[mythtv-users] migrating to HDTV

Brad Fuller bradallenfuller at gmail.com
Wed Nov 12 00:29:43 UTC 2008


On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 3:55 PM, Dr NoName <spamacct11 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 1. AFAIK the external HDTV tuner that you can get for a standard TV takes
> over channel switching, which means that I can't really use the PVR card in
> the myth box any more: it would essentially be locked to whatever channel
> the external tuner is set to. Correct?

You can use an IR Blaster to change the channel. Since most ATSC
converter boxes have video composite out, you could output the
video/audio to your capture card if you have a card like the PVR250
that has composite in.

> 2. I am looking into getting pcHDTV card, since I hear it's the most
> Linux-compatible, but I am concerned about performance. Until now this was a
> non-issue since PVR card does on-board MPEG2 encoding. Does pcHDTV do that
> or is the stream encoded in software?

There is no encoded needed since the ATSC stream is already in MPEG2.
Also look at the HDHomerun. I have both and like the HDHR better.


> 3. Playback performance is another issue. Will 1920x1080 work on my current
> box? I hear NVdia cards have playback acceleration but it's not well
> supported. What's the deal with that? I currently output S-Video to my TV,
> so I guess it would have to scale it down in real time.

If you get an nVidia card with XvMC then you might get by with your
current setup. All my nVidia cards have been great and have included
this feature. There is a webpage on the MythTV wiki that has info
about XvMC.

> 4. What about cable? Is pcHDTV antenna-only or can I also record from cable?
> (unencrypted channels perhaps?)

If you are already on cable, oyou can continue using your cable since
the 2009 conversion if for OTA only.


> 5. Can I use the current antenna for HD or do I need to buy a new one?

It depends on your antenna of course. There really is no "special"
antenna for ATSC. Most broadcasts will be in the UHF band, but a few
will move into the VHF bands. You'll have to be more specific on the
antenna that you have and the area that you are in.



-- 
Brad Fuller


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