Video Card

[mr.crane]

would like to connect my coolsat pro to my computer, what is the best video card to use, and what else do i need to complete the setup. thanks

 

[Cascade]

Any of the inexpensive BT8x8 cards will work, Hauppauge make the WinTV cards, ATI make their own line - you should be able to pick them up at CompUSSR for around $50 or so.
The card is all you'll need, they usually come with software and S-Video/Composite inputs.

 

[mr.crane]

Any of the inexpensive BT8x8 cards will work, Hauppauge make the WinTV cards, ATI make their own line - you should be able to pick them up at CompUSSR for around $50 or so.
The card is all you'll need, they usually come with software and S-Video/Composite inputs.

thanks, so it has the s-video and composite inputs. that is what i am looking for that way also if i want to use an external dvd player i can go thru the audio/video inputs, i do not have that on my computer

 

[Cascade]

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=316264&pfp=SEARCH

$49.
Check on the side of the box to make sure there's S-Video/Composite in, the WinTV cards are well supported.

 

[mr.crane]

thanks, so it has the s-video and composite inputs. that is what i am looking for that way also if i want to use an external dvd player i can go thru the audio/video inputs, i do not have that on my computer

i am a noobie as per pci cards, what do you use the remote for! i noticed the hd picture, are you saying this will show channels on fta that broadcast in hd format?

 

[Cascade]

No, a budget card like that won't do HD.
The remote is for changing channels while watching regular cable or OTA TV, it has a TV tuner onboard.

 

[Shawn95GT]

While it is your money to do as you please, if you want to be able to watch and or record FTA on your PC you'd really be better off spending the money you would have spent on TV tuner on a PCI / USB DVB tuner. This would avoid the digital --> analog --> digital conversion as well as let you recieve FTA HD broadcasts. Of course the CoolSat on the TV tuner card gives you the ability to blind scan.

I have the ATI HD Wonder card and the CoolSat screen grabs I've posted were done by this card. This card lets me watch terrestrial HD broadcasts via it's ATSC tuner but it would not let me watch anything FTA in HD unless it was via the HD reciever's 480i downconvert. Note that the Coolsat definately doesn't do HD. My coolsat may end up just feeding the ATI card since it doesn't process or pass AC3 .

I'm still looking for a PC card / USB device that'd let me capture a component video HD stream.

<edit>
Keep in mind also that if you hook up a stand-alone DVD player to the video inputs it'll likely trigger the Macrovision protection and make the picture look terrible.
</edit>

 

[Tron]

Shawn, OTA (H)DTV is an upcoming project of mine. I grabbed 2 ATI HDTV wonders when the FCC was toying with the broadcast flag, and will probably put them in 2 separate PCs for recording DTV streams.

I've read in many forums that the ATI supplied software isn't that great. Do you use 3rd party software?

 

[Shawn95GT]

Shawn, OTA (H)DTV is an upcoming project of mine. I grabbed 2 ATI HDTV wonders when the FCC was toying with the broadcast flag, and will probably put them in 2 separate PCs for recording DTV streams.

I've read in many forums that the ATI supplied software isn't that great. Do you use 3rd party software?

I use the ATI software... and it is painfull.

There is a specific order things need to happen to even get it working. If you don't have an ATI video card you'll by lucky to get a video window to initalize. I traded even up my Geforce 3 (don't remember the exact model) for a 9800 Pro and that got me watching TV.

I re-imaged my desktop at least a half dozen times in the course of getting it setup. I think part of the 'trick' was getting the 'basic' drivers set for my 9800 Pro as the add-ins were stepping on whatever the HD Wonder was trying to do.

It isn't a complete POS but the software is pretty pitiful. This card isn't supported by Windows Media Center either

All that having been said, I'm glad I bought it. It got me hooked on HD.

 

[Stefan]

"I'm still looking for a PC card / USB device that'd let me capture a component video HD stream."

