything from my cable TV provider like technical specifications? Or is there like a generic card available today?

Any help will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[PamJazz]

as far as i know, tv tuner cards can be bought through your cable tv provider. be careful when purchasing because tv tuner cards should work with your cable box - so i suggest you talk to your cable tv provider first before making any purchase.

in any case, tv tuner cards should work with your cable box and all you need to do is connect the round coaxial cable to your TV tuner card. the signal for this is NTSC standard. if yours uses the PAL standard, though, you need to get a card of that type. so check if your tv set uses NTSC or PAL.

[PamJazz]

oh yeah, in addition ---

there are external and internal tuners, by the way. the external USB 2.0 versions of these cards are okay but what a lot recommend is getting the internal PCI version.

as for your question about analog and digital TV sets --- remember that there are both high definition/digital and regular/analog versions of TV tuner cards.