HD TV on a PC

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"John Baima" <john@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:bhp1v0hrsdver03j1tj7e9hd4m7blv4sjr@4ax.com...
> I'd like to receive broadcast HDTV on my PC with Windows XP Pro. I'm
> looking at the ATI card and the SnapStream software but I have no
> experience with either. I do have a NVIDEO video card and one review
> of the ATI said that it had problems with those. I'm wondering if that
> has been fixed. The computer has DSL internet access. Suggestions? I
> live very close (1-3 miles) from broadcast towers. Thanks!
>
> -John
>
The ATI card had been dubbed the ATI Blunder because of complaints of a
variety of problem. It is possible a fix will require more then just
software alone . If your looking for an inexpensive software based HD tuner
then you should check out the Dvico Fusion. While it had it's own share of
problems in the being it was also the first software Mpeg 2 tuner to market.
The Fusion runs about $150.00 with remote. It works with Microsoft MCE 2005,
a big plus for those with MCE for a front end.

There is also the Sasem a USB2 tuner that looks good a bit higher priced at
around $240 and looks like only analog MCE support. The ATI and other
software based HD tuners strongly suggest a DXVA based video card. I think
all newer cards handle Direct X Video Acceleration. If you check out either
card they list the cards known to work with them.

Snapstream works well with many types of analog tuners but I've seen no HD
tuner support. I've looked at several front ends to get PVR like functions
with a HD tuner and MCE looks good and has little competition yet, as far as
HD tuner support goes.

If you factor in software cost the more mature hardware based turners have a
appeal as they have better recording software. What you buy depends on what
features you want and what you want to pay. The ATI card looks like a first
attempt that will improve with later releases. For now there are other
boards that have gone thru more "Beta" testing.

http://www.copperbox.com/lite/default.php?possum=true

Copperbox sells and has info for most HD tuners

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 14:44:17 -0500, "Sonic" <ergoacess@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>
>"John Baima" <john@nospam.com> wrote in message
>news:bhp1v0hrsdver03j1tj7e9hd4m7blv4sjr@4ax.com...
>> I'd like to receive broadcast HDTV on my PC with Windows XP Pro. I'm
>> looking at the ATI card and the SnapStream software but I have no
>> experience with either. I do have a NVIDEO video card and one review
>> of the ATI said that it had problems with those. I'm wondering if that
>> has been fixed. The computer has DSL internet access. Suggestions? I
>> live very close (1-3 miles) from broadcast towers. Thanks!
>>
>> -John
>>
>The ATI card had been dubbed the ATI Blunder because of complaints of a
>variety of problem. It is possible a fix will require more then just
>software alone . If your looking for an inexpensive software based HD tuner
>then you should check out the Dvico Fusion. While it had it's own share of
>problems in the being it was also the first software Mpeg 2 tuner to market.
>The Fusion runs about $150.00 with remote. It works with Microsoft MCE 2005,
>a big plus for those with MCE for a front end.
>
>There is also the Sasem a USB2 tuner that looks good a bit higher priced at
>around $240 and looks like only analog MCE support. The ATI and other
>software based HD tuners strongly suggest a DXVA based video card. I think
>all newer cards handle Direct X Video Acceleration. If you check out either
>card they list the cards known to work with them.
>
>Snapstream works well with many types of analog tuners but I've seen no HD
>tuner support. I've looked at several front ends to get PVR like functions
>with a HD tuner and MCE looks good and has little competition yet, as far as
>HD tuner support goes.
>
>If you factor in software cost the more mature hardware based turners have a
>appeal as they have better recording software. What you buy depends on what
>features you want and what you want to pay. The ATI card looks like a first
>attempt that will improve with later releases. For now there are other
>boards that have gone thru more "Beta" testing.
>
>http://www.copperbox.com/lite/default.php?possum=true
>
>Copperbox sells and has info for most HD tuners
>

Now, as far as just VIEWING HD content, will these tuners be
sufficient? ATI, Dvico and MyHD? I don't want to use this as a DVR or
anything, just viewing. Are these still troublesome just for viewing?

Thanks.

--Phil

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

John Baima wrote:
> I'd like to receive broadcast HDTV on my PC with Windows XP Pro. I'm
> looking at the ATI card and the SnapStream software but I have no
> experience with either. I do have a NVIDEO video card and one review
> of the ATI said that it had problems with those. I'm wondering if that
> has been fixed. The computer has DSL internet access. Suggestions? I
> live very close (1-3 miles) from broadcast towers. Thanks!
>
> -John
>
I have an ATI HDTV Wonder and their Radean X800XT card. It does fine for
watching HD, but the software itself has problems. I wanted to use it
primarily as a PVR, but when it records what I've scheduled it usually
captures the last channel viewed rather than the channel I wanted to
watch. This makes the card mostly useless for me.

