[mythtv-users] Anyone successful with HD3000 DVB andPVR-150/500's?

Greg Woods greg at gregandeva.net
Wed Sep 28 19:52:24 UTC 2005


On Wed, 2005-09-28 at 15:23 -0400, Joseph A. Caputo wrote:

> The HD-3000 really only makes sense if you're capturing a digital 
> signal.  

I now know this. Wish I'd known that when I spent money on the card :-)
Oh well, perhaps I will eventually have a legitimate use for it.

> You don't need to upgrade to digital cable to get that; you 
> could hook up an antenna and tune in free OTA local broadcasts.

True, but most HD content that I have access to is only on cable or
satellite, including some of the most important (to me) things (e.g.
ESPN HD which will soon have Monday Night Football). The problem, as has
been gone over in other threads, is that cable companies often don't
make the digital content available unencrypted and it is difficult to
find out what's available unencrypted without actually signing up for
digital cable (or getting access to a system at someone's house who
has). And if you have digital cable, you're most likely only going to
get the content to your computer over FireWire, which doesn't even need
a capture card (the signal is already MPEG-encoded). I don't know about
satellite, but if you're a cable customer, the only real use for the
HD-3000 is OTA. (Your mileage may vary; I have heard that *some* cable
companies make the digital signal available over coax or S-video
unencrypted).

> 
> If you have no intention of tuning digital broadcasts or digital cable, 
> then you're better off with a PVR-xxx (150,250,350,500).

That matches my experience. I'm using a PVR-500 and a PVR-150 now.

--Greg




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