Re: MythTV HD?

[mike808@users.sourceforge.net]

> > > Thinking about replacing one of our VCRs that is used to record a daily
> > > soap. Has anyone seen a video card that is HD compatible? Linux drivers?

All who want one -- get in touch with Craig Buchek. craig @t buchek d0t com

He just recently picked up a 5-pack of the HD-3000 cards. He has *3* left,
in posession, for $200 each. In fact, you can pick yours up next THURSDAY night
at the STLLUG meeting at the Indian Trails public library.

http://www.stllug.org/directions/

You might learn something about subversion and NTP, too.

About the card: http://www.pchdtv.com/

From the FAQ: http://www.pchdtv.com/faq.php#faq0000021

> What is difference between the HD-2000 and HD-3000?
>
> The HD-2000 was a 5v PCI card with two RF inputs and mono sound for NTSC.
>  The HD-3000 is a similar card with one RF input, one SVIDEO input, one
> COMPOSITE VIDEO and AUDIO input and one audo stereo output for NTSC.
> Neithor card detects the broadcast flag.

Note that last sentence. This will be a _very_ important feature, after July 1, 2005. Trust me, you'll be glad you got one early. The mainstream HDTV cards are already implementing it, so that by the time you try to get one before the deadline, there aren't any in the channel anymore.

http://www.eff.org/broadcastflag/

> What type of hardware is recommended?
>
> The minimum recommended hardware requirements are:
>     * Intel® Pentium® 1200Mhz or higher
>     * NVIDIA card with IDCT acceleration for machines under 2000MHz.
>     * Linux Red Hat Linux 7.2, 7.3, 8.0 or 9.0.
>     * Sound card with S/PDIF support and external sound system.
>     * 256 Meg RAM or higher
>     * CD ROM Drive
>     * One available PCI 2.2 slot

Note that Operating System requirement... :=)

And my favorite: http://www.pchdtv.com/faq.php#faq0000005

> Is there a windows version of the drivers?
> Not at this time.

And here's the gory details:

> The pcHDTV™ HD-3000 Hi Definition Television Card is the next generation
> digital television card to be produced specially for the Linux video
> hobbyist market. Shipped with the open source multimedia player, Xine,
> the card provides a ATSC stream to the Xine mpeg2 decoder for playback and
> can be used with MythTV.
>
> The HD-3000 Hi Definition Television PCI Card is an universal PCI 2.2
> compliant card. The card receives NTSC and ATSC Signals and converts them
> to digital streams which are transported across the PCI bus. Display and
> MPEG2 decoding are done on the host computer in software and displayed
> on the computers monitor. The pcHDTV Hi Definition PCI card is based on
> Oren Semiconductor's ATSC receiver chip and Conexant's CX23883 NTSC
> receiver chip providing excellent HD and SD reception.
>
> Key Features
>     * Cost effective ATSC/NTSC TV reception card
>     * Open source drivers and player
>     * All-software HDTV decoder
>     * Supports all 18 ATSC compliant digital formats
>     * Supports NTSC Analog Television
>     * Upto 4 cards supported in a single system for recording and display
>       of multiple programs.
>     * Compatible with the HD-2000 card.
>     * Digital Video Recording, Time Shifting and Playback
>     * Accelerated HDTV support with nVidia video cards.
>     * Accelerated IDCT and Motion Compensation with GeForce4 Mx cards
>     * Accelerated Motion Compensation with GeForce4 TI cards
>     * Selectable Weave or One Field de-interlacing for interlaced formats
>     * Command line support for station scanning
>     * Command line support for station signal strength
>     * Command line support for recording.
>
> Input/output
>
>     * One RF TV antenna coaxal reception port
>     * One SVIDEO input port
>     * One composite video and sound port
>     * One stereo connection jack to sound card for analog TV System

And another juicy bit, in the requirements section:

> Currently the HD-3000 is NOT supported in Windows 98™, Windows 2000™
> or Windows XP™ however Windows drivers are include for those wishing
> to experiment with the card in Microsoft Windows.

Oh, and they're working with the MythTV folks.... :=)

In short, if you're looking for an HDTV card, want to support FLOSS
hardware and software development, as well as be able to exercise your
fair use rights to content licenses you OWN (and not "rent"), then this
is the card you're looking for.

Did I mention Craig has 3 of them ready to put into your hot little hands?

I can get you in touch with him if you want to get yours over the holiday.

BTW, they recently reduced the price from $199 to $189, so Craig's not really making $3 on the deal, when you factor in USPS postage you'd have to pay for the cheapest shipping otherwise, and wouldn't get it before Thursday anyway.
Think of it as buying him a Budweiser product. ;=) (Those of you that know
Craig will get the reference).

However, AFTER July 1, 2005, I suspect these cards will only be available second-hand, and the price will not be the mere $200 they are available for today.

In comparison, you can see that the other HDTV cards are running $200 or so,
but without the excellent Linux support that this card has.

See http://www.videohelp.com/capturecards.php for some other cards info.

Mike/

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