HDTV PC Capture Solutions?

Akai asks: "With HDTV DVR's costing upwards of a thousand US dollars or more, I was looking for a HiDef capture card that would work with Linux and an external HD receiver. The pchdtv card looks nice but it's RF input only for HiDef content, and only supports OTA at this point. Both DirecTV and DishNetwork HD STBs can be hacked with FireWire ports, but it's not cheap, so I was trying to find a capture card with either DVI or Component inputs, or a converter to take either of those to FireWire. The old Dish Network model 5000 receivers had an option to output HDTV RF but they are no longer compatible with Dish's current HDTV broadcasts. Google has not been helpful in this regard, and all I've found is professional (>$2000US) format conversion gear. Is there a PC (hopefully Linux) based video capture solution that can capture the output of a cable of DBS STB (RGBA, DVI, or Component out) without a significant loss of image fidelity?"

Comments

Not cheap?

[Junior J. Junior III]

Wait a year, and it'll be cheap. If you can't wait a year, then it's worth it to spend the money now.

Re:Cable

[enrico_suave]

"It's $3 more a month than the normal DVR Time Warner offers.

I know this might not be an option for you, but others might want to know that HD DVRs might just be $36/yr. away from them."

which is fine, if you like a buggy crashy DVR with a lousy interface and being locked out of doing anythign with the recorded programming. =)

e.

Bah

[poptones]

I had to go to the library to do some research last night. It bugged me that I wanted to watch "West Wing" and couldn't. So while I was there I hit up usenet to grab LAST week's show which I also missed.

I was surprised to discover that, as of 7PM CST, last night's show (which would not be seen here for another hour) had been posted 11 hours earlier, most likely from an HD capture in euroupe. So, I got both shows. While I was at it I also grabbed the last couple Enterprise eps (620x320-ish avi), but I'm sure everyone here already knows about those.

If I had been on a "real" computer instead of my underpowered laptop, I could have watched last night's west wing (hi-def cap, but 480x480 svcd) an hour before it even aired in the US. I thought about getting a tuner, too - but why bother to do it myself when I can get it from someone else even quicker?

Re:Sorry...

[CSG_SurferDude]

I hate to be a "Me Too" voice, but...

So, for various and assorted reasons, I have had to recently re-purchase the following items:

1. HDTV : 2 Antennas, 2 HDTV 3 color inputs, DVI in, 2 Video in, 7 (SEVEN) inputs total
2. Xbox : Video out OR HDTV Out
3. DVD Player : DVI out, HDTV 3 color out, Video out
4. GameCube : Video out
5. Digital HDTV Cable box : HDTV 3 color out

And I still had my 5.1 receiver.

Between all the weirdness hooking everything up, and then configuring EACH unit, I must have spent a good 4 to 6 hours beating on this system to get it to work (Not to mention that my receiver forgot it had all 6 speakers, and needed to be reconfigured as well!)

The AV Guys (TV/HDTV/DVD/Game Console makers) ALL need to come up with some sort of intelligent daisy chaining scheme. I mean, really, SCSI has worked for years, why can't they get it together for AV equipment. They can put a little push-button on the back of the equipment to select a priority number, and then when I decide to play on the GameCube, it would just automatically override whatever else I was watching, without having to make me select which stupid input I want.

Really, having a printout on the side of my TV to remind me which TV input to use for each device is just silly, and is one of many reasons why grandma and grandpa won't spend money on any of these new gadgets.