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Making the HDTV Vision Quest?
"Granted an 8' foot wide front projection system is probably over kill for my bedroom, but the heart wants what the heart wants. For now I have had to be content with XGA and SXGA DVD playback from my 300 Mhz Dell Laptop. So far, the results appear better, than the best HDTV setup I have seen playing progressive scan DVD, so I am anxious to get to the next level, now that HDTV is supposedly finally rolling out in my area.
As an aside, I have noticed that broadcasters are transmitting in a range of resolutions from 480p to 1080i, but all the HDTVs I have seen for sale are 720p or lower (although 720p on 720p looks pretty sweet).
NVIDA mentions the need for a digital TV tuner with compressed transport stream and software decoder.
ATI I think needs MST (MPEG Stream Transport)
With the booming market in Graphics boards, one would think they'd be falling over themselves to provide HDTV solution information, but a site search of ATI, only gives HDTV details by way of a press release, and comes up short on how to best get the job done.
The plan is to buy a 2ghz+ system with DVD RW-/+ from Dell with Window XP (I have no desire to be a Linux pioneer on this project), and drop everything in and have it working within a few minutes. Easily converting my back video collection is a high priority with this project (though a AIW9700 would be overkill for this, and perhaps overkill for HDTV as well) and having a decent digital video recorder to time shift both HD and Analog TV shows. I would also like to have multiple monitor outputs so I can web-surf and watch HDTV on my big screen at full res at the same time (without annoying hiccups). I am not a really a gamer (anymore), so again, perhaps the AIW9700 is overkill (as well as being pricey), though it seems to have all the other essential features I crave (though earlier model AIWs should have them as well). With this kind of size and resolution, I may wish to get back into flight simulators again and getting back into gaming is not out of the question."
Try www.avsforum.com for shitloads of info. In particular, the HTPC forums. There are several other HDTV cards out there (I don't follow it since OTA HDTV isn't in my area yet) and lots of advice on what type of hardware/software to consider.
Good luck.
I have one of these and the hardware is nice,
but the software is more or less useless. The
last update on their site is from April 2002,
so it looks like they have just given up on it.
BTW, what is Quad XGA? Why would you want 4
times the headache-inducing interlaced 1024
line mode?
You are going to be a pioneer on this one.
Time shifting of HDTV requires moving a LOT
of data. If you have an infinite amount of
money and can hack well, the WinTV-HD would
actually be a good start - just buy the
driver source code and make it work properly.
If anyone is interested in trying this, let
me know.
I don't get the whole super-duper mega-super-size TV craze, anyhow. I mean, it's just TV. You're just sitting there, being immobilized and spoon fed artificial ideals by observing make-believe stories and/or lives of media-friendly commercial-pimping characters in some fabulously unrealistic plot. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to set my TiVo to record Friends while I watch Survivor...
@sshatrack
1) Go to the AVS Forum's HTPC section
2) Start reading.
The people there have already come across every issue you will encounter. They're extremely helpful. It's an absolutely invaluable resource.
Once you get your HDTV setup working, be sure to visit their HDTV section, especially the HDTV Programming section.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
I have gone down the same path. The WinTV-HD seems to be the only viable PC solution. My goal is to build a silent PC to hook up to my home theater.
:-)
I want to build my own TiVo-like solution, but am not willing to invest in anything that does not record HD signals.
On the gaming front, I have suffered a serious blow to my PC-ego. I am playing Metroid Prime on my son's GameCube with progressive (480p) 16:9 output (via component-video cable purchased from Nintendo) to my 34" (16:9) Sony HDTV. It also has Dolby II Stereo pumping through my 5.1 sound system. It is as intense and refreshing as I remember Half-Life. Just don't tell my friends that I'm playing on a GameCube.
"No matter where you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai
will keep you busy for Days. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/ There is a whole section devoted to HTPCs That has the answers and then some!!
TIME is the Aether...
I went on this same quest several months ago, and I too was completely disheartened by what WinTV had to offer, and the other option you mentioned was pushing a monthly fee (what kind of BS is that?)
