Posted by noydb on 12/31/05 16:06

Greetings,

I'm thinking about getting a TV card for my computer, and would
appreciate any advice.

What I'd like to do most of all is copy shows onto the computer (from
cable) and then burn dvd's to watch on another computer (a laptop).

What sort of equipment would I need to accomplish this ?
I know I need a TV card...is there much difference between brands ?
What sort of adapters are required to hook up the cable to the
computer while still being able to watch regular TV ? (just a splitter
?)

I know there's some high end technofiles out there who have outrageous
setups...I'd love to hear some descriptions with approximate costs.

Also, I'm looking for a dependable DVD player.
I've purchased some cheapos over the past few years and they always
seem to break down...so I'm ready to shell out some real money for one
if I can be reasonably assured it will last a while.
My local library has DVD's, but they have an anti-theft strip stuck to
them, and that seems to be enough to screw up these cheapo players.
Hopefully, this new DVD player would be able to handle disc
imperfections such as this.
Finally, I've heard that some DVD players can play .avi files straight
up with no further conversion. Is that a pipe dream ? Will that
feature be rendered useless in no time with the continuing advancement
of codecs etc. ?
I'd appreciate any advice on any of these topics.
Thanks in advance

Cheers, --N

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