The cable company encrypts digital HDTV signals. In order to use digital HD cable, something has to decrypt the TV signals and display them. Normally, the set-top-box provided by Time Warner fills this role.
To replace the STB, you need a Windows 7 PC with a CableCARD capable tuner.
A CableCARD is essentially a hardware description key provided by your cable company. A tuner uses it to decode the signals from the cable coming into your house.
A lot more information about CableCARDs is on WikiPedia
There are very few CableCARD capable tuners on the market right now. Only one can process up to 4 streams in parallel - The Ceton InfiniTV 4. It comes in USB or PCIe, and can be had for around $200 on Amazon or newegg. This hardware is the core of this project.
You will also need the CableCARD itself. This is provided by the cable company. At my location, it costs $2 a month to rent.
Time Warner also uses Switched Video, which requires something called a tuning adapter. At the time of this post, Timer Warner will provide one to you free of charge upon request.
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