[mythtv-users] hdtv file size?

[Mike]

Jesse Guardiani wrote:
> Mike wrote:
>   
>> I believe HDTV is broadcast as compressed MPEG from the get go. So you 
>> won't really get anything out of a hardware encoder on a digital signal. 
>> All the cards and decoders do is tune to the stream and decrypt QAM or 
>> 8VSB. (when I just record..... I get almost no CPU overhead... I get it 
>> all when I try to play it back)
>>
>> Let me put it this way.... If you took your PVR-350's streams and 
>> stacked them together to makeup the space filled from say a HD-3000... 
>> how many times would its screen fit into the HD screen?
>>
>> 1hr show from PVR-350 2.2gig (extreme engineering)
>> http://dustsmoke.com/images/pvr350.jpg
>>
>> 1hr show from HD-3000 QAM_256 1080i 6.3 GB (window to the sea)
>> http://dustsmoke.com/images/hd3000.jpg
>>
>> Seems to be about the right size to me...... If anything, its a little 
>> better than I'd expect it to be for this particular show.... (of course, 
>> Windows Media Player Classic seems to mess up the proportions a bit when 
>> capturing screenshots for me.... but this is just to give you an idea....)
>>   
>>     
>
> So your prediction is that mpeg-4 hardware re-encoders will never exist 
> for hdtv? 

I wouldn't say that they will never exist..... There always might be 
'some' reason to convert them to something else on the fly...

> Or at least, not
> OTA or QAM HDTV?
>   

OTA/8VSB and QAM are just the means of transporting the raw mpeg stream 
to you.... Its all the same once you've receive it.

> I suppose that might make sense, since there'd be some quality loss.
>   

Thats my thinking. If its already in a compressed HD format that all HD 
equipment plays, why would you want it in anything else? Digital isn't 
like Analog where you actually have to digitize it first..... The real 
importance this time around is actually the HD decoders, not the 
encoders. I guess we'll see what happens with that if anything. 
Otherwise we just wait until the raw power becomes mainstream so we can 
treat it like the SD sized media of today.

-Mike

-Mike