[miniz]

Hello everyone. I need a way to input pre-tuned (from an HD cable box or HD satellite receiver) HD by at least component into my HTPC. I have been reading and people say that there is a way to do it, but is costs too much. they don't give me any name of a card that can do it. How hard would it be to make a PCI card that has a DVI or compoent input, then all you need is to connect it to an HD video card? I don't see why this isn't already out on the market. I don't want a card that tunes digital/HD cable or one that tunes OTA HD.

~I also would like to know if there is some way to make my ATI ALL-IN-WONDER 9000PRO card I have now record digital audio with my down- converted HD feed with surround sound. ATI is no help and I can't find any way to do it. I just inslalled a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum to get digital outputs, but I want to take advange of the surround sound and record it.

~thanks in advance for anyone who replies!

 

[miniz]

bump.

 

[almostinsane]

Its all about available bandwidth. There just isn't enough available with todays PC's and their 33mhz bus. There are a few cards available for the Mac but I believe they are all 66mhz cards.


The cards have to take the decoded HD stream and re-encode it back in real time. This takes a ton of bandwidth.

 

[stanger89]

Not to mention the huge amounts of HD space required for uncompressed HD.


In order to record HD, you'd need something similar to the WinTV PVR 250 that takes analog video and encodes it to MPEG2 in HW.

Here's one , and it only costs $40,000 .

 

[almostinsane]

Here's a few more:

Kona

Voodoo

Adrenaline


Here's an article on HD editing that outlines all the cards above and their relative costs. All are about $7K and up.

HD Capture Cards

 

[miniz]

what is SDI? I have never seen it before. why can't they just put a DVI input or compoent input? how much do those 3 cards alrady on the market or coming to the market soon cost? I forgot to mention, I need one for Windows XP, not Mac OS X like most of them say they mainly support.

 

[jkaiser]

SDI = Serial Digital Interface. Unfortunately, I don't think standard SDI is what you are looking for since it is 480i. HD-SDI get you back into the high price land (KONA).

 

[miniz]

cost on the HD capture cards? do they all have DVR software with them?

 

[stanger89]

almost insane mentioned $7k+ for all of them.


Those are all professional cards, not inteded for HD recording/PVR/home use. They are unsupported by any PVR app I'm aware of. They are designed for HD Content Creation.


There is no way to record analog/uncompressed HD, at least from a consumer/PVR perspective.

 

[miniz]

so, I should just sit around and wait for computers to catch up to the set-top HD DVR?

 

[HookedOnTV]

Quote:

Originally posted by miniz so, I should just sit around and wait for computers to catch up to the set-top HD DVR?

A set top box is only the decoder. The encoder is at the providers end. Massive and very expensive (ok, maybe not massive). You need an encoder. Do some googling to better understand what you are asking for.

 

[miniz]

isn't a set-top HD DVR encoding the signal to record it? thats what it seems to indicate on google.


can anyone help me here -"I also would like to know if there is some way to make my ATI ALL-IN-WONDER 9000PRO card I have now record digital audio with my down- converted HD feed with surround sound. ATI is no help and I can't find any way to do it. I just inslalled a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum to get digital outputs, but I want to take advange of the surround sound and record it."

 

[stanger89]

Set top DVRs, at least the HD ones, just take the already compressed signal and write it to the HDD.

 

[miniz]

anyone? help on the second problem?

 

[miniz]

anyone?

 

[midi-guy]

Basically, you're going have the same issues as the HD video, as you probably don't have the right equipment needed to do this.


I assume that you're running ATI's MMC. FWIW, you're getting what you paid for as far as that piece of s/w is concerned.


Capturing AC3 audio digitally can be done with an audio card that has a digital input (S/PDIF or Optical) and driver support for AC3 recording.

Additionally, the PVR software must be able to record AC3 - i.e. not just to a stereo wave file.


I am not aware any PVR software that records AC3, but it's possible that one exists.

 

[whmills]

I have found a capture card that doesn't have a TV Tuner, but does have in/out Component Video plus s-video and Stereo sound.

The card is DV Win Plus 3070 MPEG-2 Video Capture Card.


It is made by Aviosys. I have e-mailed the sales Dept to find out what the bandwidth is of the component connections but have not had a reply.


I will probably use this card for my HTPC, but have not ordered it yet.


My System is:


Dish Network 6000 Receiver

Denon 4800 AV Receiver

Sony LCD RPTV 50WE610

Sony DVD Player

 

[miniz]

wow, I would like to hear more about it, but I bet is only accepts SD digital in.

 

[whmills]

Since I've had 3 posts, maybe I will be permitted to tell you where you can get more info on this card.


Go to dvd-supply.com and at the upper left under product index,

click on the "MPEG-II Encoder" and that will take you to a page where

you can see the "DV Win Plus Proffessional DV Video capture card"


It is the 3070 card with DV to DVD/MPEG-II Encoder


I'm anxious to hear if anyone has seen or used this card.

 

[whmills]

miniz


That's why I sent an e-mail to Aviosys to find out what the video bandwidth

is for the component connections and circuitry.


I'll post when and if I hear anything further.


I have component video cables connecting all the equipment mentioned in my previous post. My Denon AV receiver also does component switching

of the various inputs(now only Dish 6000 HD and DVD Player.) The TV is a 728P unit and it shows Discovery HD from dish network just great.

I suspect that if I had a 1080i TV that I would notice some degredation in picture quality because of the lower bandwidth of my Denon Component circuitry. But the 728p picture of discovery HD is really detailed.


I'm very pleased with my setup so far.