[mythtv-users] OTA ATSC Down-convert to SD/S-Video

[Jacob Steenhagen]

Michael Donaghy wrote:
> If I buy a motherboard with on-board GPU with VGA, DVI, HDMI, SPDIF output
> & then add a PCIx16 video card with SVideo out, will the video signal be
> sent to the PCIx video card?  (once I upgraded TV+AVR, I'd de-commision
> the PCIx16 card)
>
>   
That's up to your computer. From what I've seen, most BIOS' will disable
the on-board video automatically when another video board is seen, but
this is independent of MythTV... Myth will send its signal wherever the
operating system tells it to. You may have to manually tweak a setting
in the BIOS, but other than that I don't see any reason that wouldn't work.
> Does MythTV have the ability to "down convert" a HD stream to SD?
>   
"Down convert" is probably a good way to put it.... it doesn't
necessarily down convert it so much as just plays the video in the
smaller window. I managed to find a profile that worked to play content
recorded as HD on my newly commissioned SD only frontend using an NVIDIA
5200 AGP card.

Having said that, if you don't have an HDTV now, I'd recommend
continuing to record in SD until such time as you get an HDTV (unless
you plan on keeping your recordings until then). You'll get no
additional benefit from the HD recording if it's played on an SD TV and
you'll have to deal with letterboxing on every recording. From what I've
seen, most stations are broadcasting both the HD signal and the SD
signal on different subchannels of their frequency.
> I've read that some nVidia cards are known to have overscan problems.  Do
> the binary nVidia drivers solve this problem?  If not, is there a solution?
> I'm confused by the conflicting(dated) information I've found so far.
> Remember, I need to send an analog signal via S-Video to a SD TV.
>   
My card has a problem where the signal doesn't fill the whole screen...
there's probably about an inch of unused screen space around both the
GUI and my video. I'm using the S-Video out and a 720x480 resolution. I
haven't played with it much yet to find the solution, but I'm sure
there's many who have. I'm using the proprietary drivers, so they don't
automatically solve the problem (though they may provide the means to do
it).

Sorry, I have no real input on any of the other questions.....

-- 
http://jacob.steenhagen.us

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