Hi, I'm looking to putting together a PC which I can link to the TV/stereo to primarily provide (a) facility to record TV to hard drive & (b) internet access for internet radio. We already have Sky digital. I'm fine about putting together a system but my main query is on the best type of sub-system for connecting the PC to a standard TV. I've already tried experimenting with an s-video connection from a standard laptop but the results were no good so I guess there must be a specific type of card I'm looking for.
Any suggestions/ideas gladly welcomed - I'm not looking to spend a fortune on this as I've got spare PCs hanging around the place, it's just the video side of things I'm unsure of.

"I know that I'm mad - I've always been mad..."

The Svideo jack you talk about is an OUTPUT not an input.

What you need is a TV CAPTURE CARD.... and if you have sky digital then you don't want just any capture card.

Your digital cable box should have both component video and Svideo outputs so you will want a capture card with these kinds of inputs.

You can use the normal cable input found on any capture card, but your recordings come pretty close to professional looking with the above noted inputs. A capture card with these inputs will also come with separate left and right audio inputs which is important if you want your recordings to be doly digital compatible.

I like HAUPPAGE cards. No bells and whistles, just good recordings.

AVOID SOME ATI CARDS! They are software driven which is slower and causes more problems. You DO NOT WANT a software driven card.

Many thanks for that - the s-video bit was mentioned simply because connecting it to a tv via scart adapter the picture is not exactly watchable - would a hauppage card help with this or do I need a special graphics output card as well?

"I know that I'm mad - I've always been mad..."

No, Hauppage (as well as most other capture cards) have INPUTS and not outputs.

A tv output is usually found on any reasonable quality video card. But don't waste time trying to get a good picture on the tv from a computer. NO VIDEO CARD that I know of has ever been able to produce a good picture on the tv. It's not so much the card as it is RESOLUTION. A tv is just simply not capable of the kind of resolutions found and used on computers. Tv's are pure ANOLOG... computers are digital. Therefore a conversion is required and clarity is lost during that conversion.

OK, again, thanks for reply so how do I go about improving the quality - I thought the whole idea of Windows Media edition was to bring the PC into the lounge? I take it that it would work with a decent TFT tv then? or are there any other options?

"I know that I'm mad - I've always been mad..."

Funny you mention TFT tv...

I just bought one of those flat screen combo tv/computer monitors.

My problem is now just the opposite; Great computer graphics but lousy tv picture.

TV and computers are just simply two different worlds. If you think about it, today's tv signal has changed very little since the first days of the tv back in the forties. A colorburst signal was added to the black and white signal to create color tv but that the extent of the change.

So what you are trying to do when combining computer and tv is mesh 1940's technology with 2005 technology... when thought of this way, it's not hard to understand why it doesn't work very well.

That's why the push on HDTV... this technology will mesh the 2 worlds a tad better.