Thats good Ray. Thank you for the info.
Read carefully, I wasnt countering, just listing some other apps, like the thread title states ;)
and err, actually, none of the "apps" you have listed can
Things are never so black and white Ray ;) Not knowing what exists does not mean it doesn not exist[/metaphysical]
As you know, we try give a more fuller picture here, hence:
Referring to vista/w7 specifically, there are (at least) 3 rock solid options:
i) Using a server device('PC somewhere in the corner') with a network tuner such as the HD Homerun (
http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun) These actually work on every platform from Myth to MPortal, XP, Vista and W7(beta). You can't do it wirelessly with this specific model, but unless your running a 802.11n network, I wouldnt fancy your chances of a stable 1080i stream on 802.11g, esp if you live in a big place with brick walls and such.
If you're able to splurge on a 802.11n setup, you probably wouldnt be wanting to watch TV on your laptop, but on nice 1080p LCD/Plasma/OLED/Projection display...
In any event, to continue:
ii) If you need wireless and have a 802.11n setup, best go with the linksys media center extender (
http://www.linksysbycisco.com/ANZ/en/products/DMA2100) (which you can get for $95.00 USD) allows remote streming of live tv from the tuners over in your centralised media center pc. The wireless-n can handle 1080 broadcasts no sweat, and HDMI out gives you a dazzling pic on your TV. But the presence of older analog outputs(composite and s-video) means you can plug this gadget pretty much any TV(except really really old ones!!)
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc288/Astrotoy7/DMA2100-lrg.jpg)
Alternatively,
iii) You could use an xbox 360, which has built in media center extender functionality to stream live tv from your media center pc.
>Both of these above options plug straight into your TV, and are much cheaper than a lappie.
It all really depends on what your aims and budget are. If you are into gaming and already have a pc running vista, the xbox 360 gives you the most fun, with an almost effortless ease of setup. Something you cant easily say applies to a non Linux savvy user about Myth.
Mac users have the Apple TV (
http://www.apple.com/appletv/) option as well, though that relies on "on-demand" content from the net rather than internal tuner sharing ;) Some workarounds are abailable to extend the device's limited 'out of the box' functionality
There are also similar devices using linux floating around, particularly those using the xbmc platform, which were originally made to run of the first gen xbox. The XBMC project (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbmc) has since blossomed to include win and mac integration(though not as stable on latter as that phase of its development is relatively new)
mtfbwya