It's gotten to the point where PC based DVRs just can't compete - the quality of the capture cards on the market are a joke at best (I've tried various Hauppage, Pinnacle, and Matrox models), there is a cat and mouse game going on with capturing content (i.e. CableCard - only certified system builders can even get their hands on a card with the capability, thank you content providers and MS), no HD capture from a device (OTA only, unless someone has gotten the only true HD capture card I know of - the Intensity from Black Magic - to work with any OS's media playback in real time), the OTA HD receivers work OK *IF* you can get decent reception from an antenna (digital bites most people here - bad reception in analog looks crappy, bad reception in digital gives a black screen) and the broadcaster is actually broadcasting HD (digital does not HD make), QAM support in capture cards is sorely lacking (nah, we don't need to tune any digital cable channels, really), even the quality of analog capture is hit and miss depending on the card and the rest of your hardware/drivers.
I gave up on capturing TV on a PC - I've tried MythTV, MS Media Center, and SageTV with different capture cards - none looked as good as the boxes from my sat and cable provider. The only thing I use my HTPCs for is to watch/listen to the DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray/CD collection stored on my media server, granted this is enough, just the ability to pick a movie from the menu without having to hunt the disk down is great. James -----Original Message----- From: general-bounces at brlug.net [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Andrew Baudouin Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 11:43 AM To: general at brlug.net Subject: Re: [brlug-general] mythtv box IMNSHO, digital OTA tuners are beyond useless at this time. Any decent content requires CableCard, which we all know is locked in to certain vendors and Windows. THe cable companies have now priced PC DVR's out of the market with their $5.99/mo HD and premium content capable box rentals. Even MythTV now requires a $20/year Schedules Direct subscription. On Nov 20, 2007 10:53 AM, c.a. weisheit <carl70448 at yahoo.com> wrote: > I was using a card I already had around the house. You get what you pay for. > if you have a better tuner card for $13 please post the link for the rest of > us. > I also said I was looking at digital cards. I plan to upgrade very soon. If > I am going to spend more money on a card I want it to work beyond the next > two years. > > > Andrew Baudouin <andrewmb at gmail.com> wrote: > um, stop right there.... WinTV Go (BTTV) lacks hardware MPEG-2 > encoding, so your cpu will be wasted on that. In addition, the > quality of their analog tuner lags far behind that of the PVR (ivtv) > models. > > > On Nov 20, 2007 10:08 AM, c.a. weisheit wrote: > > for ed and others who asked about the mythtv box I brought to monday > nights > > meeting. This is the tuner I used. now selling for $13 > > > > http://www.surpluscomputers.com/store/main.aspx?p=ItemDetail&item=CRD10186 > > > > > ________________________________ > Get easy, one-click access to your favorites. Make Yahoo! your homepage. > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > General at brlug.net > http://mail.brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > > _______________________________________________ General mailing list General at brlug.net http://mail.brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.1/1141 - Release Date: 11/20/2007 11:34 AM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.1/1141 - Release Date: 11/20/2007 11:34 AM
