Hi all,

I'm wondering: If I get a digital cable solution, and I record a tv-show on a HDD/DVD recorder via a scart cable (cause none of these recorders have digital inputs from what I understand), how will the picture quality be when I play back the recording on an LCD TV?

I mean such a recording would basically be analog, right? (Since it was via scart). So would the picture quality be very poor on an LCD, so poor in fact that I would be better off with a CRT TV?

Hope my question makes sense. :-)

(It's a little urgent for reasons I won't bore you with, so I hope someone will reply.) ;-)

Cheers.

Check this post for some info on recording a digital channel via an analog cable feed and playing on a LCD, which is similar to what you asked... except for the SCART. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12298382&postcount=8)

Run a firewire cable from your digital cable box and save your HD programs to your computer in their original HD format.

Play them back from there.

- or -

Edit the HD programs into parts, if necessary, to fit onto standard DVD media (single or double layer) and burn them. They will playback in HD using an HD-DVD player without difficulty. (There is a thread somewhere which gives blow by blow instructions. Let me know if you can't find it.)

I think most people agree, when recording a HD program via the digital tuner, you will get a nice picture on the DVD. Defiantly better that recording the same program off of SD cable. It has been described, and I agree, as SD lite. Or quite similar to a commercial DVD, vs again a SD recording, which pales by comparison.
I have a digital tuner DVDR playing on a 720p Panasonic LCD TV, and get a far better picture than if I play the DVDR on my 4yr old Sony analog TV.
On the Sony, I can hardly tell the PQ improvement of the digital DVDR, but on the Panny it's very evident. Note my Sony CRT is NOT HD, only SD, but does have component inputs.

Larry, I have a 56" 720p DLP TV, and sit about 8 feet away from it. I find that a SD program, recorded on my Pio 640 in SP, using a S-Vid connection, is barely distinguishable from the original. In fact, most people can't see the difference. So, it looks fine. If you record a HD source, downrezzed to 480i (or the PAL equivalent), it will look better still. If you can get an output that provides a 16x9 HD picture, squeezed to 4x3, so you can record an anamorphic DVD, the PQ will be virtually as good as a commercial DVD.


Hi all,

I'm wondering: If I get a digital cable solution, and I record a tv-show on a HDD/DVD recorder via a scart cable (cause none of these recorders have digital inputs from what I understand), how will the picture quality be when I play back the recording on an LCD TV?

I mean such a recording would basically be analog, right? (Since it was via scart). So would the picture quality be very poor on an LCD, so poor in fact that I would be better off with a CRT TV?

Hope my question makes sense. :-)

(It's a little urgent for reasons I won't bore you with, so I hope someone will reply.) ;-)

Cheers.

I have a 56" 720p DLP TV, and .... using a S-Vid connectionYou are aware that an 'S-Vid' connection is total crap and does not pass any signal greater than 480i, right? You are never going to see any difference! Why on earth would you feed a 720p TV with an S-video cable?!

You are aware that an 'S-Vid' connection is total crap and does not pass any signal greater than 480i, right? You are never going to see any difference! Why on earth would you feed a 720p TV with an S-video cable?!

You misunderstand me. I use the S-Vid cable to connect the SVHS VCR to the DVDR, (through an AVR), for dubbing purposes. I have DVI, component, and S-Vid running to my display. I use the S-Vid to the display to monitor things in the PIP.

So, if S-Vid is "total crap," what does that make composite? :D

Dessicated crap, maybe? :eek:

kj,

Great reply. I could only hope that I would respond with such a polite and restrained response to a post when confronted with such uncalled for rudeness. I'll spot that the previous poster "misunderstood" you (but I think it was also possibly the result of carelessness in not carefully considering the context of your post), but even so there were any number of better ways the previous poster could have made his point regarding s-video quality without lashing out with the underlying assumption that you were clueless and his zeal to confront you and shove it in your face. Really poor form from an apparently knowledgeable and experience poster. Probably uses :rolleyes: icon frequently in postings... ;)

Strange that an experienced poster would make such a newb error, and be so rude about it. Makes you wonder if it was somebody else using his account.

Anyway, I find that I get pretty good recordings on the 3575 from S-Video input from my digital HD satellite receiver. When I record a 16:9 HD program in anamorphic mode, and play it back on my Panasonic 1024x768 plasma TV (HDMI connection), I can see that it's slightly fuzzier than the original HD from my normal viewing position. But not a lot worse - it certainly doesn't bother me for time-shift viewing. Since there's no way to record true HD, that will have to do for the moment.

Here's some sample frame captures from such a recording if you'd like to see what they look like (captured on PC from the DVD recorded on the 3575): http://rapidshare.com/files/63217455/Frames.zip
The FrameDVD in the same zip file is an example of what a non-anamorphic wide-screen DVD movie frame from a commercial DVD looks like for comparison.

Dessicated crap, maybe? :eek:Sounds about right. ;)

Since there's no way to record true HDThis is simply incorrect!

In message #2 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12851353#post12851353) of this thread I mentioned how to record "true HD" from your STB/SAT onto standard DVD media for playback on an HD-DVD player. I do it every day.

Here is a direct link to the Official AVS Guide to HD DVD Authoring thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=705146) to save you time looking.

