[mythtv-users] Re: recording HD content

Brad Templeton brad+myth at templetons.com
Tue Apr 12 08:47:58 UTC 2005


On Tue, Apr 12, 2005 at 01:34:57AM -0500, Neil wrote:
> Hi Joe, 
> Hmmm. I think, if we send out the HD stream via s-video, quality is already 
> degraded. Also, quality of s-video is just ok. Is there a way to preserve 
> it just like how we do it in Air2PC? Remember, s-video is analog. HD 
> content is digital. 

Not just that, s-video is NTSC.  It's SDTV, or slightly less actually.
It's not of interest to people who want HD.

> I would like to know if someone is doing this kind of recording. How is the 
> picture quality? But will it really be able record the HD content if the 
> receiver has an svideo out? 

Receivers that put out s-video either don't put it out for HD, or they down-convert
it to SD.  Not of use.

There are no capture cards for HD that don't cost studio prices (many thousands
of dollars.)   People sometimes call the pcHDTV-3000 and air2pc "capture cards"
but they aren't.  They are tuner/demodulators that let you record an already
digitized and compressed byte-stream and nothing else.


However, on the plus side, on my cable system (comcast bay area) they do provide
several HD channels in the clear over QAM.   Not just the locals, but also
ESPN-HD and Discovery HD, as well as some SD digital channels (OLN, History and
a couple of others.)

However, the bad news is, it could end at any time.  (the ESPN and Discovery)

Other people have been able to get boxes that put the HD out firewire.  Also
great, but also could end at any time.

The locals won't end (though they might drop to SD on the firewire) but the
non-locals could go away.


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