[CALUG] [Fwd: Re: Digital TV Tuner card]

[Danyelle Gragsone]

I know you need a high res monitor.

On 9/22/05, Dave Dodge <dododge at dododge.net> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Sep 21, 2005 at 12:24:31AM -0400, Rajiv Gunja wrote:
> > a. To receive digital channels, I need a PC card like the HD3000
>
> You need some sort of digital tuner; the HD3000 is the most common
> tuner with working Linux drivers.
>
> > b. I can receive and view HDTV channels on my PC. (Dont I need a monitor
> > which can do HD lines (1080i or something like that ?)
>
> The system should be able to scale the video to fit your display.
> Bear in mind that HD pictures have 16:9 aspect ratio, so they have to
> be scaled anyway for most computer monitors. Also, 1080i video is
> designed to be displayed interlaced, which is something else the
> system will have to deal with since most computer video is not
> interlaced.
>
> The HD3000 captures the compressed bitstream from the transmitter; it
> does not provide any assistance with decompressing that bitstream into
> a viewable picture. For HD resolutions and bitrates, decompression
> requires a lot of work and a high fill rate.
>
> So you'll probably also need a relatively fast machine and video card,
> with drivers that support hardware motion compensation (XvMC). Recent
> NVIDIA models with their binary driver should work (BTW: NVIDIA broke
> high-resolution DVI support in the 7664 release and I don't think
> they've fixed it yet)
>
> > c. With this card, I can receive channels which are over the air (
> ofcourse
> > with an HD-Antenna)
>
> An "HD-Antenna" is just an ordinary UHF TV antenna. But unlike analog
> UHF, the signals don't handle degradation, reflections, or
> interference very well, so you'll need an antenna that gets you a
> solid signal. You usually either get a perfect picture or a blank
> screen. The size and quality of the antenna required depends on your
> location and the surrounding terrain.
>
> > and decode any HD Channels I get via Comcast.
>
> You'll only be able to view the unencrypted ones. And because cable
> uses a different modulation scheme (QAM instead of 8-VSB) you might
> need a different driver than the one normally used with the card. It
> would be a good idea to look through the HD3000 forums before buying
> anything:
>
> http://pchdtv.com/forum/
>
> As I mentioned at the LUG meeting, I've managed to use the HD3000 for
> S-Video capture (for example from a VCR or Playstation), but it was
> not very easy, and most capture tools can't get a picture from it at
> all. The driver also seems to be unable to provide the full sampling
> resolution of the card's analog chipset, so the picture quality (again
> analog, not digital) is not as good as it might be.
>
> -Dave Dodge
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