Results 1 to 16 of 16

Thread: TV on PC!!!!

  1. #1
    Senior Member MantisCSS's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Basingstoke
    Posts
    898
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    TV on PC!!!!

    hi guys, ive got windows media centre on my PC and am guna get a TV card, i take it as i have Windows media edition it is now possible for me to get a HD picture if i have a HD TV? also can anybody recomend a good TV card???

    Regards Rich
    PowerColor HD 4850 512MB
    Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard
    Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53GHz
    Coolermaster Centurion 5 All Black
    Corsair 450W VX 450W PSU
    Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB

  2. #2
    Does he need a reason? Funkstar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Aberdeen
    Posts
    19,874
    Thanks
    630
    Thanked
    965 times in 816 posts
    • Funkstar's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte EG45M-DS2H
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core2Quad Q9550 (2.83GHz)
      • Memory:
      • 8GB OCZ PC2-6400C5 800MHz Quad Channel
      • Storage:
      • 650GB Western Digital Caviar Blue
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 512MB ATI Radeon HD4550
      • PSU:
      • Antec 350W 80+ Efficient PSU
      • Case:
      • Antec NSK1480 Slim Mini Desktop Case
      • Operating System:
      • Vista Ultimate 64bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell 2407 + 2408 monitors
      • Internet:
      • Zen 8mb
    Does MCE actually support HD? don't think so.

    For full HD on MCE you will need Vista. At the moment there is no support for HDCP in MCE (as far as i know) and last i heard, no graphics cards, even the HDMI ones, were HDCP compliant.

    Also the only HD sources in the UK are closed. SkyHD and TelewestHD are not available on a PC, no matter what card you have. Freeview in HD won't be public until at least 2012.

    As for DVB-T cards, you need to make sure they are MCE compatible. the Hauppauge ones are supposed to be good, and you can get them for a decent amount on Scan.

  3. #3
    Senior Member MantisCSS's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Basingstoke
    Posts
    898
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    ok ty for lettign me know. so whihc TV card do i want then!?!? what gives the bets picture?
    PowerColor HD 4850 512MB
    Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard
    Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53GHz
    Coolermaster Centurion 5 All Black
    Corsair 450W VX 450W PSU
    Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB

  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    W Yorkshire
    Posts
    5,691
    Thanks
    85
    Thanked
    15 times in 13 posts
    • XA04's system
      • Motherboard:
      • MSI X570-A Pro
      • CPU:
      • AMD Ryzen 5 3600
      • Memory:
      • Corsair 2x 8gb DDR 4 3200
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Serpent M.2 SSD & 4TB HDD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Palit RTX 2060
      • PSU:
      • Antec Truepower 650W
      • Case:
      • Fractcal Meshify C
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • iiyama 34" Curved UWQHD
      • Internet:
      • Virgin 100mb Fibre
    I've seen HDTV freeview cards around... and why wouldn't graphic cards support it? - you can get resolutions on most graphics cards higher than HDTV all together..

    And you could get HDTV on your PC before... sort of.. if you do have SkyHD you could hook that upto your HDTV TV card (just as you would with a VHS for example), then you could do it that way too.


    Feel free to correct me though.


    Either way, personally I'd go for a freeview TV card Mantis... you are going to get the best quality that way - plus analog is going to be cut off soon... not sure when, I have 2008 in my head for some reason... but I don't think that's right.
    I'd go for a PCI card too, and not USB.

  5. #5
    Senior Member MantisCSS's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Basingstoke
    Posts
    898
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    so gimem alink to what i need for the best pic ty guys
    PowerColor HD 4850 512MB
    Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard
    Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53GHz
    Coolermaster Centurion 5 All Black
    Corsair 450W VX 450W PSU
    Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB

  6. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    W Yorkshire
    Posts
    5,691
    Thanks
    85
    Thanked
    15 times in 13 posts
    • XA04's system
      • Motherboard:
      • MSI X570-A Pro
      • CPU:
      • AMD Ryzen 5 3600
      • Memory:
      • Corsair 2x 8gb DDR 4 3200
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Serpent M.2 SSD & 4TB HDD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Palit RTX 2060
      • PSU:
      • Antec Truepower 650W
      • Case:
      • Fractcal Meshify C
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • iiyama 34" Curved UWQHD
      • Internet:
      • Virgin 100mb Fibre
    A quick eBay search..


