Turning a laptop into a DVR?????

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chestercheeto48

Senior Member
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What is the easiest way to turn my laptop into a basic/quality DVR to record shows off cable tv? My wife still uses her old VCR from time to time but it is starting to take a crap on us and I don't want to buy a DVD recorder or spend the cash to upgrade to digital cable to get a dvr from our cable company. I know that there are tuners and cards for laptops out there but I do not have any experience with any of them. I would basically just want to record an ocassional tv program to watch when I can't be home. Is there also any way to set it up like a standard DVR to record all airings of a specifics show? I have seen the mythTV thread so I know some of you have some experience with this sort of thing.

Here are the cliffs:

Have a HP laptop running XP media edition
Want to record and play back cable tv shows
Can I do this, if so what do I need to accomplish this?

Thanks in advance.
 
:Dif you already have microsoft media home edition, then u need a way to "link" ur laptop to the computer. Via a wire. How new is ur t.v.? does it have at least an s-video port. If so you can go to Frys or another big computer parts store and just find cable that mate into ur computer and t.v. You might have to have a lot of connectors, but it will work. Assuming u get that squared away, then all u have to do is follow the instructions on microsoft.com. U should be golden. I did this a while back with my computer, but i just wanted to watch t.v. on my Lcd. I currently have this same set-up, but with my xbox360. If u have one then it'll only cost u like 25.00, other wise it might be a little more with the custom job. Good luck, if u need any more help, then just pm me.:D
 
Oh, i just though of something. u might want to buy an external hard drive dedicated only for ur shows. I say that cause it will slow ur laptop down horribly. One show is potentially a lot of memory.
 
dude you're retarded. his laptop would be the extender. not another computer.

you need some sort of TV tuner, you can get one at staples/best buy/online etc. hauppage ones seem to be good, or ATI ones. they plug in via USB or cardbus.
 
dude you're retarded. his laptop would be the extender. not another computer.

you need some sort of TV tuner, you can get one at staples/best buy/online etc. hauppage ones seem to be good, or ATI ones. they plug in via USB or cardbus.


Thank you! That is exactly what I am looking for in a response. I am assuming that both of these types of tv tuner card can use the red/yellow/white cable hook-ups correct? Is there a type of card that would plug in (usb/cardbus) and allow me to strictly just run the cable to my lap top? I would love to eliminate the extra tv and just leave the laptop on my desk in my office. I have a cable hook-up that is not being used in there. If not then I guess I can go from cable to tv to laptop. Thank for the help.
 
YES a USB tuner would let you do those things and record.

you mean COAX cable? you can find USB tuners that accept COAX as well ;)
 
I have a media center IR receiver/remote, and a usb coax tuner that came with my laptop. I have never used it, but I will get rid of it if you want it. I will sell it for 80 shipped. This is ment for media center and uses the remote with the media center button :)
 
unless I am missing something it looks like it only picks up HD signals. I need something that I can pull tv off of standard cable.

NTSC = analog cable
ATSC = over-the-air HD broadcasts
QAM = unscrambled cable


If you want to pull cable, get something with QAM
 
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