[laggytoad]

I apologize if this is common knowledge or if it has been answered previously...


I am interested in building my own PVR type HTPC for simply recording OTA HDTV broadcasts and playing them back on my Samsung DLP (which converts everything to 720p).

However, I am new to HDTV and am a little confused so far on recording it to a hard drive and sending the signal to the HDTV.

Any advice on hardware and software possibilities? I have decent experience building typical PC's.

I am not really interested in archiving, I just need enough Hard Drive space to save 2 or 3 hours of HDTV shows at a time.

5.1 sound playback would be nice.

Recording one program while watching another is not necessary.

Can I use my current Samsung HDTV receiver to stream (component Y,P,P or RGB with coax or optical for audio) directly to a HTPC and then play that stream (component) directly to the DLP ?(which has Component, DVI and standard monitor inputs)


thanks in advance for any helpful suggestions!

 

[PVR]

Composite signals are not HDTV.

To get HD into your PC to record you need one of the following:


#1: An external ATSC tuner with an IEEE1394 output going to an IEEE1394 card on your PC. (Use DVHStool software)

or

#2: An ATSC PCI tuner card for your PC like MYHD or Fusion

or

#3: A USB2 ATSC tuner like this: http://www.usbhdtv.com/


Then you will need your PC desktop to run in a 1280x720p mode

(try "Powerstrip" software if it isn't a native display format for your VGA driver.


Hopefully the Samsung DLP can accept VGA input from your PC.


Alternatively, you might be able to send recordings back out through IEEE1394 to an external STB hooked to your display.


Read more on the forum to get more details.

 

[laggytoad]

thanks for the links and your time.

I was a little foggy last night (reading too many posts that were over my head I suppose) while posting and mistyped composite instead of component. sorry about that. I edited the original post to fix it.


I apologize again for my limited Multimedia knowledge, but I need a few more answers:


DVHSTool will 'record' HDTV OTA broadcasts straight to a hard drive?

Will it turn around and 'stream' the file directly to my DLP without further encoding/decoding?

Is the saved file actually HDTV quality (1280x720 or above?)

Are the software programs that come with tuner cards and usb tuners PVR-like enough to schedule programs to record ahead of time and can you easily view saved program names for later reference?

What format will the HDTV audio be saved as, and will it 'stream' to a Denon receiver or would I need to run it through a PC sound card first? If so, do you have any suggestions for sound cards?

Will the audio still be 5.1? (assuming it was broadcast as)


I'm sure I will think of more questions later ;-)