January 09, 2006

HD Tuner card with RS232?

My goal: Have a HDTV QAM tuner card in my HTPC control and automatically change channels on my HD set top box. I have asked many sources, the brightest guy told me that to do this I would need a HDTV tuner card with an RS232 control.

Is this correct? Any solutions? Any products?
-- Sergie

January 9, 2006 in Home Theater PC, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (6)

December 01, 2005

HD TV Tuner Card for the PC

Besides the ATi HDTV Tuner Card, are there any *Good* HDTV Tuner Cards out there for the PC/Home-Brew DVR?
-- Y.C.

December 1, 2005 in Home Theater PC | Permalink | Answers (5)

July 17, 2005

Building a Free PVR

There are a great number of guides and information out there for building a MythTV or FreeVo box. However, none are very definate. No guides out there specify what type of CPU is recomended, or evne any objective view on the FreeVo vs. MythTV debate. What is the best CPU for a two-tuner set up using MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 (and any sort of discussion in the MPEG-4 vs. MPEG-2 debate, including hardware MPEG-2 encoders/decoders), anything from people who have used both, or either?
-- Ivan Kowalenko

July 17, 2005 in Home Theater PC | Permalink | Answers (3)

November 18, 2004

DVB tuner for Linux ?

what is the best TV Tuner card that can pick up DVB-T signals that work's in Linux ?

I have the latest WinTV card that is unsupported at the moment...

DVB-T is also known as Freeview and seeing as the UK is going to turn off its analoge signal and the broadcast's are already in MPEG2 this should be the way to go in the UK and EU if you want a PVR....
-- johnjones

November 18, 2004 in Home Theater PC | Permalink | Answers (6) | TrackBack

November 10, 2004

Sony SAT-A65 data port cable?

I'm building a PVR system, and would like to know where (or how) I can get a DB9 to RJ6 cable to connect the PC to the Sony SAT-A65 data port to change channels using SageTV.
-- Karl

November 10, 2004 in Home Theater PC | Permalink | Answers (2) | TrackBack

November 07, 2004

Cheapest PC for PVR?

I'd like to assemble a dedicated PVR out of a PC, and have already purchased Beyond TV and a Hauppage 250 card for this. Unlike many people who want to do this kind of project though, I do not already have an old PC that I can use as my base system. I also don't have deep pockets, so I would like to purchase the cheapest new PC I can get that will do the job.

(Provisos and parameters: 1) I know I could get a dirt cheap system used, but I want to be covered by a warrantee. 2) I don't want to fuss around with buying a bunch of cheap parts individually that may not work well together. I'm aiming for high reliability and don't want to waste a lot of time. 3) I don't need to fit the thing in my stereo cabinet, so I don't need a HTPC-style case.)

I've been surfing around awhile and this seems like a pretty hard challenge. Most current PCs are made with gaming in mind. They have much faster processors than you really need for a PVR that uses hardware encoding, so they may run hot and require a noisy fan (bad). They often come bundled with stuff you don't need for a PVR (speakers, printers), but lack what would be desirable in a PVR system (e.g. a really HUGE hard disk, lots of PCI slots to add additional tuner cards, etc).

Can PVRBloggers recommend manufacturers/retailers that fill the bill?

Oh -- one last wrinkle. I have to be able to buy it in Canada.
-- Kevin O'Neill

November 7, 2004 in Home Theater PC, media servers | Permalink | Answers (4) | TrackBack

November 04, 2004

Streaming video to Tivo

Is there a way to stream videos from a computer to a tivo via a network? I see alot of movies on my computer, and I was wondering if I could do that so that I wouldn't have to watch stuf f on my tiny lcd screen in my unconfortable swivel chair.
--Alex Basile

November 4, 2004 in Home Theater PC, Networking, TiVo | Permalink | Answers (3) | TrackBack

October 20, 2004

Video Playback Device

I am looking for a device that will playback television shows I have archived on my computer. I had hoped to be able to do this with TivoToGo but that seems unlikely at this point. The two likeliest devices I have seen are the PRISMIQ MediaPlayer and the D-Link MediaLoung DSM-320 Wireless Media Player. Which one of these is the best choice, or is it something else I have missed?
-- Michael Pate

October 20, 2004 in Home Theater PC | Permalink | Answers (6) | TrackBack

October 15, 2004

Best PVR PC Package?

I'm looking to tape television, and radio (AM and FM) onto my PC and later burn a VCD or DVD of the interviews/shows. I'd also like to be able to capture stills from the video too. What would give me the best quality video and still captures if I'm using a PC.
-- Cyrus

October 15, 2004 in Home Theater PC | Permalink | Answers (1) | TrackBack

More on a True HDTV HTPC

I looked a little more into the 'WinTV-HD' from Hauppauge, and happened to find something else that might fit the need. This card, the WinTV-NEXUS-s, is a digital satellite receiver for the PC however, their site is somewhat lacking in details of how exactly this would hook up to my sat, and how it would be able to decode the channels I've subscribed to...

I've also managed to find another card, the 'TwinhanDTV Sat-CI'. This sat card also supports the use of CAMs (Conditional Access Module) in order to give you access to your subscribed channels!

What I'm not sure about (because it doesn't come right out and specifically say it and I'm not entirely sure what else to look for) is whether or not this supports decoding the HDTV stations and if it will decode them in HDTV format. I like the looks of this card, but I need for it to be able to support HDTV and digital 5.1+ audio signals for it to be worth the investment.

If anyone has any information on this, it would be most appreciated!
-- Gavin Ostlund

October 15, 2004 in Home Theater PC, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (7) | TrackBack

October 13, 2004

A True HDTV HTPC

I am trying to setup a "True HDTV HTPC" with HTDV signal in from a satellite receiver (via component video) and HDTV output to a Sony Wega HDTV (via DVI). Every part of the project is ready to go, except for the video capture. I've looked far and wide for a capture card meeting the simple need for accepting component video input. At least I would have assumed it would be a simple thing with all the cool HDTV tuner cards out there... My question being, does anyone know of a capture card that will capture from component video source?
-- Gavin Ostlund

October 13, 2004 in Home Theater PC, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (67) | TrackBack