That happened to me recently. Ironically, a desktop LCD fell on my laptop's (expensive) 1920x1200 screen, breaking it. $600 later and 1 day later, I had an entre new top assembly. It took 10 min to replace. Dell made it very easy.
What did I learn? That extended "unlimited" warrenty is worth it for laptops. I could have driven over the PC and it would have been replaced for free.
OK, It may not be a pure digital copy, but most sound card program suites include a record tool to record "what you hear." (program output of the card.) You can use that feature to record whatever is going to your speakers.
Like someone said before, there are severalSDI-modded
DVD transports out there. The idea is, you can then take the SDI and run
it into a scaler, either a $4000 stand-alone
device or with a PCI-based
solution. The last link shows the old Holo3DGraph card that would take
video in (SDI, 480i component, S-Video, composite), scale, deinterlace, and
process it, then pass it over the PCI bus to your main video card for
display. The new H3D-II,
which is in beta still (I got one!) can take all that, as well as 1080i/720p
inputs over component, RGB, or DVI and scale it to the desired res. Best
of all, it has a DVI daughterboard that can output DVI directly, without having
to pass video over the bus and incur delay. The DVI DVD player isn't
such a big deal. There has been hardware out for more than a year to do
that, and more. You just have to know where to look, and be crazy enough to get
involved with it.
Actually, the GTE system operated on a L-band satellite phone network. The rates are a little bit above what standard sat phone rates are- about $4 a minute. They did not work on cell networks. Thats why you could use them over the ocean, over the middle of nowhere america. But, it doesn't matter now any more does it? I flew AA two weeks ago and all the GTE Airphones had been put out of service. The airlines took a big loss on that little idea.
Actually, many HDTV recievers output VGA D-sub anyway. My $315 Samsung SIR-T150 has a VGA output that I've watched on a PC LCD monitor. And if you are interested in recording HD, check out the MDP-100 card. http://www.cellarcinemas.com/cgi-bin/store/HTDV-MY HD.html
It only works with over-the-air, but you can record data streams right to your HDD with it.
bob
As a SNG engineer myself, I've worked on several of these flyaway systems, one of which is sitting in Qatar (sp?) right now. A lot of networks are using non-live "store and forward" IP-based video filing systems. Video is encoded in a quicktime format, and sent over low-earth orbit satellite telephone/data networks. Its cheaper than getting a 5.5mbps slot needed for live DVB video transmission. Its going to be interesting to see what happens when hell breaks loose and everyone wants to buy satellite bandwidth to go live. I wonder if there will be enough capacity... In the last war CNN had an underground hardline from their hotel in Baghdad so they could do live audio. But now, everyone will want to go live with realtime video, and with affiliate services and networks its going to be a logjam on Intelsat.
Bob
HDCP, which for those who asked, is Copy Protection for High Definition TV. It will prevent HD content from being shown on non HDCP compliant monitors, or at least down-res it to 480 lines. It has not been implimented YET, but the TV networks want it and soon. A HDCP-compliant monitor will not reject a non HDCP signal, such as the one from a PC. Using powerstrip and a card like the ATI 8500 you will be able to run DVI from your PC. Using a input card such as the Holo3Dgraph you can turn your PC into a high-end video scaler and deinterlace all your video sources like a DVD player (it takes component in) or a cable tuner. Having the HDCP compliant DVI port is a good idea, especially if the networks get their way.
First, cable needs to provide HD unchanged as part of basic cable package. Its free OTA (over the air) so should it be on cable. DTV is broadcast over air in a format called 8VSB, yet on cable it almost always comes in 256QAM, meaning regular OTA HDTV tuners won't recieve it. Instead you have to RENT a cable box that works with their propritary format. Secondly, cables are a misunderstanding. You can get broadcast-quality Belden cables for a quarter of the price of that "Mon$ter Cable." Another HD problem is this whole ruckus about HDCP (copy protection), over which CBS is threatining to stop HD transmission next year. A good resource for HDTV-related issues is at http://www.avsforum.com
But, there is more and more content every month. Check out http://www.hdtvgalaxy.com/broad.html Lots of stuff. ESPN is launching an all-HD channel next month, to go along with HDNet, Discovery-HD, SHO-HD, HBO-HD as the other full-time HD channels. Comcast is starting a HD-version of SportsNet too.
PS- Someone mentioned "digital" DVD players. I have one. It outputs a 270mbps data stream (SDI Video, same used in broadcast facilties) which goes into the PC for scaling, and out via DVI to my 1280x768 50" plasma display, so I DO have a completly digital DVD system. Also, I can record HDTV to the HDD (9gig/hour) or output it via firewire to a D-VHS record deck. I love my HDTV... When I had a superbowl party this year, people had to take their jaws off the floor after they saw how crisp it looks.
Bob
If it can't do HD... who cares? Oh yah... I forgot. there are cards that record HD bitstreams and regular analog NTSC right off air/cable and to your HDD...
