Can someone please help me and explain how a TV tuner works?

I am thinking of getting a TV tuner card in my laptop. I thought you needed broadband for this to work (which I do not have) but someone told me you can use your laptop as a dvd recorder/dvr player, using Vista with Windows Media Center and hook it up to your satellite box. I have Directv. I know less than nothing about this, but it would be nice if this were true. I could record TV shows on my laptop for viewing later?

This laptop is an HP DV5t, which has an optional hybrid tv tuner. Any help would be really appreciated.

 

Have you tried reading this ? http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01492734.pdf

 

There are several different ways to watch TV on your notebook.
Watching TV over a broadband connection with something like Apple iTune TVshows or similar internet based TV service doesn't require special hardware, you only download or stream the video content and watch it from a software player.

The other way is watching normal broadcast/cable/satellite TV on your notebook, this requires additional hardware. With a TV tuner, you can directly hook up a coaxial cable from your wall socket and tune in. However if you are using a satellite box or some sort of a set top box then you need a video capture device or something like a slingbox.

A video capture device will take in the input from your set top box and display it on your notebook screen with special software. As a video capture device you can use a normal TV card with a video input or a separate capture card.

A sling box is a special device that will let you watch TV over your internal network or over the internet . For example when you are away from home, you can still watch your favorite shows from your satellite box by connecting to the sling box over the internet.

Decide which way you want to connect and maybe I or someone else can help you further.

 

PhoenixFX is just about right.
TV Tuners come in both internal and external USB/ExpressCard forms, and with an antenna, cable, or satellite connection, you can use Windows Media Center or other utilities to watch TV on your system.
Keep in mind that incoming analog TV (anything other than digital cable or HD) will need to be encoded into a digital form by your system, increasing its workload.

 

Thanks all. And thanks for the link, I'm reading it now.

I am SO lost with this stuff. Ok, so if I undertand this correctly, in addition to the hybrid TV tuner card that I would get in my laptop, and my Directv box, I would need another device, a video capture device? I cannot just connect my laptop, with the hybrid tv tuner card installed, directly to the directv satellite box and record TV? I do not have broadband here, we are not able to get it where I live.

 

If you order a notebook with the internal TV tuner card then you don’t need anything else. According to the service manual you can connect a TV antenna, a digital cable device, or a satellite device that receives standard or high-definition TV broadcasts.

 

Thanks for your help! OK. I have a room that has a satellite directv hookup with no television connected. I should be able then just connect the laptop with that wire that should hook up to the television, and watch TV? Yes? Sorry to be so ignorant.