[mythtv-users] HD5000 now working with QAM256; not many channels

[Steve Adeff]

On Thursday 17 November 2005 15:26, Len Reed wrote:
> Thanks for you reply.  I was hoping to get some information of the type
> you provided.
>
> Mplayer did note that there was AC3 sound in most of these streams,
> though I didn't bother to cable things up to see that it had actual 5.1
> content.  (The Sempron machine that I'm playing with this on doesn't
> have enough power to play things in MythTV; I scp'ed the *.mp2 to my
> Xeon workstation and played them there.)

from my understanding, ALL HDTV uses AC3 for audio since it can handle 
1.0-7.1.
HDTV will normally be 2.0 or 5.1, same bitrate for both though, so yes, 2.0 is 
better sound quality than 5.1! I don't know if this can be changed such that 
in the future the bitrate can go up or if its fixed in the standard. It would 
be nice to have a higher bitrate for 5.1 content, and possibly the pay-for 
HDTV channels do? I wouldn't know I can't get them via 5C =(


> You're right that the 4:3 content inside the 1080i frame looked way
> better than normal NTSC.  I attributed that, though, to getting pure
> mpeg2 instead of digital cable -> cable box -> composite NTSC -> PVR250
> -> mythtv.  It would seem that they could just send 480i or 480p
> digitially and get the same result, but maybe changing formats all the
> time isn't a good idea.

right, they don't change formats, trust me I've captured a few 4:3 framed 
1080i content and played around (ie I cap aforementioned cartoons). the video 
is definitley 1920x1088. It's nice because for things like sporting events 
that don't get broadcast in true HD (read futbol, ie MLS on ABC, and ESPN) 
you get a good bit more detail.

> I'll try azap over the weekend and later firewire as I move toward
> implementing things.  I don't yet have an HDTV, but hope to do that
> soon.  I'm not going to drop the $1000s for it until I'm satisfied that
> I can control content.  (I'd rather watch NTSC when I want then HDTV as
> a slave to the networks.  Two years of MythTV and hundreds of Gigabytes
> of cheap disk space have spoiled me.)

Yea, I need to buy a  new Firewire card. Beware of the VIA firewire chipsets, 
they don't do the DCT6200. 
I bought one of the Walmart Sanyo 32" HDTV's. I think their $600 now. Not 
great, but it got me in the game =)

Steve