• Does a VGA cable carry the HD signal well? I've heard that it's analog and not digital, but I do think it's my only option. - VGA is HD analog as is component video.

• Also, I took some measurements last night and found that the run would need to be 60 feet instead of 50. Any thoughts on that or leads on a cable that length? My TV does have the audio input paired with the VGA input. - Those lengths should be fine. Run a stereo audio cable in conjunction with the VGA cable.

• I'm a little fuzzy on the TitanTV thing. Is that something that I need a subscription to? Does it pull the schedule directly from the OTA signal? - titantv.com is a web site that will provide you with a TV program schedule for your area. They have software that allows you to select programs to be recorded via the MyHD card from the webpage. You don't need a subscription but you have to create an account with titantv.

• Does the software that comes with the MyHD tuner card also allow me to access my music, pictures, etc from the PC to be played on the downstairs entertainment system? - No it will only work with the MyHD card and the files recorded or DVDs. It is not a complete multimedia system like Microsoft Media Center.

• Will I need to clone the computer monitor with my HDTV, or is the TV output separate from what is shown on the computer screen? - This is probably the hardest concept to get over to people. The MyHD card is not a PC video card. It is a tuner, (ATSC, QAM and NTSC) hardware decoder and HDTV video card. It was designed to output only HDTV video so as to be able to interface easily with ANY HDTV. Since CRT HDTVs make lousy PC monitors, it allows for the PC monitor to operate completely independently from the HDTV. There is a pass through connection supplied to allow the connection of the PC video card so that the PC video will be passed through to the HDTV for cases where the HDTV can be used as a PC monitor. If you have two outputs on your video card, you can also hook up a local monitor to the PC. Again, the MyHD card is not a video graphics card. You can more properly think of it as a HDTV set top box placed on a PCI card to plug into your PC to create a DVR.

• What is the functionality like using the remote at the TV? Can I do all I need to from there or will I need to go up to the computer and use the mouse/keyboard for some of the functionality? - I hardly ever use the remote as everything can be run from the keyboard. The card comes with a IR remote which would need a repeater to be used. I use a laptop with the VNC server/viewer software for the HTPCs with the MyHD cards for keyboard/mouse control, but my HP Media center PC I use the wireless keyboard/trackball that came with it. I really like the wireless keyboard. Here is a suggestion for one: Wireless Keyboard and Trackball.

• Just so I understand better, would the functionality of the MyHD system be similar to using a different tuner card and the Beyond TV software? - Similar only in the viewing, recording and playback of HDTV programming. It is not a multimedia system like Beyond and as far as I know it does not interface with any multimedia software. I use MusicMatchJukebox for my music files. Picture files I use ACDsee or Memories On TV.

Sorry to ask a bunch more questions, but I'm just trying to understand things better. Thanks for any additional input.

No problem. Your first post was in regard to turning your PC into a DVR. The MyHD card and software will do that, but it is not a multimedia system. There will be other software needed to get music and photo capabilities. I prefer that myself because the integrated systems tend to be somewhat limiting in their functionality. Please ask any other questions you may have.

What is a repeater? - An IR repeater has a sensor at the TV and emitters on the other end. IR remotes require line of sight which would be a problem for your installation to use the IR remote that comes with the card. An IR repeater would receive the IR signal downstairs and repeat the IR signal upstairs. For your application I would forget the remote control and use a wireless keyboard to control everything.

Also, for the wireless keyboard, would that need an IR receiver that would be connected to the USB port on my computer? - The wireless keyboard I recommended is a RF based unit so there is no line of sight IR at all. Yes there is a RF receiver that plugs into a USB port on your computer.

So, if I understand this right, the MyHD program has software that would only be visible and accessible from the TV screen, not from my computer screen... Does that mean that each time I reboot my computer, that I would have to reload the program from the TV? No big deal, I'm just trying to understand. - Actually there is a software interface that is available only from the TV screen, but everything can also be controlled from the wireless keyboard using the HDTV as the PC monitor via the pass through connection. Maybe that was not made clear. In your case most of the Vizio flat panels can be used as a computer monitor assuming the PC will output a compatible resolution. You didn't mention the TV model by the way and to be sure of the capabilities of the card, the exact manufacturer and model number of the card would be needed, but that information should be in the graphics card manual. So I would think that you could use the pass through connection to allow your computer screen to be put on the HDTV. Basically when you are watching TV, the MyHD card will be supplying the video and when you are not watching TV the computer display will be supplying the video. You can switch back and forth from TV to computer via the keyboard.

I'll look into the programs that you listed so that I can understand them better. Would those programs be accessible from the TV if it is connected using the VGA port on the MyHD card? - Using the pass through connection explained above, every thing the computer is capable of would be accessible via the HDTV screen, so yes they of course would.

What are the limitations of doing something like buying a Hauppauge tuner card, using a long VGA cable, buying the BeyondTV software and some extra RAM? - There is nothing wrong with going that route if you are sure the computer is capable of supporting that route. Again maybe the point bigloww made was not clear. The MyHD card is a completely self contained system and hardly uses the computer CPU at all for any of the HDTV processing. The only thing the CPU is used for with the MyHD card is launching and control of the MyHD application, accepting the streamed video data from the card and writing it to the hard drive and of course the recording task scheduling. And there is a relatively small task of creating the interface window on the computer display. But all of the heavy lifting is done by the card, such as decoding and video scaling and formatting. That is in contrast to the tuner cards that are basically only tuners. Those cards deliver the streamed data to the CPU not only for recording but for decoding as well. Some video cards will have the necessary decoders on them and I would imagine that your card would, but the beauty of the MyHD card is you can be assured that practically any computer will fully support it. As an example, I had one of my MyHD cards in a 900 MHz AMD computer with 512 MB of memory and it never missed a beat. My HP media center PC, which is a 3.0 GHz dual core, came with a ATI HDTV wonder card and it skips on ABC and FOX, both who transmit at 720p/60. I assume it is because of the high frame rate, but my MyHD card never misses a beat.

As far as the friendliness of those other software packages, they are more user friendly and are simpler to operate. Partly that is because they will do less than assembling multiple software packages.

So, using the pass-through connection, I could access iTunes or Windows Media Player for my music and similar programs for my pictures (or the programs the you mentioned earlier)? Am I understanding that correctly? - Yes that is correct.

Then the MyHD card output is only used for watching TV only. Recorded shows would be accessed by whatever software my computer has available for video files. Does that sound right? - The MyHD card will playback any files it has recorded. Also the transport stream files recorded are also compatable with most other video players such as, but not limited to, (WMP) Windows Media Player, PowerDVD and VLC media player. With WMP you have to tell it to play the files anyway for the first time and then thereafter they will play. It is better to use the MyHD card to play them though.

Other files, like wmv, ati, etc., that you download may not be playable via the MyHD software and card and those other media players are then used for them.