[mythtv-users] Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick

[Carl L. Gilbert]

On Thu, 2008-05-22 at 23:06 -0400, Raphael wrote:
> jedi wrote:
> > On Thu, May 22, 2008 at 09:15:03PM -0400, Dan Ritter wrote:
> >> On Thu, May 22, 2008 at 08:02:33PM -0500, jedi wrote:
> >>>     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.
> >> I take it you've forgotten about the OTA broadcast stations
> >> which send 8VSB ATSC in any standard format, including 480i and
> >> 480p?
> > 
> >     Yes, those are HD stations that can downgrade their signal because
> > of the inherent flexibility of the HDTV tranmission standards. That
> > means that you will be employing an HD tuner rather than an SD one.
> > 
The "tuner" does not care if the encoded stream represents SD or HD
data.  In fact, if I understand how ATSC works, then some stations
package HD and SD together in the same transport.  So the HD is "tuned"
if you will, but then its simply not shown in SD only ATSC boxes.

So tuning and encoding/decoding are separate.

> >     If the US were more like Europe then the digital cable signals
> > that have been in use for more than 10 years here would be tunable 
> > with something not unlike a European DVB card.
> > 
Its no mistake that the US is not.  Similar reasons for having separate
currency.  Stupid DVD region encoding.  Different cell phone standards,
etc.  Where the US and Europe share standards the US has trouble.  US
company has hard time explaining why the US versions are more expensive
and more crippled...



> > [deletia]
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> 
> Cross out "HD tuner" and put "digital tuner" in it's place. The stations 
> are not "HD". They are digital, broadcasting a digital signal. Sometimes 
> the resolution of the transport stream in the digital signal meets a 
> certain specification at which point we call it "HD", because this 
> resolution is higher than SD.
> 
> A digital station can broadcast content that is either HD or SD. It is 
> not a HD station that downgrades HD to SD content.
> You use a digital tuner to tune to and record a digital station. The 
> tuner doesn't care about what the resolution of the video is. The tuner 
> has no clue if it's recording HD or SD, it's dumping digital video to 
> your hard disk, that is all.
> 
> Since people keep talking about the US from time to time, here is the 
> definition of what a digital channel is in the US, from the FCC's mouth.
> http://www.dtv.gov/whatisdtv.html
> Note the use of the word abbreviation DTV channel everywhere, not HDTV 
> channel. Also note how it states that DTV doesn't care about the 
> difference between SD, ED, or HD.
> 
> Also note this point from the FCC glossary page: "Note: HDTV and digital 
> TV are not the same thing -- HDTV is one format of digital TV."
> 
> I would imagine that in other countries the same idea applies: digital 
> means digital - HD is merely a digital format.
> 
> raphy
> 
> P.S. If this sounds pedantic please excuse me - felt that some of the 
> thread needed clarification at times.
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