[mythtv-users] HDTV - PVR: Does it work?

[Brandon Beattie]

On Wed, Jan 21, 2004 at 10:25:36AM -0800, Ian Neubert wrote:
> Brandon Beattie wrote:
> >>
> >> >I also made the mistake of buying an MDP-100...  DIE TERALOGIC DIE!!!
> >>
> >> Seriously, I don't get why this thing is so freakin expensive either. To
> its
> >> credit though the MDP-120 has a good HDTV tuner, I was able to get
> perfect
> >> picture & sound when it claimed 30% signal strength.
> >
> >I wonder if 30% is really 30%...  So you know, it takes about 70% for a
> >good signal on the pcHDTV.  I'm 15 miles from most towers and run
> >through 150 feet of rg6, a 3-1 splitter and still get 92-95 signal
> >(Never using any amplifier... And it was a $20.00 radio shack Yagi UHF
> >antenna (Mounted outside is the key)
> 
> Thanks for the tips. I'm not really sure what that 30% means, I really doubt
> it means that it's only recieving 30% of the stream, as it's playing back
> 1080i + DD 5.1 without any percieved loss. Who knows.

30 is a signal strength.  (What % of all the data being sent you are
receiving).  If you get less than 70 with the pchdtv card you loose
video and audio data (Video becomes blocky or drops out and audio
scratches or drops out every few minutes to few seconds depending on how
far below 70 or so you are.  The signal strength needed depends on the
mpeg2-ts that each station sends out.  The more redundant data they send
the better chance of getting enough data to correctly display and play the
media.  Even with 99% if you just happen to loose several iframe packets
in the mpeg2 stream you're video will be partially corrupted for those
few seconds.  With about 92-95 signal I get a 2-3 seconds of noticible 
stream corruption for about every 10 hours of recording.  (If you've
ever watched a dirty DVD and see odd things happen to the video, this is
what you'll see on HDTV as well).

--Brandon


> 
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