Ok, I am going to ask what is probably a dump question..
I currently have Chris TV PVR, a Philips SAA7130 TV Card, GeForce 6200 video card through DVI and a samsung 2493HM monitor. I am running standard coax cable into my SAA7130 card and TV stations are fine. However, how do I take this to the next level and get HDTV? Surely I don't need an HD Converter box from TimeWarner... Or do I?
I am able to download 720 and 1080 sample videos from Microsoft and they run great...So I assume my resolution, etc. will handle this.
My question is what do I need to upgrade, or change in order to get HD TV through my pc TV card?
Hdtv How?
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kpierce
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- https://ask.fm/kuchniewarszawa
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First Light
- Member
- Posts: 21
- Joined: 17 Sep 2006, 22:46
Hi kpierce,
It sounds like you're following a similar path that I've already travelled. The first thing you need to understand is that your TV card does not have an ATSC tuner. That's the kind of tuner you need to receive over-the-air digital TV including HDTV. Your model TV card only has an analog TV tuner and this is what is supposed to go way in February 2009 in the U.S.
What's more, the ChrisTV PVR software only works with analog TV tuners (or hybrid tuners that include analog tuner capability). So even if your TV card had an ATSC-compatible tuner, the ChrisTV PVR could do nothing with it.
Therefore you cannot receive HDTV with your current setup. So what do you do? Here are some choices.
::Converter Box:: ----------
The cheapest route would be to purchase a converter box and connect it to either the antenna input of your TV card or (for slightly higher quality) the video input. The converter box contains an ATSC tuner that can receive over-the-air digital TV transmissions including HDTV and a converter to convert the signal to an old-fashioned analog signal like your TV card can presently receive. The picture quality you see on your computer will still be the same analog NTSC signal that you've always received with a mild increase in quality.
But remember, the digital signal is converted to an old-fashioned standard-resolution analog signal. So you'll be able to see HDTV content but you won't be able to see it with HDTV quality because its been downgraded to work with your old TV card.
ChrisTV PVR software will work with this setup but you won't be able to tune any channels with it. You'll have to set the input of the ChrisTV software to channel 3/4 (whichever you've set your converter to use) or the video input (if you use the video input instead of the antenna input). The channel will have to changed at the converter box with its remote control. This will make it impossible to set up automatic recording of different channels under the control of the ChrisTV PVR software.
Using a converter is a kluge---but it is the cheapest, least invasive way to be able to watch TV after February 2009 in the U.S. That's what I've been doing for several months now.
::ATSC Tuner:: ----------
The best solution would be to remove your old analog TV tuner from your computer and replace it with an ATSC tuner card. Many of them are available as hybrid or combo cards that also include an analog tuner so you can continue to receive the analog channels for the next two months. Also, if you're running Windows XP Media Center 2005 like I am, it won't recognize an ATSC tuner without an analog tuner because it was never designed to do HDTV.
I'm in the process of switching to an ATSC tuner card now. I'm just waiting for it and a few other parts to arrive. I chose the DViCO FushionHDTV7 Dual Express card because (as far as I'm aware) it has the most advanced tuner on the market and can receive both digital and analog signals (actually it's an international tuner that will work in a number of countries) plus it is a two-tuner device that allows you to watch one HDTV channel while recording a second different HDTV channel at the same time. And it does this with just a plain 1x PCI slot. Another great thing about it is that both tuners share the same antenna input so you don't have to use a splitter to feed each tuner with a separate antenna connection.
It is possible that the ChrisTV PVR software might work with this card if I used it in "analog mode" to receive the old signals that are going away after February 2009. But I don't care about the old signals. In fact, I'd be happy if this card didn't even receive them. All I care about is digital TV and especially HDTV. And, since the ChrisTV PVR does not do digital TV (including HDTV), it will be useless. I wish this wasn't true---I'd like to continue to use my ChrisTV Pro PVR software with HDTV but that isn't possible until Chris creates a new program with this capability.
With an ATSC tuner in your computer, you can receive over-the-air HDTV directly, view it at full resolution, and even record it on your hard drive for playback later. But before you do, you'll also need to check some other components of your computer...
