I have an ATI All-In-Wonder 9000 Pro video card on my PC. It has a CATV in (& video in) & a DVI-I Dual-link out. I've been using the DVI-I to VGA adapter but now my new (refurbished) monitor, a 21" CRT IBM P275, has a DVI-I Dual-link in. I have DVI-I Dual-link cable to connect the AIW to the monitor. (I also just ordered, from ATI, a DVI-I HDTV component adapter.) I understand that the AIW DVI-I Dual-link out is analog & that the monitor DVI-I Dual-link in is also analog.
I'm thinking of upgrading from analog cable TV to digital cable TV (Comcast). Digital cable costs $12 per month more & gives extra channels & HDTV is an extra $5 on top of that. The main reason to upgrade would be for the supposed improved digital clarity of the video.
One person told me: "The All-In-Wonder won't read a digital signal from cable, or over the air for that matter. It is analog only. Digital cable channels appear in frequencies the card won't tune to, and it has no way to decode them."
Another said: "You won't have any issues as the digital box has already decoded the signal for you. Any digital channels will look fantastic on your monitor, even over the analog viewing limitations of your card. Analog channels, which, in most cases, are any of your basic stations, will look better, but not superb. Once you run the cable (coax) from the digital box CATV out into the CATV in on the TV video card, you are done. After that, all you need to do is start the video card software and tune it to channel 3. You change channels through the digital box with the remote that came with it."
My questions: 1) Since it's going through analog connectors on both ends of the AIW & the monitor, will there be any advantage or improvement by upgrading to digital cable TV? Or is person #2 correct?
2) Since the way person #2 describes it, it sounds like I'm bypassing the All-In-Wonder card, to a certain extant, especially as far as tuning is concerned, does that mean that the ability to record TV, which is now part of the AIW software, will no longer work? Sound like it.
3) What about adding HDTV? Is that possible & if so, where would it plug in to? Could I use the DVI-I HDTV component adapter just for the HDTV &, so as not to lose the video recording capability of the software, just get analog cable instead of digital cable & run that into the VGA input on my monitor & switch between them? BTW, I know that digital cable also offers recording capabilities, but from what I've read, it's very problematic & the climbing costs are starting to get out of hand - $88 plus taxes,etc. Any ideas, advice, feedback?