HDTV (ATSC) converter
Jeff
around I wound up with a used Dell 2001FP (~$170). This has multiple
inputs (including S Video) and Picture in Picture. Nice.
Now I could get one of the PCI digital cards mentioned before, but
I'd like to try a seperate tuner. A converter box, so to speak. After
much web searching I've found nothing for less than the cost of my monitor.
Any suggestion on devices with digital tuners and either S Video or
composite out? With a year to the digital TV only cutoff date I would
have thought the world would be full of these devices.
Jeff
Rod Speed
It is, the problem is that what you want output wise isnt that commonly required.
Dennis
I've never seen one. One problem is, you can't get HD through Svideo
or composite connectors. They only work with a 480i signal. So
you're not likely to find an HD tuner device with those outputs (one
exception is HD satellite TV boxes that down-convert HD and put it out
on Svideo, but it isn't realy HD anymore).
For HD, you commonly see devices with component (RGB), DVI or HDMI
outputs/inputs. Sometimes VGA.
With the Dell monitor, you can view SDTV (480i NTSC) via the composite
or Svideo connectors, or HDTV (720p or 1080i) via the DVI or VGA
connectors. As I've mentioned before, I use an ATSC HD tuner card in
a PC to watch HD on my Dell monitor, using the DVI connector from the
PC's video card. Works great.
Dennis (evil)
--
I'm behind the eight ball, ahead of the curve, riding the wave,
dodging the bullet and pushing the envelope. -George Carlin
P T
>I'd like to try a separate tuner.
>A converter box, so to speak.
>After much web searching I've found
>nothing for less than the cost of
>my monitor.
About a year ago I bought a refurb Samsung T451 (or 351?) atsc tuner on
ebay for $140 or so. I see my local Craigs List had one listed a month
ago for ~$115. I think these have a variety of outputs that should
satisfy your requirements. Too expensive? I think the day of the $40
atsc tuner has not yet arrived.
OTA digital signals can be astoundingly good. Even standard def can look
very good, and I realize how mediocre my cable signal is. However, atsc
signals are excellent or terrible: no middle ground like an ntsc tuner.
Jeff
> On Sat, 20 Oct 2007 10:36:42 -0400, Jeff <dont_...@all.uk> wrote:
>
>
>> After the last thread (on LCD power consumption) and some looking
>>around I wound up with a used Dell 2001FP (~$170). This has multiple
>>inputs (including S Video) and Picture in Picture. Nice.
>>
>> Now I could get one of the PCI digital cards mentioned before, but
>>I'd like to try a seperate tuner. A converter box, so to speak. After
>>much web searching I've found nothing for less than the cost of my monitor.
>>
>> Any suggestion on devices with digital tuners and either S Video or
>>composite out? With a year to the digital TV only cutoff date I would
>>have thought the world would be full of these devices.
>
>
> I've never seen one. One problem is, you can't get HD through Svideo
> or composite connectors. They only work with a 480i signal.
I don't know why that never occured to me. It's a whole new world of
acronyms and I'm clearly behind the times.
Oddly, until PTs follow up post I hadn't thought of all the different
resolution outputs that the digital signal carries.
So
> you're not likely to find an HD tuner device with those outputs (one
> exception is HD satellite TV boxes that down-convert HD and put it out
> on Svideo, but it isn't realy HD anymore).
>
> For HD, you commonly see devices with component (RGB), DVI or HDMI
> outputs/inputs. Sometimes VGA.
>
> With the Dell monitor, you can view SDTV (480i NTSC) via the composite
> or Svideo connectors, or HDTV (720p or 1080i) via the DVI or VGA
> connectors. As I've mentioned before, I use an ATSC HD tuner card in
> a PC to watch HD on my Dell monitor, using the DVI connector from the
> PC's video card. Works great.
Then that's what I'll do. I've been waiting for Vista before I
upgraded (I'm at 2000) but it looks like I'll find an XP licence and go
that route. Then the card.
I remember reading Serbian blogs during the Kosovo war. Discontent
soared after NATO took down television broadcasts and the war ended
shortly thereafter. If it wasn't for the penetration of cable and it's
longer transition time, I'd be expecting riots as transition
preparations are not apparent now.
Jeff
>
>
> Dennis (evil)
larry
> soared after NATO took down television broadcasts and the war ended
> shortly thereafter. If it wasn't for the penetration of cable and it's
> longer transition time, I'd be expecting riots as transition
> preparations are not apparent now.
>
Wait 'til they turn off the signal!
I'm sure most folks still don't understand that all their
existing TVs will not work.
Remember, this was supposed to happen before 2006!
There's another catch-
2006 or until 85% of Americans had made the DTV transition
-- larry/dallas
Chris Hill
>
>
>Wait 'til they turn off the signal!
>
>I'm sure most folks still don't understand that all their
>existing TVs will not work.
Most of them will still work because most people get their tv signals
from cable or satellite. I guess I'll have to buy a box if I want to
continue to get free tv, but I'm going to wait for the prices to come
down.
rick++
Its a tuner attached to a cheap computer monitor.
I wonder if the tuner could be canablized for another monitor.