Most ATSC tuner cards will require a decent video card. I'm upgrading to an nVidia GeForce 8600 GT for this purpose. And this requires that I also upgrade the power supply of my computer since the video card needs a little more power than my current one can provide. The 8600 GT is a decent compromise between performance and noise (high-end video cards often have loud fans). The model I selected has 512 MB of DDR3 memory (the fastest). Plus, the card doesn't require a PCI 2.0 slot (my computer has a standard PCI 16x slot).
Finally, you'll also need a display with adequate resolution. The highest HDTV resolution is 1920 x 1080 pixels. That's a 16x9 widescreen aspect ratio that you won't find in most computer monitors---the latter have standardized to a 16x10 aspect ratio for most widescreen displays. So if you want to be able to see a "1080" HDTV program without loosing any detail, you'll need a computer display that is 1920 x 1200 pixels and that usually means it will be around 24 inches (measured diagonally). By the way, if you do plan to purchase a new display, make sure it is HDMI compatible. That way it will be compatible with Blu-ray in case you decide to upgrade your computer's optical drive later.
I hope that answers your question about being able to watch over-the-air HDTV.
As for downloading and watching HDTV-quality videos on your computer, that is a completely different animal. It has nothing to do with being able to receive an over-the-air HDTV signal. However, my comments above about display resolution will still apply. In other words, if you don't have enough pixels in your display, you won't be able to see the full detail that is possible even from a downloaded video that is full "1080" in resolution.
Regards, First Light
It sounds like you're following a similar path that I've already travelled. The first thing you need to understand is that your TV card does not have an ATSC tuner. That's the kind of tuner you need to receive over-the-air digital TV including HDTV. Your model TV card only has an analog TV tuner and this is what is supposed to go way in February 2009 in the U.S.
What's more, the ChrisTV PVR software only works with analog TV tuners (or hybrid tuners that include analog tuner capability). So even if your TV card had an ATSC-compatible tuner, the ChrisTV PVR could do nothing with it.
Therefore you cannot receive HDTV with your current setup. So what do you do? Here are some choices.
::Converter Box:: ----------
The cheapest route would be to purchase a converter box and connect it to either the antenna input of your TV card or (for slightly higher quality) the video input. The converter box contains an ATSC tuner that can receive over-the-air digital TV transmissions including HDTV and a converter to convert the signal to an old-fashioned analog signal like your TV card can presently receive. The picture quality you see on your computer will still be the same analog NTSC signal that you've always received with a mild increase in quality.
But remember, the digital signal is converted to an old-fashioned standard-resolution analog signal. So you'll be able to see HDTV content but you won't be able to see it with HDTV quality because its been downgraded to work with your old TV card.
ChrisTV PVR software will work with this setup but you won't be able to tune any channels with it. You'll have to set the input of the ChrisTV software to channel 3/4 (whichever you've set your converter to use) or the video input (if you use the video input instead of the antenna input). The channel will have to changed at the converter box with its remote control. This will make it impossible to set up automatic recording of different channels under the control of the ChrisTV PVR software.
Using a converter is a kluge---but it is the cheapest, least invasive way to be able to watch TV after February 2009 in the U.S. That's what I've been doing for several months now.
::ATSC Tuner:: ----------
The best solution would be to remove your old analog TV tuner from your computer and replace it with an ATSC tuner card. Many of them are available as hybrid or combo cards that also include an analog tuner so you can continue to receive the analog channels for the next two months. Also, if you're running Windows XP Media Center 2005 like I am, it won't recognize an ATSC tuner without an analog tuner because it was never designed to do HDTV.
I'm in the process of switching to an ATSC tuner card now. I'm just waiting for it and a few other parts to arrive. I chose the DViCO FushionHDTV7 Dual Express card because (as far as I'm aware) it has the most advanced tuner on the market and can receive both digital and analog signals (actually it's an international tuner that will work in a number of countries) plus it is a two-tuner device that allows you to watch one HDTV channel while recording a second different HDTV channel at the same time. And it does this with just a plain 1x PCI slot. Another great thing about it is that both tuners share the same antenna input so you don't have to use a splitter to feed each tuner with a separate antenna connection.
It is possible that the ChrisTV PVR software might work with this card if I used it in "analog mode" to receive the old signals that are going away after February 2009. But I don't care about the old signals. In fact, I'd be happy if this card didn't even receive them. All I care about is digital TV and especially HDTV. And, since the ChrisTV PVR does not do digital TV (including HDTV), it will be useless. I wish this wasn't true---I'd like to continue to use my ChrisTV Pro PVR software with HDTV but that isn't possible until Chris creates a new program with this capability.
