right now, i'm only getting analog channels. if i get another box will it give me the digital ones as well? maybe i have the connection wrong? the cable is going through the tv port. should it be s-video?
I believe your TV card, AVerMedia UltraTV 1500 MCE, is an analog TV card. As such, it can only receive analog TV signals. Digital cable TV signal must go through a cable box in order to be converted to analog signal, so it can be fed into TV set or VCR or, in your case, a TV card.
So it is like this:
Digital Signal -> Cable box converting it to analog signal -> TV card converting it back to digital so your computer can play/record it. It sounds backwards, but that is the only way. Your TV card is designed to receive only analog signal, and convert it to digital signal on a computer.
I am not aware of any TV card that can receive digital cable programming, but there are TV cards that can receive over-the-air HDTV signal.
Back to your situation, I believe that you will be able to receive digital channels independent of what your husband receives on his VCR once you have a second cable box. However you should ask your cable company about it.
You will not be able to switch channel using your AverMedia card. You switch channel using the cable box.