One you didn't mention was:
http://www.cinefx.com/mdp100.htm
which I was THIS CLOSE to breaking down and buying, but after spending many many hours researching the currently available products, my logic centers were able to win out over my instant-gratification centers. As much as I don't want to wait, I honestly believe the best advice to those who are close to making the HD leap would be: wait the 6 or 8 months until the big name TV manufactures have competing lines of all-in-one televisions sets that have fully integrated high-def tuners.
http://www.prolink.com.tw/new_web/products/multime dia/PlayTV%20HD_new.htm
Jesus used to be my co-pilot, but we crashed in the mountains and I had to eat him.
I can't answer your question for you. But have you checked out the AVS Forum? Their Forum on Home Theater Computers should be just what you're looking for because a specialized forum should be able to give you better information than this forum. The AVS forums are very well populated and you should be able to find someone who can answer your question over there.
How many mouse nuts does it take to make 12 pounds of mouse nuts?
The folks over at Avsforum should be able to answer any other questions you have. There's a group of people there who write open source software for the Hipix so no DRM on the HDTV shows you record!
Wait.
- article-digital-home-video-2-2002.html
Don't spend the big bucks now; stick with the resolution you have. The industry is in chaos and your solution might not work so well with mandated encryption for broadcast TV. According to this article, it'll be illegal to decrypt broadcast video (unless at STV resolution, or output thru DVI using HDCP encryption) anywhere but inside the display device:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_9_1/feature
Why dont you get a sat dish from DirecTV or DishNetwork (subscribe or pirate depending on budget and ethics) and use one of the HDTV receivers they have, I know DirecTV has a couple of HDTV receivers that support DVI/D-SUB out as well as the standard component and s-video. Just plug that directly into the projector, there are only a few channels that are broadcasting HDTV right now, but the difference is pretty noticeable, especially on a nice projector. My boss just got a 9 inch 3 chip DLP installed in his house (130" screen) and HDTV looks schweet on there. I prefer CRT's for the color though.
(B) + (D) + (B) + (D) = (K) + (&)
The Home Theater Computer forum at AVSForum has a ton of info. I use the MyHD card for HD tuning & recording. Another poular one (w/ psuedo-open source code) use the HiPix
There are other choices, definitely stay away from the Hauppauge, their founder died and it seems that with his passing so has any passion for HDTV.
The MyHD card is an excellent choice though. It has active software development and currently has support for recording both ATSC (HDTV) and NTSC - most similar cards only do ATSC because it is easy - it is already in MPEG form off the air.
All cards, except the AccessTV are one-way only. You can either record/watch incoming HDTV or play recorded HDTV but not both at the same time. The Access card essentially has two cards in one and comes the closest to tivo-like functionality, but they are known for flakey software and taking up two slots and being hot.
All of the cards (except the WinTV-D, the predecessor to the WinTV-HD) are based on the Janus ATSC decoder chipset. Janus, recently purchased (by Oak Technologies?) has never been, and still isn't, interested in supporting linux driver development. Programming specs are only available under tight NDA...
Check out the HDTV forums and the Linux HTPC forum at avsforum for lots of talk about this kind of thing. Beware, avsforum has been growing by leaps and bounds and their server is in need of an upgrade (seems like they upgrade at least every 6 months), so it is probably a little slow and might come to a halt under the mighty gaze of slashdot...
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
As an aside, I have noticed that broadcasters are transmitting in a range of resolutions from 480p to 1080i, but all the HDTVs I have seen for sale are 720p or lower (although 720p on 720p looks pretty sweet).
Every HDTV I have seen has suport for 1080i. Very few have support for 720p. 720p is primarily used for sporting events, most programming will be in 1080i. I believe Toshiba's support 720p in addition to 1080i, but for the most part, they support 1080i (720p is converted to 1080i or 480p) in the HDTV realm and 480i/p in the DTV realm.
I have the Panasonic 53WX42, and can garuntee it supports 1080i. It's absolutely goregeous.
If you try loading up a Dell PC with HDTV gear (card, extra hard drive(s), etc) you're likely to overload their weak power supplies (250W on a P4?!), at which point you'll probably think you can just swap in an Antec 550W from your local toy store and be on your way. Think again. Dell uses a nonstandard pinout on their ATX power supplies for no good reason.
