Regarding that USB port on the back of the Foxtel IQ box and other Pay TV boxes.

Can you do something like plugging it into a Media Center PC and watching the program real time in fullscreen on your LCD monitor? I'm not interested in recording.

Are there any TV tuners out there that support playing in full screen via RCA connector?

Pop , , Australia

As we explained in the question you referred to, the USB connector appears to be disabled on the IQ. As many readers have suggested, it would be fantastic if you could transfer video from the IQ to your PC for digital storage. But your idea of simply viewing the video on the LCD monitor via the PC doesn't make sense. You would take up a lot of the computer's power, but for what? If you want to watch the video in real-time, then simply connect the IQ directly to the LCD monitor. Almost all LCD monitors have more than one way to get the video in (composite, component and even DVI if that's appropriate).

Of course, if you want a small picture-in-picture on the Windows desktop, I suppose a TV tuner card would be fine, as the IQ box could plug into its video input.

As for the TV tuner, the facts are simple.

Analog TV (the old system) is not wide-screen and never will be.

Digital TV is inherently wide-screen, and the only time it isn't is when the program itself isn't.

Have fun.

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Update

Since publishing this answer Pop has been back in touch to explain his question further.

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Alright, the reason I asked the above question is because the other day, my CRT TV got busted and I now only have 2 pc's. I have a work pc and a mce pc. I went to a swapmeet and bought a cheap 17in LCD but forgot about RCA inputs. I have to watch foxtel daily because I work for discovery channel. My other pc monitor(21in CRT) doesn't have rca either and my budget won't be enough to get a new tv until a few months.

SO CAN YOU JUST TELL ME WHETHER I AM CAPABLE OF DOING THE ABOVE QUESTION. I AM VERY DESPARATE.JUST YES OR NO. I DONT MIND ABOUT TAKING UP MY MCE PC'S HORESEPOWE.

My specs if you need them:

• Intel Pentium 4 3.0ghz
• Shuttle MOBO, i don't know the model.
• Nvidia Quadro FX (Why don't you review these in your mag?)
• 1GB Ram
• 2x 250gb RAID 0
• Happhauge MCE150 card with rca.
• LG H10A(or something like that)
• All inside a SHUTTLE mini barebones pc.



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Hi Pop. Sorry but I didn't quite understand your original question.

The answer is YES. Your TV tuner card in your MCE computer should have video-in and audio-in sockets. The software loaded on the PC will let you select this set of inputs and display the video in full screen or in a window so you can size and watch while doing other things on the PC.

Of course, since you only need a TV set, why not just borrow one from a friend, or look for a freebie that someone is throwing out? I'm sure if you put a card on a local noticeboard you'll find one that's looking for a home, now that everyone is upgrading to LCD and Plasma.


Paul Zucker