[mythtv-users] Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick

[Raphael]

jedi wrote:
> On Thu, May 22, 2008 at 09:15:03PM -0400, Dan Ritter wrote:
>> On Thu, May 22, 2008 at 08:02:33PM -0500, jedi wrote:
>>>     SD digital is never going to get anywhere near your computer if you are
>>> in the US. It's going to go through some sort of STB first. By the time it
>>> gets to your computer it will be analog again.
>> I take it you've forgotten about the OTA broadcast stations
>> which send 8VSB ATSC in any standard format, including 480i and
>> 480p?
> 
>     Yes, those are HD stations that can downgrade their signal because
> of the inherent flexibility of the HDTV tranmission standards. That
> means that you will be employing an HD tuner rather than an SD one.
> 
>     If the US were more like Europe then the digital cable signals
> that have been in use for more than 10 years here would be tunable 
> with something not unlike a European DVB card.
> 
> [deletia]
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Cross out "HD tuner" and put "digital tuner" in it's place. The stations 
are not "HD". They are digital, broadcasting a digital signal. Sometimes 
the resolution of the transport stream in the digital signal meets a 
certain specification at which point we call it "HD", because this 
resolution is higher than SD.

A digital station can broadcast content that is either HD or SD. It is 
not a HD station that downgrades HD to SD content.
You use a digital tuner to tune to and record a digital station. The 
tuner doesn't care about what the resolution of the video is. The tuner 
has no clue if it's recording HD or SD, it's dumping digital video to 
your hard disk, that is all.

Since people keep talking about the US from time to time, here is the 
definition of what a digital channel is in the US, from the FCC's mouth.
http://www.dtv.gov/whatisdtv.html
Note the use of the word abbreviation DTV channel everywhere, not HDTV 
channel. Also note how it states that DTV doesn't care about the 
difference between SD, ED, or HD.

Also note this point from the FCC glossary page: "Note: HDTV and digital 
TV are not the same thing -- HDTV is one format of digital TV."

I would imagine that in other countries the same idea applies: digital 
means digital - HD is merely a digital format.

raphy

P.S. If this sounds pedantic please excuse me - felt that some of the 
thread needed clarification at times.