USB is out of the question for this type application as uncompressed HD video requires big time bandwidth that is even beyond the capability of USB 2.0. In fact for something like this youd need PCI-X or PCIE. Remember With HDTV tuner cards (either OTA atsc or DVB-S) the video is already compressed and packetized into a transport stream. Since the video's already compressed alot of bandwidth isn't required. To take analog component video, digitize it, and get it into your PC is going to either require a high bandwidth connection between the card and the system and a super fast system to be able to encode and compress it in realtime or a card with a very powerful chip onboard to compress the video in realtime before passing it over the PCI bus to the rest of the system. Anyway, a card to do this and a system that can handle it, is going to cost big bucks. They do exist. I've seen them, but they're not something that your going to be able to pickup for a few hundred bucks.

As to the subject at hand, I agree with shawn. Youd be better off to just pick up a DVB-S card. This would give you several advantages over just hooking your receiever to a capture card. Most importantly the card will give you capabilities your reciever doesn't have like HD and 4:2:2. I'd recommend a twinhan card as they work very well and wouldn't cost too much more than the analog capture card your thinking of buying.

 

[Shawn95GT]

"I'm still looking for a PC card / USB device that'd let me capture a component video HD stream."

USB is out of the question for this type application as uncompressed HD video requires big time bandwidth that is even beyond the capability of USB 2.0. In fact for something like this youd need PCI-X or PCIE. Remember With HDTV tuner cards (either OTA atsc or DVB-S) the video is already compressed and packetized into a transport stream. Since the video's already compressed alot of bandwidth isn't required. To take analog component video, digitize it, and get it into your PC is going to either require a high bandwidth connection between the card and the system and a super fast system to be able to encode and compress it in realtime or a card with a very powerful chip onboard to compress the video in realtime before passing it over the PCI bus to the rest of the system. Anyway, a card to do this and a system that can handle it, is going to cost big bucks. They do exist. I've seen them, but they're not something that your going to be able to pickup for a few hundred bucks.

Do you know what they are using for the consumer grade HD Camcorders? I'd venture to guess it's MPG2/4 or a big nasty AVI. MPG2 would make everyone's live easier transfering the content to DVD so I'm guessing that is what is used.

If a halfway decent MPG2 / whatever is HD Std encoder was integrated into the external box that connects via USB 2.0 / Firewire I think it could be doable.

The only thing I've found that'll do what I want so far is a D-VHS recorder. This is how many were able to record the Voom content in HD. The pricepoint isn't to be confused with cheap though .

Shawn

 

[Cascade]

The guy didn't ask for a DVB-S card, he needs a simple way of watching his Coolsat on his PC.

Let's not confuse him.

 

[Stefan]

The guy didn't ask for a DVB-S card, he needs a simple way of watching his Coolsat on his PC.

Let's not confuse him.

That's true and if he still wants to do this he can pickup any cheap analog capture card and get pretty decent results, but the reason we recommended a DVB-S cards is that by the time he pays 50 bucks for such a card as that, he be better off to spend $20 -$40 bucks more and get a good DVB-S card. Of course, it's his money and his choice, but at least he can make an informed decision by hearing other opinions on what the best value would be.

 

[mkm4]

Do you know what they are using for the consumer grade HD Camcorders? I'd venture to guess it's MPG2/4 or a big nasty AVI. MPG2 would make everyone's live easier transfering the content to DVD so I'm guessing that is what is used.

Do you know how much they cost? They list for about $3,000.

If a halfway decent MPG2 / whatever is HD Std encoder was integrated into the external box that connects via USB 2.0 / Firewire I think it could be doable.

You can do it now. If you have a few thousand to spend.

The only thing I've found that'll do what I want so far is a D-VHS recorder. This is how many were able to record the Voom content in HD. The pricepoint isn't to be confused with cheap though .

A D-VHS recorder doesn't convert analog to digital. It just records an already digital stream coming from whatever source.

 

[Shawn95GT]

I'll shoot you a PM as we're Waaaaaaay off topic .

Shawn