[mythtv-users] Is the pchdtv card looking good?

[Jarod C. Wilson]

On Tuesday, Sep 16, 2003, at 17:08 US/Pacific, Steele Price wrote:

> Comments and edits snips inline...

Likewise.

>> I'm sure many vendors think they'll end up having to deal with 
>> support,
>> and support staffs aren't cheap (even the bad ones). Some are also 
>> very
>> protective of their 'intellectual property', and aiding open-source
>> drivers would make it much easier for the competition to figure how
>> they do this and that, and could result in them losing whatever edge
>> the might have had over other mfgs.
>>
>
> Surely you jest :-)  I can't remember ever getting anything useful out 
> of
> either emails or phone calls to the asian mfg companies...

Hell, I usually can't even get anything useful out of American 
companies...

>> Not quite. Let me qualify that. Terrestrial broadcast ATSC signals are
>> terrestrial broadcast ATSC signals. Cable ATSC signals are cable ATSC
>> signals. The two are not exactly compatible with one another, and a
>> tuner designed for one won't work with the other, unless it is a
>> dual-mode tuner (which most aren't).
>
> I suppose I should have have qualified that as terrestrial ATSC... 
> since
> neither the AccessTV, nor the MyHD pick up cable ATSC (that I am aware
> of... and I don't have cable anyway.)

Gotcha. It was something I didn't realize until reading the pcHDTV FAQ 
page AFTER I'd already purchased the card. I get squat for a broadcast 
signal, but I do have HD cable, which is what I'd originally purchased 
the pcHDTV card for. I haven't cancelled my order, because I'm curious 
what I actually CAN get out here, because pretty much all the major 
stations around here (Seattle) do broadcast in HD (including some that 
aren't on cable yet). Hey, if I can't get anything, ya wanna buy a 
slightly used pcHDTV card? :)

It still hasn't arrived...

>>> I
>>> believe that saving a single stream is possible and could be very
>>> beneficial from within software, It would be nice to see a stream
>>> selection when HDTV really gets going so we can drop the lower 
>>> quality
>>> stream in transit(and vice versa) and just save the one we want, thus
>>> saving LOTS of hd space.
>>
>> My understanding is that you actually can do this with the pcHDTV. Or
>> at least, you can choose not to capture the unwanted audio streams 
>> that
>> are usually muxed in (i.e. SAP). I'm not certain about multiple
>> resolutions of HDTV streams. Is it your understanding that there
>> multiple HDTV resolutions broadcast for each HD channel? I thought it
>> was just one, and any down-sampling was done at the client end... Or
>> did I misunderstand what you were saying?
>
> I don't think you misunderstood.  I have saved MANY HD streams and they
> all included 2 resolutions, 720p and 480i (this probably changes from
> station to station)

720p and 480i?!? Is that HD and NTSC on the same channel? From what I 
can tell, all I'm getting over cable is 1080i HD, and those channels 
are on different channels than normal TV (ex: 31 = ESPN, 173 = ESPN 
HD). But of course, I have no way to capture these streams, so I can't 
really be sure what the tuner (Motorola DCT5100; I've had it a week 
now) is receiving. From what I understand, most HDTVs do 720p either. 
Most are 1080i and 480p for HD and 480i for NTSC, while some do 720p, 
and almost none do both 1080i and 720p...

> I have only capped streams in Phoenix on ABC and NBC
> and both where the same, however, on NBC... The West Wing still looked
> like crap... Why is one of the highest nielsen numbers shows broadcast 
> at
> the worst possible quality (here in Phoenix)

Is it possible it is broadcast in an HD format your TV doesn't like? 
 From what I understand, a 720p broadcast would have to be scaled by my 
tuner to display on my TV (I have a 1080i and 480p capable one; no 
720p)... I'd expect the picture would still be pretty good though. Are 
all NBC HD shows that way? Perhaps the NBC affiliate in Phoenix just 
doesn't have all the right equipment yet...

I got to watch my first Mariners game broadcast in full-out HD 
yesterday. Un-freakin'-believable.

> I really will never
> understand the mind of business people (and for the same reason, never 
> be
> a billionaire.)

Likewise... ;p

> I have yet to use transcode on an HD stream since I don't have any 
> anymore
> and I didn't understand transcode (the program) enough at the time I 
> was
> capping to use it.  It is my understanding that it works, and it works
> very well as a matter of fact.  Trancode rates as you know wholly 
> depend
> on what your output is, I suspect that it will be a slightly longer
> process than a normal 640x480 show, at least double, possibly alot 
> more if
> you do full resolution, though I really don't think you need to for
> archiving, the nicest think about it is that there will be no need for
> filtering to get a great transcode.

I'm going after 1920x1080, if I can ever get this stupid Audio 
Authority VGA->Component adapter to do what I want it to do...

> I plan on 2 methods.  Method 1. Capping satstreams and transcoding them
> with no resolution changes to xvid. and Method 2. Capping ATSC 
> Terrestrial
> signals and transcoding them untouched (except for commercial 
> extraction)
> to xvid.  hopefully these will be fully automated and just run 
> overnight,
> I wish we were starting summer right now so I could work all this out
> before all the new shows start, but it might not take as long as i am
> expecting.

Sounds like a plan, similar to what I'm hoping to do. We'll have to 
compare notes. Now if I can just find a way to get the HD content from 
my cable box into MythTV...

--Jarod

-- 
Jarod C. Wilson, RHCE

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