How can I get digital cable into my PC?

How can I get cable TV on a PC with on demand youtube videos overriding the cable feed?

• My doctor, knowing I'm a computer guy, asked me if the following was possible. I'm sure it's possible but I'm also sure the problem has been solved many times. I describe my proposed solution below but I would like to hear about existing solutions or any alternative ideas. Here is the request. A tv must be kept running in the waiting room at all times in order to comply with HIPPA regulations. (the TV sound prevents patients in the waiting room overhearing conversations between the staff and other patients). The doctor would like an automated system to periodically show short videos on various health topics on this TV. For example, he would like to show the "swine flu" video every 15 minutes and the "introducing our staff" video every hour. The solution I came up with is to use a pc with a card that allows the cable TV feed to be routed through the pc to the tv. The videos would be uploaded to youtube, or something similar, and software, driven by a simple configuration file, would open a new viewer window, resize to full screen, and use the youtube link to show a video at the appropriate time. The video window would close when the video finished and those in the waiting room could once again watch Oprah. Is there a better way to do this? Are there commercial solutions that the doctor could purchase and install without any assistance from me? Are there serious problems with my solution?

• Answer:

  Using VLC and a TV card could possibly achieve this. VLC supports input from TV capture cards. A repeating playlist could be setup to show the TV card input for x minutes, followed by a swine flu video, followed by another x minutes of TV, etc. This all relies upon VLC being able to play an input source for a set period, which I assume is possible/scriptable. Perhaps someone can confirm? Edit: Ah yes, indeed http://mailman.videolan.org/pipermail/vlc/2004-October/009131.html.