Cable TV to Laptop Questions — Community

#1 Feb 26, 2009 at 8:21 pm

I have a few questions about hooking up my new laptop to my tv. My end objective asking these questions is to watch tv on my laptop.

1)a) My laptop has an HDMI slot, the one hdmi slot on my cable box is currently being used with my tv. Is it possible to run the hd cable tv feed to my laptop at the same time as it is being used on the tv? I have the Nero software that allows you to play cable tv on your laptop.

b) If it is possible, what cable would I use? I would prefer to use the HDMI slot on my laptop since it transmits audio and video, but my tv is already using the HDMI slot on the HD cable box. I've seen HDMI to Componenet Video/RCA Audio Cables, do these actually work?

2) Alternatively, I'd also like to do the same in another room in my house, but the cable box is not an HD cable box, it is just a regular digital cable box. It has componenent video & rca audio slots. If the HDMI to Componenet Video/RCA Audio Cables actually do work, will my laptop's HDMI slot still recognize the feed even though it is not HD?

#2 Feb 26, 2009 at 11:20 pm

1)a) You would have to purchase an HDMI splitter, over $100, to feed the output of your cable box to the TV and your laptop. Not sure why you would want to do that since both will always have the same content.

b) Use an HDMI cable. The other cable you speak of is a break out cable for analog video and HDMI sources do not support that. Since this is PC talk this may be a capability for PC applications but no consumer video equipment I know of supports it.

2) Well that explains the breakout cable - it is likely used as an input rather than output. The manufacturer should be far more capable of telling you what your laptop can or cannot do.

Bear in mind you can't break anything, it just won't work, so give it all a try.

#3 Feb 27, 2009 at 11:49 am

Hi norphano,

You may want to check the specs on your laptop. Most laptops that include HDMI or DVI connectors include them for output capabilities, not input. This way you can use a large HDTV as a monitor via HDMI or DVI instead of using VGA. If it is in fact an HDMI input, that will be the first laptop I've heard of with that capability.

I'm also a bit perplexed about the Nero software you mention. I'm somewhat familiar with Nero, although admit I am not up on the capabilities of the latest releases. But it would seem odd to me that software would have the capability to tune Cable TV ... if that's what you're saying. Typically that would be done by a hardware add-on card, and generally not found on a laptop.

Forgetting all of that, the best/easiest way to watch Cable TV on your laptop is to go with a Slingbox: http://www.slingmedia.com/go/slingbox-prohd. You simply connect it to your video source, and then to your home network, and off you go.

Hope that helps,

- Shane Sturgeon

#4 Feb 27, 2009 at 7:16 pm

Richard/Shane, thanks for this input. Really helpful.

1)a) That was basically my question, whether you could split one feed to watch different content. I figured this was the answer.

b) The reason why I was asking this was in the absence of an HDMI splitter. Let's say I was using my HD box to watch tv, but also wanted to record the program on my laptop with the appropriate software. From what I can see the new Nero does this as well, although as you can tell I have not tested it yet.

2) I've checked the specs of my laptop, and it doesn't indicate whether the HDMI port only has output capabilities. I guess the one way of testing this is trying my HD box and seeing if the Nero software will play tv on my laptop.

My assumption was that the Nero software was used to support a cable feed from a cable box, and play the cable on the laptop. I could be totally wrong in assuming this. Maybe you do need something like the Sling box.

Regardless, I'll try hooking up my HD box to my laptop this weekend and playing it using the Nero software. If it doesn't work, that answers a lot of my questions.