Need help with TV Tuner card choice

[Nodscene]

I'm not entirely sure this is the right forum but it seems to fit here well enough.

I"m looking for a tv turner card for my computer that will support an HD signal whether it's from my Bell dish or I might even play around with some of the FTA stuff.

As it stands we have a PVR in the livining room that has a dual tuner which feeds the master bedroom also. I was going to split the signal from the MB to the computer room and hook it up to a 19" tv. Then I was thinking why not get a tuner card and be able to watch it on my monitor :) I figure this way I can also play around with the FTA in the future if I feel like it.

Chances are I'll be running Vista (probably 64bit) but nothing is set in stone as of now. I guess it's safe to say I might be running anything other than a MCE version of windows.

Any and all advice is welcome....not to mention needed :help:


EDIT: The ability to record is not really a priority for me. So I can live without that option if that makes a difference in my choices.

[sswilson]

I stand to be corrected, but I'm pretty sure it's not an issue of being able to accept the HD signal, it's an issue of not being able to decode the digital signal without a set-top box like your PVR.

They have "cable cards" in the US which take the place of the set-top boxes, but to my knowledge aside from FTA gear you won't be able to get a card which works here in Canada so the best you'd be able to do is to feed the signal from your set-top box to your computer and then you'll have to deal with Vista's Draconian DRM protections.

[Nodscene]

I know there is software that is able to do it but what I'm actually doing is splitting the signal after the receiver so it's already decoded. All I really would like is a recommendation on a good quality card that will output 1080i or 1080p which is preferably PCI-E since those slots are pretty useless for the most part. Well, not useless but there aren't many cards that utilize them right now.