Or one could simply archive HD content to hard drives. With the right service provider and the right STB there is no PC or HD DVD authoring required. And it is actually simpler than archiving in SD to DVDs. In this case no DVDs required.

I use the Dish ViP722 DVR for this. I record to the DVR internal HDD (500GB) and then transfer to external USB HDDs. It is a feature of the STB. The ViP 722 allows for an unlimited number of external HDDs so archival space is of no concern. You playback content from the external HDDs. The archived content is in its original HD resolution and retains 5.1 sound - without the hassle of PC authoring etc. And no HD DVD player is required.

You do lose portability but if I want portability I just record to DVD using a SD DVD recorder from the archived HD material . Because the source is in HD the resulting PQ is excellent.

This will be possible without a Dish subscription using OTA when the Echostar TR-50 is released next July. The Echostar TR-50 will also allow for archiving to external HDDs and playback from external HDDs via USB.

This is simply incorrect!

In message #2 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12851353#post12851353) of this thread I mentioned how to record "true HD" from your STB/SAT onto standard DVD media for playback on an HD-DVD player. I do it every day.

Yes, I read that, but you are wrong when you say that I could use this means to "record true HD from your STB/SAT". I live in Canada (as apparently you do to from your sig). None of our Canadian SAT/STB providers support Firewire output, as it is not a mandated government requirement in Canada. Certainly my Starchoice HD sat system does not.

you are wrong when you say that I could use this means to "record true HD from your STB/SAT". I live in Canada (as apparently you do to from your sig). None of our Canadian SAT/STB providers support Firewire outputWell, yes, I am in Canada and I do this every day with my Motorola STB. All the Motorola HD boxes have Firewire output.

You may well be right about satellite in Canada - I don't know.

Thanks for your replies. Much obliged. :)

I'm probably not going to get HD anytime soon, but from your posts I take it that SD would look fine too. (?)

Kjbawc, you mean the digital signal is carried from the reciever into the HDD/DVD recorder via a scart and the result looks almost indistinguishable from the original?

Cheers.

Perhaps cavu has been using cheap s-video cables. There is a difference in cables; I am very happy with the Premium grade S-video from cablewholesale.com, modest prices, and I've run 300 feet camera to mixer.

I've also run side-by-side tests using firewire, s-video, and composite concurrently from the same camera, Sony VX2100 thru a DataVideo SE-800, dv-out to dv-in Panasonic EH55, component out to a 15-inch HiDef Polaroid tv as monitor. We did some slow wipe transitions, with the non-surprising result that we detected no difference between
dv and s-video; composite was inferior to both the other inputs.

Not surprising; dv output from the camera is 520 lines/inch, s-video typically 400, and composite around 270 lines per inch. By using the concurrent outputs from the same camera, we wanted to hold as much constant as we could, same optics, same lighting, same settings.

Does firewire pass high def signals? Thought we had to go HDMI for that.

Well, yes, I am in Canada and I do this every day with my Motorola STB. All the Motorola HD boxes have Firewire output.

My understanding is that all the major digital cable companies in Canada, particularly Rogers and Shaw, disable the Firewire output on their Motorola tuners. I also understand that many people have hacked the firmware to re-enable the Firewire port, but the cable companies have also started implementing copy control restrictions that prevent premium channels from being recorded by this means.

Kjbawc, you mean the digital signal is carried from the reciever into the HDD/DVD recorder via a scart and the result looks almost indistinguishable from the original?

Cheers.

You asked about recording from a digital cable box to your DVDR . In the US, we don't use SCART. I believe that is the equivalent of our S-Video, + R&L audio. I use that from my cable box, to my AV receiver, to my DVDR, for recording purposes, because that is the best connection available. For connecting a DVD player for playback, I use HDMI, or component cables, to the TV.

If you have a good quality DVDR, record in SP or better, your recordings should look as good, or very nearly as good, as the SD original broadcast. A good SD signal looks fine on my TV, but of course not as good as a HD signal. But, some HDTVs don't handle SD as well as others. So, your recordings should be fine on a LCD TV, just check how well it handles SD in general, before you buy it. But, personally, I am sold on DLP. I think it looks the best, holds up the best, and is priced the best.

My understanding is that all the major digital cable companies in Canada, particularly Rogers and Shaw, disable the Firewire output on their Motorola tuners.:confused:

I am on Shaw, my Motorola boxes are not hacked and I have never had any issues recording anything through the firewire port.

I am on Shaw, my Motorola boxes are not hacked and I have never had any issues recording anything through the firewire port.

Reports vary widely, e.g. see http://www.discovervancouver.com/forum/Motorola-PVR-DCT-6416-Sh-t122088.html or http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=76682&highlight=firewire

I'm not on Shaw, so I can't say for sure. But I've certainly seen many people complaining that they can't record HD via Firewire.

Perhaps you should address issues where you actually know what you are talking about. Why you continue to debate this matter when you have nothing but heresay is a mystery to me!

As I stated, I use this method (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=403695) daily on stock Shaw gear with excellent results.

BTW, there are no 'mods' to Moto boxes involved and, to my knowledge, there are no mods to Moto boxes - period.