If you must buy a prebuilt machine from a big vendor, MicronPC offers a better than average component selection, including industry standard 300W ATX power supplies (which is still low by my standards but better than most other big vendors) and nVidia nForce2 motherboards. I still custom build my PCs though.
FWIW, I have an AccessDTV card in my dual CPU Athlon rig. They've shaken most of the bugs out with the latest beta software. There's no Linux support though. I'm not aware of any HDTV card that's Linux-friendly (anyone?). There's a neat 1024p mode that works great with 1280x1024 res monitors.
I have pretty much finished building my HTPC (Home Theater PC). I would suggest visiting some forums. Specifically avs forum. Some things that you might want to check out is a MyHD card. It will upscale existing resolution to 1080i. It will also take an existing hd transmition and allow you to output it to an HDTV. The MyHD card comes with tuner software and a remote. Secondly you should look into getting some software called PowerStrip. This allows for dynamic resolution settings. Different applications will require different resolutions. It also allows you to tweak refresh and color. A good etailer/retailer is digital connection. You can get the MyHD card there. Also they sell low profile cases that look like stereo components. Another thing that you should get is a VGA to component switch. This will take a vga output and convert it to a digital component output for your hdtv. Some of the experts suggest specific motherboards. The one that I got upon someone's suggestion is the Asus P4B533 P4 Socket 478 DDR Motherboard. Apparently, there are certain chipsets that are very good for multimedia. I think that the chipset that is in the Asus is the Intel 845 but I can't remember if that is correct. Also that board comes with a digital coax and dolby 5.1 on the board. You can save a couple of bucks this way. You could also buy an expensive sound card and get a little better quality but not much better. Do the M$ XP as well. They have better multimedia support and can support a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, which you might want. The blue tooth has better range than other RF and you don't have to worry about obstructions. There are other HD cards out there such as Holo3DGraph, but they can be very expensive. MyHD gives you good bang for you buck. BTW, you will still need a regular Video card. They suggest a ATI Radeon. That is the standard for HTPCs. For watching DVD, you will want TheaterTech and for enabling remote operation, you will want to look into the software package Girder (spelling). Before you buy anything, go to the avsforum website and check with some people who have been doing this a long time. They even have a Linux HTPC forum. Sorry, but the drivers for the MyHD card on Linux are not available....yet.
Everyone else here has suggested avsforum.com, which is the best place to find the info you want and more. I'd also suggest you look at www.hometheaterforum.com. It's a nice site with tons of info too.
:) The widescreen aspect ratio almost makes it better, especially for racing/flying types of games.
:)
I have a Sony similar to your projector but older (1272) and would suggest you do what they call an "anamorphic squeeze" (search on avsforum) and use 1280x720 as your native resolution. That should be very resolvable by your 8" guns. I guess having 1920x1080 interlaced might look better for source material at that res, but your projector will not resolve it, so you'll have overscan. (That's where each line is drawn slightly overlapping the previous line, so they all blend together. It is caused by your electronics being able to handle higher resolutions than your optics.) You really need 9" guns to resolve 1080i.
I currently haven't taken the HDTV plunge, since TV really isn't that important to me. You might consider how important TV programming is to you, regardless of the specs. After all, if all you can get is the latest Friends and Jay Leno in HD, what's the point? I mainly watch DVDs (using WinDVD or PowerDVD) scaled up to 720p. That's the source material I care about more.
BTW, if you don't mind running Windows, which will almost be a necessity, it is a lot of fun to play games on. I got a Radeon (nVidia cards are ok too) and used Powerstrip to insert a custom timing for 1280x720. After that, I installed the latest DirectX and now many games (mostly the 3D ones) will recognize and allow the 1280x720 res. It's a lot of fun to play Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed or games like that on a 100+" diagonal screen.
Anyway, enjoy the new hobby. You'll never be able to give it up once you start.
The 'may' means that it might lock your television into 16:9 mode, not the game. Some televisions automatically go into 16:9 mode and cannot be taken out of that mode when displaying a progressive scan signal. This is a big concern for buyers of progressive scan DVD players because some movies aren't in a 16:9 aspect ratio. There's a FAQ somewhere on IGN where it's confirmed that the game does not have progressive scan support. Try playing the game with progressive scan disabled and see if it looks any different with respect to the object ratios.