I contacted their support via email on 1/10, got an automated response
that didn't help and then replied again that same day and multiple days
after that. I finally got a response on 1/19 (didn't fix my problem)
only after calling them on 1/18 and talking to a tech for almost 40
minutes (toll call to Canada). It's still not fixed and probably going
back to CompUSA this weekend (21 day return policy).

The current list of problems that I have open with them are:

- Scheduled recordings sometimes record the wrong channel. It appears to
record the last channel viewed instead of the desired channel. Actually,
the tuner shows the desired channel but the content is from the last
channel viewed. It's as if the tuner isn't able to complete the switch
to the desired channel when starting a scheduled recording.

- While testing scheduled recordings I found that recordings of only a
few minutes wouldn't be saved. The recording would appear to work
(albeit sometimes recording the wrong channel) but no file would be
saved to disk.

- File player still crashes while using the position slider on "Native"
HDTV recording.

- There's something wrong with the Library. My latest scheduled
recording doesn't show (but the file is on the disk) and I've had other
recordings show up in the library but they couldn't be played. Upon
doing a Cleanup Library it tells me that those files couldn't be resolved.

- Under ATI system tray -> Multimedia Center, there's no DTV icon.


Good luck. If you decide to buy make sure you can return it without
penalty.

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Phil R." <screenname@domain.com> wrote in message
news:9p03v09n12d56ldli4oru83ai5m6ffnd0j@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 14:44:17 -0500, "Sonic" <ergoacess@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>"John Baima" <john@nospam.com> wrote in message
>>news:bhp1v0hrsdver03j1tj7e9hd4m7blv4sjr@4ax.com...
>>> I'd like to receive broadcast HDTV on my PC with Windows XP Pro. I'm
>>> looking at the ATI card and the SnapStream software but I have no
>>> experience with either. I do have a NVIDEO video card and one review
>>> of the ATI said that it had problems with those. I'm wondering if that
>>> has been fixed. The computer has DSL internet access. Suggestions? I
>>> live very close (1-3 miles) from broadcast towers. Thanks!
>>>
>>> -John
>>>
>>The ATI card had been dubbed the ATI Blunder because of complaints of a
>>variety of problem. It is possible a fix will require more then just
>>software alone . If your looking for an inexpensive software based HD
>>tuner
>>then you should check out the Dvico Fusion. While it had it's own share of
>>problems in the being it was also the first software Mpeg 2 tuner to
>>market.
>>The Fusion runs about $150.00 with remote. It works with Microsoft MCE
>>2005,
>>a big plus for those with MCE for a front end.
>>
>>There is also the Sasem a USB2 tuner that looks good a bit higher priced
>>at
>>around $240 and looks like only analog MCE support. The ATI and other
>>software based HD tuners strongly suggest a DXVA based video card. I
>>think
>>all newer cards handle Direct X Video Acceleration. If you check out
>>either
>>card they list the cards known to work with them.
>>
>>Snapstream works well with many types of analog tuners but I've seen no HD
>>tuner support. I've looked at several front ends to get PVR like functions
>>with a HD tuner and MCE looks good and has little competition yet, as far
>>as
>>HD tuner support goes.
>>
>>If you factor in software cost the more mature hardware based turners have
>>a
>>appeal as they have better recording software. What you buy depends on
>>what
>>features you want and what you want to pay. The ATI card looks like a
>>first
>>attempt that will improve with later releases. For now there are other
>>boards that have gone thru more "Beta" testing.
>>
>>http://www.copperbox.com/lite/default.php?possum=true
>>
>>Copperbox sells and has info for most HD tuners
>>
>
> Now, as far as just VIEWING HD content, will these tuners be
> sufficient? ATI, Dvico and MyHD? I don't want to use this as a DVR or
> anything, just viewing. Are these still troublesome just for viewing?
>
> Thanks.
>
> --Phil

I got a Fusion card over a year ago because at the time my primary concern
was tuning HD, recording secondary. It tunes well for me at 15 to 20 miles
from the towers with a strong constant signal. I like the lower price and
the fact that it's worked well on the hardware side. I do wish there were
more software choices but the Fusion has the most software support of any
card out now. I have several ATI video cards so I'm not anti ATI while you
research HD tuner at least put it at the bottom of the list for awhile.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=0ec504d...

