# Connect Directv receiver to computer?



## mrbarker (Sep 26, 2007)

I just put in a Radeon 9800 graphics cards into my pc for test purposes. Its supposed to have the ability for tv input. Does anyone know of a cable I can purchase to connect a directv dvr receiver to my radeon 9800 graphics card?


----------



## phat78boy (Sep 12, 2007)

Is it an All-in-Wonder card? If so, you will have a cable that allows input and will have the regular AV jacks needed to do so. If not, I don't believe the standard Radeon card has input capabilities, output only.


----------



## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

mrbarker said:


> I just put in a Radeon 9800 graphics cards into my pc for test purposes. Its supposed to have the ability for tv input. Does anyone know of a cable I can purchase to connect a directv dvr receiver to my radeon 9800 graphics card?


Is that an input or an output? My 9600 only had an output.
You would need to have the all-in-one [with the TV tuner] to have an input.
My TV tuner cards will accept the S-Video/composite SD outputs from my receivers.


----------



## mrbarker (Sep 26, 2007)

My card has input and output for video


----------



## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

mrbarker said:


> My card has input and output for video


We could spend a lot of time guessing what you have or you could come out and tell us the manufacturer and model of the card that you have. Radeon 9800 describes no less than 100 different cards of differing capability.


----------



## mrbarker (Sep 26, 2007)

My apologies... I thought Radeon 9800 would be enough info 

I think the S-Video idea would suffice my needs..


----------



## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

That sounds like the Radeon All-in-Wonder 9800. I used to have the exact same card. I only replaced it when I upgraded to Vista because it does not support the capture functions on the AIW. I switched to two separate cards – a Radeon X1650 and a TV Wonder 650 video capture card. 

Just connect the L/R audio and S-Video outputs from the D* receiver to the inputs on the Radeon’s connecting block and you’re set. Just make sure to select the appropriate input the source in whatever capture software you use. I use Pinnacle Studio and it does a decent job, albeit slowly on post-edit transcoding since there’s no hardware acceleration on the card.


----------



## mrbarker (Sep 26, 2007)

So I will need software to watch the tv feed as well? Im not looking to use the computer as a DVR, just spare tv really without spending $500 on a new lcd  Any recommnedations on software to watch the tv feed?


----------



## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

mrbarker,

To be clear, first off you still need a DirecTV receiver to feed your computer. There is no TV card that incorporates the DirecTV receiver.

You can feed s-video or composite (yellow) video from any DirecTV receiver. You can also feed modulated channel 3/4 signal from most SD DirecTV receivers.

On your computer, you need whatever software it takes to access and view the s-video or composite video input.

And, at the end of the process, all you will have on your monitor is SD.

Carl


----------



## mrbarker (Sep 26, 2007)

Yes.. I have a spare directv receiver and I am only interested in the SD channels.. I found a 44mb download on ati's website so I think I have everything I need to start playing around; other then being stuck in the office


----------



## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

mrbarker said:


> So I will need software to watch the tv feed as well? Im not looking to use the computer as a DVR, just spare tv really without spending $500 on a new lcd  Any recommnedations on software to watch the tv feed?


If you are using Windows XP, the programs that came with the card (or better yet, the latest versions downloaded from the ATI/AMD website) include a TV program as well as a PC-based DVR program, so in effect, you could use your PC as a DVR. It's only if you want to take the recorded video and burn it to a DVR-R would you need some other software.

The ATI "media center" software has a really cool feature you can enable so that when you minimize the TV window, it actually "transposes" the input video on top of (or underneath?) the entire desktop. You can be working full-screen, say in a Word document, with a semi-transparent TV window overlaying it. At first it might seem annoying, but after a while, you get used to it. It's great for working while keeping a news program in the background. I really miss that since I switched to Vista. Oh, and I'm not a Vista hater - I have it on all my PC's and really like it. I just miss this particular feature and hate that ATI was not able to make it work under Vista for whatever reason.


----------



## mrbarker (Sep 26, 2007)

Ok.. so all the software is correct and yes im running Vista, but it wont bother me to not have the video running in the background... All I need now is the cable from the directv to the graphics card...

Im guessing VGA on the directv receiver, but I cant figure out what for the graphics cards side.. It looks like S-Video but its different... If anyone knows what cable or switch I need for that Id be greatly appeciative


----------



## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

mrbarker said:


> Ok.. so all the software is correct and yes im running Vista, but it wont bother me to not have the video running in the background... All I need now is the cable from the directv to the graphics card...
> 
> Im guessing VGA on the directv receiver, but I cant figure out what for the graphics cards side.. It looks like S-Video but its different... If anyone knows what cable or switch I need for that Id be greatly appeciative


"VGA on the directv receiver", this makes no sense. 

As for your ATI card, you would need to find the "pigtail" [cable] that came with it [or should have]. This is what would have the composite/S-Video connection.


----------



## mrbarker (Sep 26, 2007)

There was no pigtail... I just got the graphics card... any idea on where to buy the pigtail or what its called?


----------



## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

It’s a purple cable with a large Din connector on one end (that will plug into the card) and a block of analog A/V connectors on the other end (S-video, composite, and L/R audio). Go to eBay and search for “ATI Wonder Cable” and you’ll find several of them.


----------



## mrbarker (Sep 26, 2007)

Perfect!! Thats what ive been looking for.. Sorry for not being able to explain it better to everyone


----------



## mutelight (Oct 6, 2008)

mrbarker said:


> Perfect!! Thats what ive been looking for.. Sorry for not being able to explain it better to everyone


You are going to want to make sure that your card is an All-in-Wonder and/or it accepts inputs. I think you may be jumping the gun a bit and confusing yourself. Does the display on your computer support DVI with HDCP by any chance?


----------



## mrbarker (Sep 26, 2007)

Its in all in wonder... contains both in and out... if this doesnt work its faulty hardware so I live with that.. now I just have to wait for the cord to come in the mail


----------



## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

AIW 9800 has issues on vista, don't spend too much money on this without being sure it will work.


----------



## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

David MacLeod said:


> AIW 9800 has issues on vista, don't spend too much money on this without being sure it will work.


That's right&#8230;I don't believe the capture function will work at all. From ATI's website:

"Note: All-in-Wonder™ boards operate with AMD Windows Vista-Ready Display Drivers under the Windows Vista Operating System. However there is currently no software application which provides TV/Capture functionality for All-in-Wonder™ boards under Windows Vista."

http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=vista32/common-vista32


----------



## mrbarker (Sep 26, 2007)

Ive read that in other places as well... One of my co-workers is bringing me the cable today so in all, I will spend about $15 to replace the 32mb shared graphics card to a 128mb graphics card that displays some of the capabilities of vista and may do directv for me as well 

Not to much money for all that


----------