FOR FREE!
tivo... pleeze.
bob
Slashdot Mirror
That happened to me recently. Ironically, a desktop LCD fell on my laptop's (expensive) 1920x1200 screen, breaking it. $600 later and 1 day later, I had an entre new top assembly. It took 10 min to replace. Dell made it very easy. What did I learn? That extended "unlimited" warrenty is worth it for laptops. I could have driven over the PC and it would have been replaced for free.
OK, It may not be a pure digital copy, but most sound card program suites include a record tool to record "what you hear." (program output of the card.) You can use that feature to record whatever is going to your speakers.
Like someone said before, there are several SDI-modded DVD transports out there. The idea is, you can then take the SDI and run it into a scaler, either a $4000 stand-alone device or with a PCI-based solution. The last link shows the old Holo3DGraph card that would take video in (SDI, 480i component, S-Video, composite), scale, deinterlace, and process it, then pass it over the PCI bus to your main video card for display. The new H3D-II, which is in beta still (I got one!) can take all that, as well as 1080i/720p inputs over component, RGB, or DVI and scale it to the desired res. Best of all, it has a DVI daughterboard that can output DVI directly, without having to pass video over the bus and incur delay. The DVI DVD player isn't such a big deal. There has been hardware out for more than a year to do that, and more. You just have to know where to look, and be crazy enough to get involved with it.
Actually, the GTE system operated on a L-band satellite phone network. The rates are a little bit above what standard sat phone rates are- about $4 a minute. They did not work on cell networks. Thats why you could use them over the ocean, over the middle of nowhere america. But, it doesn't matter now any more does it? I flew AA two weeks ago and all the GTE Airphones had been put out of service. The airlines took a big loss on that little idea.
Or... your TV is just an overgrown computer monitor and you need a computer to watch it :-) (50" 1280x768 plasma panel with HTPC)
bob
Actually, many HDTV recievers output VGA D-sub anyway. My $315 Samsung SIR-T150 has a VGA output that I've watched on a PC LCD monitor. And if you are interested in recording HD, check out the MDP-100 card. http://www.cellarcinemas.com/cgi-bin/store/HTDV-MY HD.html
It only works with over-the-air, but you can record data streams right to your HDD with it.
bob
As a SNG engineer myself, I've worked on several of these flyaway systems, one of which is sitting in Qatar (sp?) right now. A lot of networks are using non-live "store and forward" IP-based video filing systems. Video is encoded in a quicktime format, and sent over low-earth orbit satellite telephone/data networks. Its cheaper than getting a 5.5mbps slot needed for live DVB video transmission. Its going to be interesting to see what happens when hell breaks loose and everyone wants to buy satellite bandwidth to go live. I wonder if there will be enough capacity... In the last war CNN had an underground hardline from their hotel in Baghdad so they could do live audio. But now, everyone will want to go live with realtime video, and with affiliate services and networks its going to be a logjam on Intelsat. Bob
HDCP, which for those who asked, is Copy Protection for High Definition TV. It will prevent HD content from being shown on non HDCP compliant monitors, or at least down-res it to 480 lines. It has not been implimented YET, but the TV networks want it and soon. A HDCP-compliant monitor will not reject a non HDCP signal, such as the one from a PC. Using powerstrip and a card like the ATI 8500 you will be able to run DVI from your PC. Using a input card such as the Holo3Dgraph you can turn your PC into a high-end video scaler and deinterlace all your video sources like a DVD player (it takes component in) or a cable tuner. Having the HDCP compliant DVI port is a good idea, especially if the networks get their way.
bob
First, cable needs to provide HD unchanged as part of basic cable package. Its free OTA (over the air) so should it be on cable. DTV is broadcast over air in a format called 8VSB, yet on cable it almost always comes in 256QAM, meaning regular OTA HDTV tuners won't recieve it. Instead you have to RENT a cable box that works with their propritary format. Secondly, cables are a misunderstanding. You can get broadcast-quality Belden cables for a quarter of the price of that "Mon$ter Cable." Another HD problem is this whole ruckus about HDCP (copy protection), over which CBS is threatining to stop HD transmission next year. A good resource for HDTV-related issues is at http://www.avsforum.com But, there is more and more content every month. Check out http://www.hdtvgalaxy.com/broad.html Lots of stuff. ESPN is launching an all-HD channel next month, to go along with HDNet, Discovery-HD, SHO-HD, HBO-HD as the other full-time HD channels. Comcast is starting a HD-version of SportsNet too. PS- Someone mentioned "digital" DVD players. I have one. It outputs a 270mbps data stream (SDI Video, same used in broadcast facilties) which goes into the PC for scaling, and out via DVI to my 1280x768 50" plasma display, so I DO have a completly digital DVD system. Also, I can record HDTV to the HDD (9gig/hour) or output it via firewire to a D-VHS record deck. I love my HDTV... When I had a superbowl party this year, people had to take their jaws off the floor after they saw how crisp it looks. Bob
If it can't do HD... who cares? Oh yah... I forgot. there are cards that record HD bitstreams and regular analog NTSC right off air/cable and to your HDD... FOR FREE! tivo... pleeze. bob