I think that what's happened is that the game is a little horizontaly squished more than it should be (since they were trying to go for a first-person visor look on a 4:3 ratio dispaly), and putting your TV in 'full' alleviates that some. I also adjusted the video settings for maximum horizontal compression, so that the stretch distortion would be minimal.
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
Seconded! I have a HiPix and I use the AVS version of the software. The current version is solid and I use it every day. I can hardly wait for the next version, as I know that they'll add even more useful, user requested features (as opposed to the usual practice of piling on crap). The DVHS playback feature alone saved me a couple of hundred dollars on a component to RGB converter. Another tool developed by a Forum member is DVHSTool, which lets me archive HiPix (or other DTV card files) to and from tape.
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
Dontcha wish they'd stop using those stupid XGA/SXGA/QXGA/whatever acronyms and just tell you how many damn *pixels* the thing does horizontally and vertically...
Or a genuine Panamaphonics.
Here is the situation on with HDTV PCI cards..
All of the current field of cards is based on the Janus reference design, by Teralogic. So, they are all very similar.
They all take a standard antenna as input (cheap UHF antennas, like the Radio Shack double bowtie work great). They have onboard ATSC Digital TV tuners, which decode the 19.3Mbps data channel containing MPEG2 video Digital audio (some channels support Dolby Digital 5.1 audio). They have onboard MPEG2 hardware decoders which output the HDTV programs in their high resolution formats (1080i: 1920x1080 interlaced or 720p: 1280x720 progressive). They output through a VGA/RGB port, though some support transcoding to component video out. They can also output on the PC desktop in a small scaled down video window.
The Players:
- Telemann HiPix DTV-200 - http://www.telemann.com/products/dtv200.html - Probably the most popular, has been around for a long time, but seems to be abandoned by Telemann. There is some driver source code availability (not open source, but available to the community under restricted terms) and people at avsforum.com have made large contributions. Availability of the card is pretty spotty, and ongoing support is very questionable.
- AccessDTV - http://www.accessdtv.com/accessdtv/index.htm - Card has some additional hardware, which enables some Tivo-like features, such as pausing live tv with the view buffer. Initially this card was unpopular because they felt the need to encrypt their data files, eliminating the possibility of sharing between PC's or even editing files. Recent versions of their software have relented on this encryption stance, so this could be a good card.
- MIT MDP-100 ( the "MyHD" card ) - http://www.mitinc.co.kr/e_pccard.htm - $300 - Has two antenna inputs, handy for positioning seperate antennas to get all stations. Also includes the ability to play back DVD's at 480P or non-CCS VOB files at HDTV resolutions, which is a great feature for a home theater.. DVD's look great scaled to 720P. Drivers are still immature and can be unstable, but not bad for normal usage.
- Digital STREAM HiDTV Pro HDTV - http://www.pc-dtv.com/ - $370 - Relatively new card, very similar to others, software looks more polished than some others.
- Happauge WinTV-HD - http://www.hauppauge.com/html/products.htm - Poor drivers, no recording capability. Product appears to be abandoned, no driver updates. Stay away from this card.
- Happauge WinTV-D - http://www.hauppauge.com/html/products.htm - Similar to the above card, except it only displays at 480i on the desktop (it scales all hi-res HDTV down to standard TV resolutions). This card may be okay if you ONLY want to watch digital TV on your PC desktop in a little window. If you want to watch on an HDTV, stay away from this card.
I have a WinTV-HD and can save the transport stream to my harddrive just fine.
But you're right about the drivers, they suck. Stay far away.
I would be interested in a standalone box (no PC connection or software required) that converts HDTV to VGA. It would output to any ordinary PC monitor that accepts VGA. Many people have extra monitors lying around and it would be very cost effective to simply convert these into HDTV sets instead of buying new HDTV gear.