This is a link to a loooong thread on the ATI HD tuner .

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 20:47:37 -0500, "Sonic" <ergoacess@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>
>"Phil R." <screenname@domain.com> wrote in message
>news:9p03v09n12d56ldli4oru83ai5m6ffnd0j@4ax.com...
>> On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 14:44:17 -0500, "Sonic" <ergoacess@yahoo.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>"John Baima" <john@nospam.com> wrote in message
>>>news:bhp1v0hrsdver03j1tj7e9hd4m7blv4sjr@4ax.com...
>>>> I'd like to receive broadcast HDTV on my PC with Windows XP Pro. I'm
>>>> looking at the ATI card and the SnapStream software but I have no
>>>> experience with either. I do have a NVIDEO video card and one review
>>>> of the ATI said that it had problems with those. I'm wondering if that
>>>> has been fixed. The computer has DSL internet access. Suggestions? I
>>>> live very close (1-3 miles) from broadcast towers. Thanks!
>>>>
>>>> -John
>>>>
>>>The ATI card had been dubbed the ATI Blunder because of complaints of a
>>>variety of problem. It is possible a fix will require more then just
>>>software alone . If your looking for an inexpensive software based HD
>>>tuner
>>>then you should check out the Dvico Fusion. While it had it's own share of
>>>problems in the being it was also the first software Mpeg 2 tuner to
>>>market.
>>>The Fusion runs about $150.00 with remote. It works with Microsoft MCE
>>>2005,
>>>a big plus for those with MCE for a front end.
>>>
>>>There is also the Sasem a USB2 tuner that looks good a bit higher priced
>>>at
>>>around $240 and looks like only analog MCE support. The ATI and other
>>>software based HD tuners strongly suggest a DXVA based video card. I
>>>think
>>>all newer cards handle Direct X Video Acceleration. If you check out
>>>either
>>>card they list the cards known to work with them.
>>>
>>>Snapstream works well with many types of analog tuners but I've seen no HD
>>>tuner support. I've looked at several front ends to get PVR like functions
>>>with a HD tuner and MCE looks good and has little competition yet, as far
>>>as
>>>HD tuner support goes.
>>>
>>>If you factor in software cost the more mature hardware based turners have
>>>a
>>>appeal as they have better recording software. What you buy depends on
>>>what
>>>features you want and what you want to pay. The ATI card looks like a
>>>first
>>>attempt that will improve with later releases. For now there are other
>>>boards that have gone thru more "Beta" testing.
>>>
>>>http://www.copperbox.com/lite/default.php?possum=true
>>>
>>>Copperbox sells and has info for most HD tuners
>>>
>>
>> Now, as far as just VIEWING HD content, will these tuners be
>> sufficient? ATI, Dvico and MyHD? I don't want to use this as a DVR or
>> anything, just viewing. Are these still troublesome just for viewing?
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> --Phil
>
>I got a Fusion card over a year ago because at the time my primary concern
>was tuning HD, recording secondary. It tunes well for me at 15 to 20 miles
>from the towers with a strong constant signal. I like the lower price and
>the fact that it's worked well on the hardware side. I do wish there were
>more software choices but the Fusion has the most software support of any
>card out now. I have several ATI video cards so I'm not anti ATI while you
>research HD tuner at least put it at the bottom of the list for awhile.
>
>http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=0ec504d...
>
>This is a link to a loooong thread on the ATI HD tuner .
>
>

Thank you.

--Phil

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

John Baima <john@nospam.com> wrote (in part):

>I'd like to receive broadcast HDTV on my PC with Windows XP Pro. I'm
>looking at the ATI card and the SnapStream software but I have no
>experience with either. I do have a NVIDEO video card and one review
>of the ATI said that it had problems with those. I'm wondering if that
>has been fixed. The computer has DSL internet access. Suggestions? I
>live very close (1-3 miles) from broadcast towers. Thanks!
>
>-John

I can recommend the MyHD card. I use it with the optional DVI
daughterboard. Hardware based, so it doesn't overtax the CPU, and
doesn't require a fast computer just to use it as a tuner. Also works
well as a DVR, though not as easily as a standalone. One of the
software programmers is a regular contributor to AVSForum, so the
company isn't ignoring the users as some companies do.

Del Mibbler