[mythtv-users] Newbie question: Best HDTV capture device to minimize load?

[Brad Templeton]

It's quite common to see people talk about HDTV "capture" cards but in fact all the
HDTV cards that work with myth are not capture cards in the way the analog TV
capture cards are.  Those cards capture an analog signal and convert it to digital
and often encode it.

The HDTV cards don't capture an analog signal.  Rather they really just receive a
pre-encoded, pre-compressed digital stream.   Think of it more like a modem or ethernet
card "capturing" from your DSL line or wires.   Or just consider it a "tuner" card.

None of them take any CPU of any significance.

There is a dream of making an actual HDTV capture card, which would record
analog or DVI signals and encode them.  This would require cutting edge hardware.
The cards that exist today are thousands of dollars, and marketed for studio
use.   A consumer HD capture card would be wonderful, and may come soon, but
they are not here yet.  Chances are unless the hardware is very fancy such cards
may only do some of the compression and lots of CPU would also be needed, but
one can hope.