This ideal box would have:
* Antenna input, for the raw signal from the antenna
* HDTV tuner, with selectable channel (including selectable feed if channel is multiplexed)
* VGA output, to an ordinary PC monitor
* Audio output, with standard RCA jacks (or optional digital jacks) for sound
* Downscaler, to downgrade to a lower resolution in case the VGA monitor does not support a given resolution (the VESA DDC standard would be used to query the VGA monitor and detect what resolutions it supports, without needing user configuration)
* Optional remote control for the HDTV tuner
Simple, cost effective, does not require purchase of a monstrously huge and expensive set in order to watch HDTV, and does not involve the complication and setup hassles of a PC.
Does such a box exist? I would love to buy one.
Dr. Demento On The 'Net!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I use the MyHD card and haven't looked back. Except at the TV, that is.
:-) in stunning 1080i.
My MyHD is in a 1.8GHz P4 HTPC in an equipment closet connected with about 25 feet of Y/Pb/Pr cable to a Toshiba 34HF81 HDTV (1080i). One antenna input is from over-the-air broadcasts (Dallas area), the other from analog cable TV.
Record and playback is with an IDE-baed RAID array with a SCSI interface, currently less than 1TB of storage, but more planned.
DVDs that I've legally purchased get DeCSS'd and go onto the RAID array under a subdirectory named FairUse. Then the originals go into a box for safekeeping and I play just the personal, legal backup copies. (Take that, Jack V.).
MyHD plays back the DVDs, cable TV, and over-the-air HDTV (mainly PBS specials and Jennifer Garner in Alias
True, the driver's aren't entirely stable, but it works well enough for HDTV and SDTV timeshifting as well as DVD playback.
And I learned about all this stuff from AVS Forum. Ask there, and learn.
I'm curious if you actually overloaded a Dell powersupply using PCI-compliant equipment, or if you you just jacked-off to "Tom's Hardware" and actually believe the Bogo-Watt numbers on those cheap Chinese shitbox supplies.
We had several Dell Optiplex 1GHz Celeron boxes (200W power supplies) at work with dual Barracuda IV IDE drives (configured by Dell) that were flakey with both drives hooked up and stable with only one drive powered. Installing Intel's Application Acceleration drivers, basically fancy drive caching, also fixed the problem; whether it was a software bug the IAA drivers fixed or a power supply overload the caching masks (the crashes usually occurred when all drives were hit at once, like when you first fire up Explorer) is hard to say and I walked away at that point. Why we should have had to hunt down drivers from Intel's website to get a stable machine is another question. In either case, Dell sucks.
On a 185W IBM/Antac supply, I'm currently running 2 600Mhz Katamis, 6 PCI + 1 AGP (including a WinTV), and 3 10K SCSI drives. No problems at all. I'm sure Dell's stuff is the same way.
That's nice. Two relatively low power sub-GHz CPUs, an AGP video card that likely draws a LOT less power than a GeForce4 Ti-series (Radeon 9700 Pro's have external power connectors and the GeForceFX might have one too), far slower bus speeds and higher latencies. Your system isn't as picky about voltage regulation and isn't drawing the power that a modern GHz-class machine is. Swap in a P4 and watch it choke. Oh, you can't do that, your power supply doesn't have the additional four-pin 12V connector the P4 (and dual processor Athlons) require. Silly me. Do yourself a favor and run Motherboard Monitor so you can watch your voltage levels bounce around.
Conclusion: Go play with your Turbo Button, clone-master.
Says another 13-year-old AC with overindulgent parents and too much time on his hands. Yawn.
I purchaced a pair of bunny-ear antennas for my old color TV today. I've had cable since I've moved into the dorms, but since my mom doesn't have it I've had to go back to bunny-ears.
They were $7 at walmart, and the package said "digital ready" which, to be honest, confused the hell out of me for a while, untill I remembered that HDTV was broadcast over regular airwaves. I find it kind of ironic that all you need are these little mettal tubes to pick up HTDV, when so often people have cable or at least rooftop antenas. In fact, it seems like a lot of people are actualy ignorant of the fact that you can pick up TV signals using them anymore.
(What's really strange is the story of a friend of mine who moved to Athens Ga. and could only get one TV station over the air, a hip-hop music video station. ABC, NBC, etc could only be had over cable...)
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Granted an 8' foot wide front projection system is probably over kill for my bedroom, but the heart wants what the heart wants.
Bigger-than-life porn.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.