[mythtv-users] Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick

[jedi]

On Thu, May 22, 2008 at 12:59:44PM -0400, Carl L. Gilbert wrote:
> On Thu, 2008-05-22 at 10:23 -0600, Brian Phillips wrote:
> 
> > Mike Perkins wrote:
> > > jedi wrote:
> > >> 
> > >>    ANY digital capture solution is going to be simpler because it
> > >> doesn't have to digitize anything. I am not sure there is such a
> > >> thing as a "digital SD card" (DVB excepted). SD capture cards aren't
> > >> just capturing the incoming video, they are also digitizing it since
> > >> the stream is coming in as analog.
> > >> 
> > >>    In the US this would even be the case for "digital SD". It's going
> > >> to hit your system as an analog stream and get re-digitized.
> > >> 
> > >>     An HD capture card doesn't have to do much work really. The data
> > >> is already in a format suitable for computer consumption.
> > >> 
> > > Nope. Digital is digital, SD or HD, end of story. It does not hit

    SD digital is never going to get anywhere near your computer if you are
in the US. It's going to go through some sort of STB first. By the time it
gets to your computer it will be analog again.

    The first "open standard" digital TV in the US was intended to support
High Definition from the start.

    The reason that HD and digital get confused in the US is that it came
as a package deal. 

> > > your system as an analog stream, so does not need to get encoded. As
> > > I am in the UK, I don't have precise details of the

> > >> thing as a "digital SD card" (DVB excepted). SD capture cards aren't

> > > encoding/multiplexing methods used by ATSC, so I can't possibly
> > > comment on whether or not a digital tuner card will be able to do
> > > both HD and SD, or if there are only SD cards.     
> > 
> > The confusion comes because SD has the connotation of being an analog
> > signal.  We sometimes forget to mention that 480i/p can be considered a
> > digital SD signal.  But that is the question we're asking of Carl L.
> > Gilbert.  What device is he referring to that markets itself as an SD only,
> > digital capture card?
> 
> 
> I understand HD vs. SD and analog vs. digital.  I know HD is always
> digital but SD can be either or.  I have not see any digital device

Actually, with the new Hauppauge box coming out HD can be analog now.

> marketing itself as SD only, but I have seen digital devices marketing
> themselves as "HD."  And there is a section in the Myth documentation
> about HD cards and they are treated seperately.  So at first glance to
> me, calling a digital capture card "HD" is seeming like a marketing
> thing.  I am not here to tell anyone how it is, I just don't know.  I'm

    In the US they are a package deal. If it's a digital capture card then 
it's going to have support for HD channels and HD streams. The HD signals
you can get from the various broadcasters are going to be the obvious 
marketing hook.

> trying to learn enough to know how to formulate my question so it makes
> sense to people who do know.  So forgive me if I don't make total sense.
> 
> 
> 
> > 
> > We should also remember that even though QAM and ATSC carry digital signals,
> > they are modulated with a carrier frequecy and the symbol  signifigance
> > depends on the phase and amplitude of the signal at the sampling instance.
> > For all intents and purposes, they are an analog signal.  They just carry
> > modulated 1's and 0's.
> 
> 
> OK, but as far as the end user is concerned, the signal that comes out
> is MPEG? which can be stored directly?

   Yup. MPEG2 transport streams.