[kdmorse]

Someone pointed out the MYHD-120 to me the other day, and I immediately began drooling (well, not really) because I had no idea such a beast existed. Last time I looked, there were no PCI Tuner cards that took HD input at all (or I missed them all completely).


After reading many threads, I get the impression that the folks here generally like the card, even if it's software seems to be in a perpetual beta cycle - which I can live with. But before I jumped on it, I wanted to make sure it was the right card for what I want, or if perhaps something else was better.


In my case, I don't care about HDTV output. I watch most TV on a LCD monitor connected to a PC dedicated to the task. I don't need component out, or even HD** out, as I plan on simply watching things within a window on the PC. Native DVI out may be handy, and the MYHD-120 has an add-on card that works nicely. Audio output would all be up to the PC, which has a 5.1 speaker setup.


Input wise, I'm wondering if there's anything out there with Component In, in addition to a ATSC tuner. I need inputs more than I need outputs, and the ability to connect the HD output of a HDTivo when it arrives, or just a HD Sat box now would be a big plus. I don't see any ability to do Component In on the MYHD-120 - which is why I'm wondering if there's some other card out there that might suite me better.


If not - I'll start with the MYHD-120, since it's not a bank-breaker like some other solutions are.


Any advice would be welcome...


Thanks,


-Ken

 

[jkaiser]

MyHD-120 may not be right for you if your computer is towards the high end. There is the Fusion card that uses your video card for output.


For cards with their own outputs, there is the AccessDTV, Hipix, and MyHD 100/120. The MyHD is the only one with a DVI option. I doubt that you will see much difference if your LCD can accept VGA over DVI on a small screen.


None of the HDTV cards have component inputs. Except for the Holo3DGraph version 2 with optional card, for normal users there are no PCI cards at all that accept HD Component. You would probably be better off with a video switcher.

 

[mdryja]

Component video input is Hard and Expensive, for reasons I don't particularly understand.


I'm using the MyHD 120 card as a temporary hdtv "set top box" until DirecTV HD Tivo arrives later this spring. I've been very happy with the card. I get great signal reception, and everything works. I originally bought a higher-end proc so that I could use the Fusion card, but the demo didn't work on my system, hence MyHD. Ultimately, I think this was the better route to go, as it taxes the proc less, so that I can do other things on this computer (streaming mp3's around the house) while watching hdtv, without any probs.