I am planning to refurbish (or replace) my 16' Paraclipse dish which has been out of service for the last 4 years. My main interest is PBS HD which is not available OTA in my area (Puerto Rico). Neither are the other networks' HD programs (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX) but I don't expect those to be part of any subscription package. Still, I can get the other HD channels through cable and / or Dish Network so PBS HD is what interests me the most.
I plan to put my 4DTV receiver plus HD box back into use and have just come accross this thread. I know very little about DVB but this sounds very exciting because I am also putting together an HTPC and I had just given up on the possibility of recording HD programs from PBS. So if you'll excuse my ignorance, here are some questions:
1. Could I use my 4DTV setup to move the dish and then tune FTA channels with the DVB World (or a DVB card)? Dish positioning seems to be some kind of an issue with DVB (I may be wrong).
2. I suppose video will output through my graphics card's HDMI connection with the advantage (over 4DTV) of not being converted to analog and back to digital at the projector. AC3 audio will be available at my audio card SPDIF jack or on-board connection. Right?
3. I understand some DVB cards accept some kind of subscription card but this is incompatible with Direct TV and unavailable from DISH Network. So are there any advantages of DVB cards over DVB World? I suppose the DVB World unit uses software tuning as it connects over USB. Since I have only bought my HTPC case I can plan around this but how much CPU power would be needed to watch and record 1080i simultaneously? Any picture quality advantages over hardware-assisted tuning?
Thanks so much for your help!
Luis
I plan to put my 4DTV receiver plus HD box back into use and have just come accross this thread. I know very little about DVB but this sounds very exciting because I am also putting together an HTPC and I had just given up on the possibility of recording HD programs from PBS. So if you'll excuse my ignorance, here are some questions:
1. Could I use my 4DTV setup to move the dish and then tune FTA channels with the DVB World (or a DVB card)? Dish positioning seems to be some kind of an issue with DVB (I may be wrong).
2. I suppose video will output through my graphics card's HDMI connection with the advantage (over 4DTV) of not being converted to analog and back to digital at the projector. AC3 audio will be available at my audio card SPDIF jack or on-board connection. Right?
3. I understand some DVB cards accept some kind of subscription card but this is incompatible with Direct TV and unavailable from DISH Network. So are there any advantages of DVB cards over DVB World? I suppose the DVB World unit uses software tuning as it connects over USB. Since I have only bought my HTPC case I can plan around this but how much CPU power would be needed to watch and record 1080i simultaneously? Any picture quality advantages over hardware-assisted tuning?
Thanks so much for your help!
Luis
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