    HDTV:
    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Twinham-Digita...QQcmdZViewItem
    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TwinhanDTV-Ter...QQcmdZViewItem
    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VisionDTV-HDTV...QQcmdZViewItem

    Standard/Freeview:
    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Digital-TV-Rad...QQcmdZViewItem


    Not too sure of the makes but they seem quite good and the price sounds right.


    Edit: This seems better for standard freeview:
    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Hauppauge-WinT...QQcmdZViewItem
    Last edited by XA04; 02-06-2006 at 09:31 PM.

  7. #7
    HEXUS.social member Agent's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Internet
    Posts
    19,185
    Thanks
    739
    Thanked
    1,614 times in 1,050 posts
    Get a DigiTV - great cards
    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    And by trying to force me to like small pants, they've alienated me.

  8. #8
    Sexual Force johnny02004976's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Cardiff
    Posts
    2,694
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    ive just got a Hauppage WinTV Nova-T from our fav guys at Scan - im V pleased with it

    EDIT: it can be found here btw http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...ProductID=9833
    Last edited by johnny02004976; 03-06-2006 at 09:43 AM.
    Contrary to the odd name and translucent-grey color, Pocari Sweat does not taste like sweat
    Hardware:

    Main PC
    - See 'My System'
    Server - Athlon XP 1700+, 1GB, 500GB HD
    Laptop - Compaq AMD Turion 64 X2, 60GB HD, 1GB
    Media Centre Shuttle - P4 3.0 Skt 775 Shuttle, 1GB, 120GB HD
    NAS - 400GB
    Home Entertainment - Xbox 360 with 37" HD LCD TV, Acoustic Energy Aegis EVO A speakers (5,1), Yamaha RXV359 AV reciever
    Media Centre II - X2 4000+, 1GB, 400Gb Vista Ultimate


  9. #9
    Senior Member MantisCSS's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Basingstoke
    Posts
    898
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    with the HDTV cards it says they have freeview aswell!?!?!?
    PowerColor HD 4850 512MB
    Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard
    Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53GHz
    Coolermaster Centurion 5 All Black
    Corsair 450W VX 450W PSU
    Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB

  10. #10
    Does he need a reason? Funkstar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Aberdeen
    Posts
    19,874
    Thanks
    630
    Thanked
    965 times in 816 posts
    • Funkstar's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte EG45M-DS2H
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core2Quad Q9550 (2.83GHz)
      • Memory:
      • 8GB OCZ PC2-6400C5 800MHz Quad Channel
      • Storage:
      • 650GB Western Digital Caviar Blue
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 512MB ATI Radeon HD4550
      • PSU:
      • Antec 350W 80+ Efficient PSU
      • Case:
      • Antec NSK1480 Slim Mini Desktop Case
      • Operating System:
      • Vista Ultimate 64bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell 2407 + 2408 monitors
      • Internet:
      • Zen 8mb
    Quote Originally Posted by XA04
    I've seen HDTV freeview cards around...
    Any DVB-T card will support Freeview, because Freeview is just the branding of the Free To Air part of the UKs DTV system. TopUpTV and Setanta are the subscription part of this.

    All the budget DVB-T cards support HD. All the card it doing is tuning to the correct frequency, and sending the correct channel within the MUX (MUltipleX) to the software running on the PC to do withis what it wants. Whether the software supports HD streams, in either MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 (either h.263 or h.264) is another matter.

    Quote Originally Posted by XA04
    and why wouldn't graphic cards support it? - you can get resolutions on most graphics cards higher than HDTV all together..
    Resolution is only have the story. Right now the only way to output true HD video from your PC is to either download content (sample material or otherwise), or playback home video from an HD camcorder. This is fine, as neither of these sources have HDCP (High Definition Conent/Copy Protection) enabled on them. HD-DVD and BlueRay both have HDCP so will not let you play them back without a secure path all the way through to your monitor. Windows, software, graphics card, drivers and monitor all have to be HDCP compliant for this to work.

    Quote Originally Posted by XA04
    And you could get HDTV on your PC before... sort of.. if you do have SkyHD you could hook that upto your HDTV TV card (just as you would with a VHS for example), then you could do it that way too.
    Then all you are getting is a down converted SD source. As far as i know, there are *no* HD capable capture cards, nothing will take DVI, HDMI or HD component input signals and let you record that.


    Quote Originally Posted by XA04
    plus analog is going to be cut off soon... not sure when, I have 2008 in my head for some reason... but I don't think that's right.
    Switch off is starting in 2008 in the less populated areas of the country (so they can boost the DTV signals giving better coverage) and finishing in 2012.