With an ATSC tuner in your computer, you can receive over-the-air HDTV directly, view it at full resolution, and even record it on your hard drive for playback later. But before you do, you'll also need to check some other components of your computer...
Most ATSC tuner cards will require a decent video card. I'm upgrading to an nVidia GeForce 8600 GT for this purpose. And this requires that I also upgrade the power supply of my computer since the video card needs a little more power than my current one can provide. The 8600 GT is a decent compromise between performance and noise (high-end video cards often have loud fans). The model I selected has 512 MB of DDR3 memory (the fastest). Plus, the card doesn't require a PCI 2.0 slot (my computer has a standard PCI 16x slot).
Finally, you'll also need a display with adequate resolution. The highest HDTV resolution is 1920 x 1080 pixels. That's a 16x9 widescreen aspect ratio that you won't find in most computer monitors---the latter have standardized to a 16x10 aspect ratio for most widescreen displays. So if you want to be able to see a "1080" HDTV program without loosing any detail, you'll need a computer display that is 1920 x 1200 pixels and that usually means it will be around 24 inches (measured diagonally). By the way, if you do plan to purchase a new display, make sure it is HDMI compatible. That way it will be compatible with Blu-ray in case you decide to upgrade your computer's optical drive later.
I hope that answers your question about being able to watch over-the-air HDTV.
As for downloading and watching HDTV-quality videos on your computer, that is a completely different animal. It has nothing to do with being able to receive an over-the-air HDTV signal. However, my comments above about display resolution will still apply. In other words, if you don't have enough pixels in your display, you won't be able to see the full detail that is possible even from a downloaded video that is full "1080" in resolution.
Regards, First Light
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Xenomorph
- Member
- Posts: 26
- Joined: 19 Nov 2006, 23:10
If/when you get an HDTV tuner, for viewing content on a digital tuner, I recommend a program called "Easy HDTV".
It's very cheap, and a GREAT HDTV program.
It doesn't do all the "media center" stuff like pausing live TV or recording programs. It's just a simple TV viewer. And it's the best one I've used. There was another one that works Ok in XP (but the Vista version really lacks), called "Watch HDTV". The developer seems to have given up on the program though.
I picked up a "KWORLD PlusTV HD PCI 120 ATSC 120" ($59.99 from Newegg, the price seemed to have gone up recently) back in 2007.
That means I've been watching beautiful HDTV since 2007.
I have several DTV tuner boxes for the rest of the TVs in my house, and the one I have hooked up to my computer is mostly used to check the signal strength when I'm messing with my antenna. To view the DTV box, I have to fall back to my analog tuner, which then means use of an analog TV viewing program, such as ChrisTV.
DScaler is another choice for analog tuning. Plus Vista support with it has improved a lot. For basic TV viewing, many may find it is more than they need. However, DScaler has froze and locked up my system FAR too many times - which again means I fall back to ChrisTV to use the analog part of my TV card.
ChrisTV is a great analog TV program, but for viewing HDTV, you will both need a new Tuner card AND a new TV program.
It's very cheap, and a GREAT HDTV program.
It doesn't do all the "media center" stuff like pausing live TV or recording programs. It's just a simple TV viewer. And it's the best one I've used. There was another one that works Ok in XP (but the Vista version really lacks), called "Watch HDTV". The developer seems to have given up on the program though.
I picked up a "KWORLD PlusTV HD PCI 120 ATSC 120" ($59.99 from Newegg, the price seemed to have gone up recently) back in 2007.
That means I've been watching beautiful HDTV since 2007.
I have several DTV tuner boxes for the rest of the TVs in my house, and the one I have hooked up to my computer is mostly used to check the signal strength when I'm messing with my antenna. To view the DTV box, I have to fall back to my analog tuner, which then means use of an analog TV viewing program, such as ChrisTV.
DScaler is another choice for analog tuning. Plus Vista support with it has improved a lot. For basic TV viewing, many may find it is more than they need. However, DScaler has froze and locked up my system FAR too many times - which again means I fall back to ChrisTV to use the analog part of my TV card.
ChrisTV is a great analog TV program, but for viewing HDTV, you will both need a new Tuner card AND a new TV program.