[mythtv-users] Is the pchdtv card looking good?

[Keith C]

You have checked http://www.antennaweb.org to see what you might receive
with varying size antennas, right?  I get 8 channels (well, seven, but
PBS has 2 subs) with a small antenna manually pointed with a compass at
towers 40 miles away, while my dad uses an amplified antenna with a
powered rotating mount to hit towers 80 or so miles away.  It's just a
matter of size and money :)

And if you don't get anything, let me know about the used pchdtv card.

Any reason you went with the Audio Authority over the Key Digital
converter?

Keith C

On Tue, 2003-09-16 at 22:11, Jarod C. Wilson wrote:
> On Tuesday, Sep 16, 2003, at 17:08 US/Pacific, Steele Price wrote:
> 
> > Comments and edits snips inline...
> 
> Likewise.
> 
> >> I'm sure many vendors think they'll end up having to deal with 
> >> support,
> >> and support staffs aren't cheap (even the bad ones). Some are also 
> >> very
> >> protective of their 'intellectual property', and aiding open-source
> >> drivers would make it much easier for the competition to figure how
> >> they do this and that, and could result in them losing whatever edge
> >> the might have had over other mfgs.
> >>
> >
> > Surely you jest :-)  I can't remember ever getting anything useful out 
> > of
> > either emails or phone calls to the asian mfg companies...
> 
> Hell, I usually can't even get anything useful out of American 
> companies...
> 
> >> Not quite. Let me qualify that. Terrestrial broadcast ATSC signals are
> >> terrestrial broadcast ATSC signals. Cable ATSC signals are cable ATSC
> >> signals. The two are not exactly compatible with one another, and a
> >> tuner designed for one won't work with the other, unless it is a
> >> dual-mode tuner (which most aren't).
> >
> > I suppose I should have have qualified that as terrestrial ATSC... 
> > since
> > neither the AccessTV, nor the MyHD pick up cable ATSC (that I am aware
> > of... and I don't have cable anyway.)
> 
> Gotcha. It was something I didn't realize until reading the pcHDTV FAQ 
> page AFTER I'd already purchased the card. I get squat for a broadcast 
> signal, but I do have HD cable, which is what I'd originally purchased 
> the pcHDTV card for. I haven't cancelled my order, because I'm curious 
> what I actually CAN get out here, because pretty much all the major 
> stations around here (Seattle) do broadcast in HD (including some that 
> aren't on cable yet). Hey, if I can't get anything, ya wanna buy a 
> slightly used pcHDTV card? :)
> 
> It still hasn't arrived...
> 
> >>> I
> >>> believe that saving a single stream is possible and could be very
> >>> beneficial from within software, It would be nice to see a stream
> >>> selection when HDTV really gets going so we can drop the lower 
> >>> quality
> >>> stream in transit(and vice versa) and just save the one we want, thus
> >>> saving LOTS of hd space.
> >>
> >> My understanding is that you actually can do this with the pcHDTV. Or
> >> at least, you can choose not to capture the unwanted audio streams 
> >> that
> >> are usually muxed in (i.e. SAP). I'm not certain about multiple
> >> resolutions of HDTV streams. Is it your understanding that there
> >> multiple HDTV resolutions broadcast for each HD channel? I thought it
> >> was just one, and any down-sampling was done at the client end... Or
> >> did I misunderstand what you were saying?
> >
> > I don't think you misunderstood.  I have saved MANY HD streams and they
> > all included 2 resolutions, 720p and 480i (this probably changes from
> > station to station)
> 
> 720p and 480i?!? Is that HD and NTSC on the same channel? From what I 
> can tell, all I'm getting over cable is 1080i HD, and those channels 
> are on different channels than normal TV (ex: 31 = ESPN, 173 = ESPN 
> HD). But of course, I have no way to capture these streams, so I can't 
> really be sure what the tuner (Motorola DCT5100; I've had it a week 
> now) is receiving. From what I understand, most HDTVs do 720p either. 
> Most are 1080i and 480p for HD and 480i for NTSC, while some do 720p, 
> and almost none do both 1080i and 720p...
> 
> > I have only capped streams in Phoenix on ABC and NBC
> > and both where the same, however, on NBC... The West Wing still looked
> > like crap... Why is one of the highest nielsen numbers shows broadcast 
> > at
> > the worst possible quality (here in Phoenix)
> 
> Is it possible it is broadcast in an HD format your TV doesn't like? 
>  From what I understand, a 720p broadcast would have to be scaled by my 
> tuner to display on my TV (I have a 1080i and 480p capable one; no 
> 720p)... I'd expect the picture would still be pretty good though. Are 
> all NBC HD shows that way? Perhaps the NBC affiliate in Phoenix just 
> doesn't have all the right equipment yet...
> 
> I got to watch my first Mariners game broadcast in full-out HD 
> yesterday. Un-freakin'-believable.
> 
> > I really will never
> > understand the mind of business people (and for the same reason, never 
> > be
> > a billionaire.)
> 
> Likewise... ;p
> 
> > I have yet to use transcode on an HD stream since I don't have any 
> > anymore
> > and I didn't understand transcode (the program) enough at the time I 
> > was
> > capping to use it.  It is my understanding that it works, and it works
> > very well as a matter of fact.  Trancode rates as you know wholly 
> > depend
> > on what your output is, I suspect that it will be a slightly longer
> > process than a normal 640x480 show, at least double, possibly alot 
> > more if
> > you do full resolution, though I really don't think you need to for
> > archiving, the nicest think about it is that there will be no need for
> > filtering to get a great transcode.
> 
> I'm going after 1920x1080, if I can ever get this stupid Audio 
> Authority VGA->Component adapter to do what I want it to do...
> 
> > I plan on 2 methods.  Method 1. Capping satstreams and transcoding them
> > with no resolution changes to xvid. and Method 2. Capping ATSC 
> > Terrestrial
> > signals and transcoding them untouched (except for commercial 
> > extraction)
> > to xvid.  hopefully these will be fully automated and just run 
> > overnight,
> > I wish we were starting summer right now so I could work all this out
> > before all the new shows start, but it might not take as long as i am
> > expecting.
> 
> Sounds like a plan, similar to what I'm hoping to do. We'll have to 
> compare notes. Now if I can just find a way to get the HD content from 
> my cable box into MythTV...
> 
> --Jarod