  11. #11
    Does he need a reason? Funkstar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Aberdeen
    Posts
    19,874
    Thanks
    630
    Thanked
    965 times in 816 posts
    • Funkstar's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte EG45M-DS2H
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core2Quad Q9550 (2.83GHz)
      • Memory:
      • 8GB OCZ PC2-6400C5 800MHz Quad Channel
      • Storage:
      • 650GB Western Digital Caviar Blue
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 512MB ATI Radeon HD4550
      • PSU:
      • Antec 350W 80+ Efficient PSU
      • Case:
      • Antec NSK1480 Slim Mini Desktop Case
      • Operating System:
      • Vista Ultimate 64bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell 2407 + 2408 monitors
      • Internet:
      • Zen 8mb
    Quote Originally Posted by MantisCSS
    so gimem alink to what i need for the best pic ty guys
    If you are suing a digital source (Freeview/DVB-T) then the picture quality is dependant on the decoder software, not the card really. as any card will be passing the same MPEG-2 stream to the software (MCE). What does make a difference, especially if you are in a marginal signal area, is the quality of the tuner on the card.

    I don't think this is as big a deal as it used to be. the common cards are all pretty good these days, especially if you are talking about standard PCI cards (the tiny USB sticks and CardBus cards do vary quite a lot). Three cards I have are:

    Nebula Electronics DigiTV:
    http://www.nebula-electronics.com

    Twinhan VisionPlus DTV
    http://www.twinhan.com/product_terrestrial_2.asp (slightly different layout, but essentially the same card)

    Kworld DVB-T 100
    http://www.kworld.com.tw/en/kworld/b...l/DVB-T100.htm

    If you are going to be using the software bundled with the card (rather than MCE or another PVR app) i would recomend the Nebula DigiTV. They are more expensive than other cards, but the software is a lot better, and these days it weems pretty robust. They also have a good roadmap of where they are heading, although they are going pretty slowly at the moment

  12. #12
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Posts
    527
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    If you're in the right area, with the right setup you can get the BBC HD Freeview trials using many of the current DVB-T cards. This will display HD TV with 5.1 sound (very limited, it's just BBC with ITV, Channel 4 and 5 to add some content for the trial).

    It's a long read but should steer you in the right direction if you can get the Crystal Palace signal;

    http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/...7&page=1&pp=25

  13. #13
    Senior Member Merlin4458's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Kingston Uni
    Posts
    2,606
    Thanks
    26
    Thanked
    11 times in 11 posts
    mantis, dad is getting HD sky in a couple of weeks, so surely u could do something with that?, hook it up too your pc too? that possible? (im his bro btw)
    Rig: Amd 64 3700+ San Diego | Abit AT8 | 4x512 Corsair XMS3200C2PRO | PowerColour X850XTPE / Arctic Cooled | Samsung Spinpoint 250Gig | Enermax NoiseTake 485w | Arctic Freezer 64 Pro | Coolermaster Wavemaster Silver | Dell 2405FPW | Logitech G5 / Everglide Destrukt Monstermat |

  14. #14
    Senior Member MantisCSS's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Basingstoke
    Posts
    898
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    we just got it today john
    PowerColor HD 4850 512MB
    Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard
    Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53GHz
    Coolermaster Centurion 5 All Black
    Corsair 450W VX 450W PSU
    Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB

  15. #15
    Senior Member Merlin4458's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Kingston Uni
    Posts
    2,606
    Thanks
    26
    Thanked
    11 times in 11 posts
    right ill be coming home then , exams are over now... Is it awesome? how does it look on the sharp 37" Aquos?
    Rig: Amd 64 3700+ San Diego | Abit AT8 | 4x512 Corsair XMS3200C2PRO | PowerColour X850XTPE / Arctic Cooled | Samsung Spinpoint 250Gig | Enermax NoiseTake 485w | Arctic Freezer 64 Pro | Coolermaster Wavemaster Silver | Dell 2405FPW | Logitech G5 / Everglide Destrukt Monstermat |

  16. #16
    Senior Member MantisCSS's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Basingstoke
    Posts
    898
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    yeh looks awesome! HD is a joke, and its 42" not 37 get it right, hooked dads laptop up to it last night for a laugh and it only take liek a monitor cord n thats it, im guna take my PC down this evening to play CS on it, the picture is ajoke!!!!
    PowerColor HD 4850 512MB
    Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard
    Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53GHz
    Coolermaster Centurion 5 All Black
    Corsair 450W VX 450W PSU
    Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •