DVD Recorders - Analogue tuners only?

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

The digital format of DVD and the digital format of TV, such as HDTV, are
totally different. While you could put HDTV files on a DVD disks, the data rate
would be too high to successfully play these files from the disk. So even though
these are both "digital", they are in fact very different.

"Videot" <videot@optusnet.com.au> wrote in message
news:412157d4$0$8211$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
> I went looking here in OZ at DVD recorders yesterday & everyone that I saw
> only had analogue TV tuners. Is this the experience in other countries? It
> doesn't seem to make any sense since all the signals received would have to
> be converted to digital. I'm aware that I can get a digital TV tuner card
> for my PC.
>
> --
> Thanks in advance
>
>

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

SimMike- wrote:

>> I went looking here in OZ at DVD recorders yesterday &
>> everyone that I saw only had analogue TV tuners. Is
>> this the experience in other countries? It doesn't
>> seem to make any sense since all the signals received
>> would have to be converted to digital. I'm aware that
>> I can get a digital TV tuner card for my PC.

> The digital format of DVD and the digital format of TV,
> such as HDTV, are totally different. While you could put
> HDTV files on a DVD disks, the data rate would be too
> high to successfully play these files from the disk. So
> even though these are both "digital", they are in fact
> very different.

The original poster is located in Australia - a country
which uses the European "DVB" standard for its digital
tv broadcasts.

- The DVB standard is based on MPEG-2, just like the DVD
standard is.

- Most of the "legal" resolutions for DVB (SDTV) broadcasts
are also legal resolutions for DVD.

- The average bitrates used in DVB broadcasts are usually
considerably lower than the maximum bitrate of DVDs, so
bitrates will not (usually) be a problem, either.

Therefore, receiving DVB broadcasts and converting them to
a DVD - with no re-encoding whatsoever taking place - is
fully possible, and there are people who do it every day.
(It is mainly a question of demuxing the desired elementary
audio and video streams out of the original MPEG transport
stream [TS] and remuxing them to a program stream [PS] for
a DVD.)

* * *

The DTV situation is somewhat different in North America: the
American digital tv standard (ATSC) revolves heavily around
HDTV and, consequently, uses resolutions and bitrates which
are not DVD compatible.

However, the tight coupling of "HDTV" and "digital television"
- in so much so that when you mention "digital television" in
North America, most people think it automatically means "HDTV" -
is an American thing. The European (and - because of the
common PAL heritage - also Australian) DVB standard has no
political requirements of having to include HDTV broadcasts
at all. Actually, it is quite the opposite; digital tv
broadcasts in most DVB countries only mean "SDTV material
in SDTV resolutions, broadcast digitally".

Most DVB countries have not yet decided whether they want to
broadcast HDTV material at all - at this point. Likewise,
most of the DVB set top boxes (and tv sets with a built-in
DVB receiver/decoder) do not know how to handle HDTV
resolutions in DVB broadcasts - even if such things _were_
broadcast.

* * *

As the original poster was an Australian, it should be
mentioned that while most of the European countries are
going to switch over to digital without necessarily (yet)
including HDTV at all, Australia has been trying to be a
forerunner in DVB HDTV broadcasts. However, it now seems
that without any real political pressure behind the thing,
HDTV is not be going to fly easily:

<http://www.digitaltv.com.au/hdtv.html>

--
znark

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Videot wrote:

> I went looking here in OZ at DVD recorders yesterday & everyone
> that I saw only had analogue TV tuners. Is this the experience
> in other countries? It doesn't seem to make any sense since all
> the signals received would have to be converted to digital. I'm
> aware that I can get a digital TV tuner card for my PC.

Reviving an old thread, but these might be the devices you have
been looking for:

* * *

Philips DVDR745/05:

1) Navigate to <http://www.philips.co.uk/>

2) Click "Consumer Products"

3) Choose "Home Audio / Video"

4) Click "DVD Players & Recorders" from the sidebar

5) Click on "DVDR745/05"

* * *

Sony RDR-GXD500:

<http://www.homecinemaheaven.com/prod_info/dvdrec/rdrgxd50.htm>

--
znark