[mythtv-users] Any sample HDTV files available?

[Michael T. Dean]

On 10/02/06 17:42, Tony Di Bona wrote:

> My Mythtv system continues to perform well after a few months of use 
> -- before undertaking the effort to upgrade its capability to include 
> HDTV (new tuner cards, other hardware as needed) I thought it would be 
> useful to load and play a sample HDTV file with my current configuration.

If those cards you're thinking of getting are the pcHDTV cards, check 
out http://pchdtv.com/downloads.html at the bottom of the page.  If 
you're looking at another brand, check out that vendor's web site for 
sample clips.  (I'll let you grapple with the ethics of downloading a 
test clip from/using bandwidth paid for by a vendor whose product you 
have no intention of purchasing,)

Also, beware of the 1080i/p videos you find online from any site that's 
not attempting to sell you an HDTV capture card.  Many of the videos 
(especially movie trailers) are actually 1920x816 (2.35:1) as opposed to 
1920x1080 (16:9 = 1.777778:1).  They have only 75% the number of video 
pixels per frame as a 16:9 1080i/p video.  And, to make matters worse, 
many are 24 frames/second (fps) as opposed to 30fps (which is what 
you'll get on TV--1080i60 is 60 fields/second interlaced, which makes it 
30 frames per second, so it's exactly the same number of pixels as 
1080p30).  So, a 1920x816 video at 24fps has only 60% as many 
pixels/second as a 1920x1080 video at 30fps.

Mike