[mythtv-users] HD over FireWire Questions

Ian Forde ian at duckland.org
Sat Jan 14 22:55:59 UTC 2006


On Sat, 2006-01-14 at 15:58 -0600, Kichigai Mentat wrote:
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> Hello. I once read the thread about the advantages of using a HD  
> FireWire capture, even if you don't have an HDTV.

You don't actually have to capture HD channels.  You can also capture
standard-def channels.

> I'm curious, is there any way to make sure the captured stream is  
> scaled down to standard def (or at least 740x480)? I am using an XBox  
> as a front-end unit in my house, and I'm a little worried about using  
> it with an HD capture. I've heard that the XBox is incapable of  
> handling an HD stream (though I'm pretty sure I managed to play a  
> downloaded HD video in XBMC), and I'd rather not have to build a  
> whole new front-end box.

For HD recordings, you'd probably have to transcode the recordings
before playing them.

> At the moment, my back-end is a Celeron 650 MHz with 256 MB of RAM,  
> capturing with a Hauppauge PVR-150 off of an analog cable line. I'm a  
> little bit of a quality Nazi, and I considered looking into getting a  
> digital cable box (not just so I could get some of those digital  
> cable channels, but simply to clean up the incoming signal), and I  
> remembered the FireWire/HD thread.

If you're going to get a digital cable box, but not watch HD channels,
just run coax or RCA cables from the box to your PVR-150 instead.
That'll probably get you what you need...

	-Ian



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