TV Card

Standard definition or high definition is where to start. HD tv tuner are mainly for over the air reception as cable box usually does not allow you to display HD signal on your computer. Those signal are encrypted and will not be detected by your tuner. A SD tuner will allow you to get the channels from your cable company. You will have the choice of 2 main types of tuners: PCI and USB. If you get a tuner when you build the computer then go with PCI as it would leave one of your usb port free and they are usually cheaper.

$70 is the minimum to spend to have a quality tuner. A lot are cheaper but the quality is not as good and stability can be an issue. Be careful also to get a MCE compatible tuner for ease of installation and configuration. You might want to tape one show and watch another one. For that you will need 2 tuners,  either 2 physical card or a dual tuner card is necessary. Some tuner comes with remote other don’t. If you choose to go with one with a remote be certain to choose one that is MCE compatible as cheaper one will bring you a remote that you will only be able to use with that tuner software

• Family/office computer: none
• all around gaming computer: none
• media center: if budget allows try to go for a dual tuner or 2 tuners
• gaming computer: none