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Geek Culture / tv/computer

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dark donkey
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Posted: 3rd Jan 2007 20:17 Edited at: 3rd Jan 2007 20:18
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Hi, the time as come to get rid of our old tv, it has lots of problems with it and is just put dated. So ive heard people saying that they have computers as tvs, does any one no were i can get a computer/tv so i can be useing a computer but then when i so something i can be whatching tv i have looked at this http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=B3C47B0&nclm=Macmini but im not sure that that is a tv/computer, so i am asking were can i get thease tv computer things. I intend to still use my sky box with my tv.

thanks
darkdonkey

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Pricey
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Posted: 3rd Jan 2007 21:03
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what you need

is a tv card...

i have one with built in Freeview so i can watch lots of channels for free just by sticking my aerial in it =D

but if you wanna stick your skybox in it, you won't need that.

search around for TV cards, AverMedia are particulary good, and you'll want one with a Composite input to get a decent picture from your skybox.

:: 3Ghz Pentium 4 / Hyper Threading, 1024mb RAM, 250GB HDD, 256mb Radeon 9600XT Graphics ::


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dark donkey
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Posted: 3rd Jan 2007 21:32
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ok buying a tv card id not a problem im looking for some now, is it posible to put a tv card in so i have a port were i can plug in acable like this
from my sky box to my computer and it will work.

thanks
darkdonkey

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Grog Grueslayer
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Playing: Green Hell
Posted: 3rd Jan 2007 22:19
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You won't find any cards that use that input. You have to use RCA jacks and or S-Video.



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CattleRustler
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Posted: 4th Jan 2007 03:08
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Its 9/11 - but its FAKE 9/11 Ts=SQRT(Df/16)
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Jess T
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Location: Over There... Kablam!
Posted: 4th Jan 2007 03:38 Edited at: 4th Jan 2007 03:38
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As an alternative to buying a (sometimes very expensive) TV Tuner Card, you can buy what's called a VGA Box.

This little beauty will take your input signal (component or S-Video) and turn it into a VGA signal (the better ones also do some filtering/interpolating to make sure the video looks smoother) which you simply plug straight into your monitor.

This is what I use, but one of my dorm-mates uses a Digital TV Tuner card which was twice the price, but allows him to watch Digital TV without any signal loss.

[EDIT]
Wanted to join in on posting images there, CR?
[/EDIT]

Nintendo DS & Dominos :: DS Dominos
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dab
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Location: Your Temp Folder!
Posted: 4th Jan 2007 05:06
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While on the subject of TV Cards, I figure this would be easier than starting a new thread.

I received a Dell laptop from my Grandparents, but the OS was messed up badly, so not thinking, I formatted, and reinstalled Windows, and etc. Well, I found this card called the Dell DVD to Go (With the product name of Margi on it) in the case. I seem to not be able to find any Window XP drivers. The Margi.com website doesn't seem to work for me. So, if anyone can help me find a driver, I'd really appreciate it. Or, I can start my own thread about it.

Take heed, never take advantage of the things you need, never let your self be overcome by greed. Walk a strigh line, pick up your speed and try. Everyone deserves a piece of the pie By: Shaggy
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Zappo
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Posted: 4th Jan 2007 13:34
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If you didn't want your PC powered up the whole time you want to watch TV (which is required with a TV tuner card) then you could just buy an LCD TV which has a VGA or DVI socket on it. That way you have a high quality television which can be switched over to a PC monitor at the press of a button.
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Lukas W
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Posted: 4th Jan 2007 13:44
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i have one of those, a 21" widescreen 720p hdtv.
it is really great, though it allready have one broken pixel it's green. but too tiny to notice on a distance, or on a bright background. but while playing games, like thief, where it's quite dark i allways get distracted by that pixel.

is there any way to, i don't know, repair a broken pixel?!

Game Manager
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Mikey P
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Location: Manchester, UK
Posted: 4th Jan 2007 14:40
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Just so you know, you can insert your regular aerial carrying the terrestrial channels into the sky box and then just run a cable from the skybox to your tv channel with Sky on it.
Sort of like:

TV Aerial -> Sky Box -> Sky Box adds it's own signal -> Out back of Sky Box -> Into TV Card/TV

This is, instead of using scart/phono etc. Image quality might not be as good, but it'd work.

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dark donkey
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Posted: 6th Jan 2007 16:17
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ok im gonna buy the mac mini model and put a tv card in it but i whant to no, on a mac i can just put it in a pci right and will i have to do anything to make it work like go through the bios and then find out iv messed them up

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Mikey P
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Posted: 6th Jan 2007 16:21
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Are you sure Mac Mini's have PCI slots? I can't find anything that says it does, and from the pictures/diagrams on Apple's site there's nothing to suggest there's space for any.

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Nicholas Thompson
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Posted: 6th Jan 2007 16:24 Edited at: 6th Jan 2007 16:24
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I bought a WinTV Nova-T Stick for my laptop and PC. It will only work in Windows (unfortunately) but if you can get a decent Freeview signal its a REALLY nice bit of kit, especially for £30. I bought it in Wales and the signal was strong and I could watch about 30-40 channels on my laptop (Mac Book Pro Bootcamped with Windows XP Pro SP2) but when I got home I set it up on my PC and I cant get enough signal to it to find a single channel, even though I live 10 miles from the Crystal Palace transmitter!! I even got a booster aerial.. nothing works! :-(

I reviewed it on my site:
http://www.thingy-ma-jig.co.uk/blog/31-12-2006/wintv-nova-t-stick-review

EDIT: btw, thats a USB stick - not an expansion card.

[center]
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David R
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Posted: 6th Jan 2007 16:34 Edited at: 6th Jan 2007 16:39
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Quote: "I bought a WinTV Nova-T Stick for my laptop and PC. It will only work in Windows (unfortunately) but if you can get a decent Freeview signal its a REALLY nice bit of kit, especially for £30."


I bought one of these too, and I regret it. The software is horrible, and takes an age to start up. I have a pretty capable machine too, to this makes little sense - the recording features are also terrible, and the whole thing seems very slapped-together and unprofessional. It also seems to suck alot of my USB root hubs' bandwidth too - I've recently had to unplug it, since it made my new (USB) keyboard and mouse 'mess up' quite badly (in fact anything else plugged into USB while it is plugged in seems to 'screw up')

I highly recommend buying an internal TV tuner card instead - at least you can then use other software with it. With the WinTV Nova-T, I cannot even use some freeware tuner apps, since most (if not all) of them do not support external (a.k.a this) tuner

The Moral: You get what you pay for

EDIT: Mine is actually slightly different, since it's a box instead of a stick, and came with a remote


"History shall be kind to me, for I intend to write it" - Winston Churchill
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Nicholas Thompson
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Posted: 6th Jan 2007 16:36
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I actually quite like the software... It is a touch slow (especially changing channel) and I dont like the fact it wont work on OSX... But it aint THAT bad.

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dark donkey
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Posted: 6th Jan 2007 18:07 Edited at: 6th Jan 2007 18:47
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so you mean it whant work on mac or just osx, im probly gonna by this one http://www.nvidia.com/page/dualtvmce.html since it, i might not get a mac mini but definatly a mac if they work on it, all i want is to put that card into a mac or is the driver for windows.


edit
it says it works with windows media center, does media center have a fifrent styl of ui and will all software work that works on xp home/pro, so say i whant to stop the tv and then start codeing.

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Nicholas Thompson
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Posted: 6th Jan 2007 20:31
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It wont work on OSX, but all intel Mac's can run windows (assuming you have a legal copy to install from).

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