Dennis
>Dennis wrote:
<snip>
>> With the Dell monitor, you can view SDTV (480i NTSC) via the composite
>> or Svideo connectors, or HDTV (720p or 1080i) via the DVI or VGA
>> connectors. As I've mentioned before, I use an ATSC HD tuner card in
>> a PC to watch HD on my Dell monitor, using the DVI connector from the
>> PC's video card. Works great.
>
> Then that's what I'll do. I've been waiting for Vista before I
>upgraded (I'm at 2000) but it looks like I'll find an XP licence and go
>that route. Then the card.
Just remember to use care in selecting your video card. I wouldn't go
with anything less than a 6200 w/256Mb (or equivalent). Remember,
1920x1080 (1080i) is about 2 megapixels of picture, and it must be
deinterlaced, scaled to your monitor's resolution and refreshed 60 or
so times a second. I've been thinking about putting together another
(frugal) HD-capable HTPC, and I've been looking at the XFX GeForce
6200 256 MB, available at Amazon for less than $50. This is probably
on the low end of cards sufficient for HD, but it is cheap, AGP (works
with older motherboards), fanless (quiet) and shouldn't make huge
demands on the power supply. In conjunction with the Nvidia PureVideo
decoder, you should be able to make use of the hardware assist of the
graphics card for decoding HD video, which offloads the main CPU.
Good luck with your project. Expect some fiddling and tuning to get
things right (and considerable satisfaction when it finally is :-).
Jeff
> On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 10:50:03 -0400, Jeff <dont_...@all.uk> wrote:
>
>
>>Dennis wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>>>With the Dell monitor, you can view SDTV (480i NTSC) via the composite
>>>or Svideo connectors, or HDTV (720p or 1080i) via the DVI or VGA
>>>connectors. As I've mentioned before, I use an ATSC HD tuner card in
>>>a PC to watch HD on my Dell monitor, using the DVI connector from the
>>>PC's video card. Works great.
>>
>> Then that's what I'll do. I've been waiting for Vista before I
>>upgraded (I'm at 2000) but it looks like I'll find an XP licence and go
>>that route. Then the card.
>
>
> Just remember to use care in selecting your video card. I wouldn't go
> with anything less than a 6200 w/256Mb (or equivalent). Remember,
> 1920x1080 (1080i) is about 2 megapixels of picture, and it must be
> deinterlaced, scaled to your monitor's resolution and refreshed 60 or
> so times a second.
Hmm, I can tell that I'll need to learn more about video cards.
What I have now calls itself a Radeon 9250 (256 meg) 8X. But it's
old... and no DVI.
I've been thinking about putting together another
> (frugal) HD-capable HTPC, and I've been looking at the XFX GeForce
> 6200 256 MB, available at Amazon for less than $50.
Let us know how that works out.
This is probably
> on the low end of cards sufficient for HD, but it is cheap, AGP (works
> with older motherboards), fanless (quiet) and shouldn't make huge
> demands on the power supply.
That seem right to me. There's a row of "Mom and Pop" stores here.
I'll shop to see if I can find that or something similar in an AGP. I
guess RAMDAC specs are meaningless for a DVI!
Any other chipsets to look for? I haven't been to Toms Hardware for
ages... Holy crap, video cards have gotten expensive!
In conjunction with the Nvidia PureVideo
> decoder, you should be able to make use of the hardware assist of the
> graphics card for decoding HD video, which offloads the main CPU.
>
> Good luck with your project. Expect some fiddling and tuning to get
> things right (and considerable satisfaction when it finally is :-).
I'm looking forward to it! Well, not the fiddling and tuning. Every
now and then I have to fix a friends computer and the process is always
the same, just keep plugging away until you outlast it!
Jeff
>
> Dennis (evil)
Dennis
<snip>
> Hmm, I can tell that I'll need to learn more about video cards.
>
> What I have now calls itself a Radeon 9250 (256 meg) 8X. But it's
>old... and no DVI.
You might give it a try before spending money on a new video card.
Just as a data point, I have a Radeon 9200 64Mb video card that does
not display HD video from full resolution MPEG2 files. However, if I
transcode it to a somewhat lower resolution Divx file, it will display
the video. (Hope I'm not confusing you here.)
>> I've been thinking about putting together another
>> (frugal) HD-capable HTPC, and I've been looking at the XFX GeForce
>> 6200 256 MB, available at Amazon for less than $50.
>
>Let us know how that works out.
It will probably be a while. I am in the process of finishing my
basement to include a family/TV room that will eventually house a
large screen HDTV. I will want the new HD-capable HTPC to go with
that.
<snip>
>> Good luck with your project. Expect some fiddling and tuning to get
>> things right (and considerable satisfaction when it finally is :-).
>
> I'm looking forward to it! Well, not the fiddling and tuning. Every
>now and then I have to fix a friends computer and the process is always
>the same, just keep plugging away until you outlast it!
When you get to that stage, there is a lot of useful information
available on the various online HDTV forums.
Dennis (evil)
--
The honest man is the one who realizes that he cannot
consume more, in his lifetime, than he produces.