Got my G550

[Maggi]

good to hear ...

did you already try MoreTV for using DVD Max ?

[The PIT]

Not yet I'm afraid.

[Maggi]

http://freetv.321host-it.com/files/MoreTV.352.zip in case you missed the link I posted in the middle of this thread ...

btw, what WinTV card are you using ?

[The PIT]

Wintv nicam stero with radio. Its's based on the BTW848 chip. I'm waiting for my wintv Nova - t card to come so I can watch the free digital channels.

[Maggi]

Bt848 is supported by MoreTV ...

Just set color model to YUV, enable YUV overlay and you shold be set.


I wouldn't go for the Nova, since it uses your CPU to playback the MPEG-2 streams that come down from satelite.
I'd rather target the DVB-s (I use one) which only uses about 1-3% CPU cycles while watching TV.

Btw, do you realize that Hauppauge is just an OEM in DVB business and TechnoTrend is the company that builds all those digital TV boards for satelite, cable and terrestrial reception ?

http://www.technotrend.de/english/products/pcproducts2-2.html

Recently they added DVD Max support for their digital TV cards ...

[Fat Tone]

Hi Maggi.
Can you spell it out for me:

I have digital NTL cable (+cable modem +telephone). What do I need to view any of the channels on my PC? I have a Win-TV PCI but I don't think the analogue tv signals are present (they are at my Dads house 1/4 mile away though!). Is there software to decode the channels I'm already paying for on my set-top-box? I suppose there's no chance of getting any I'm not paying for, like the old analogue satellite days?

Thanks

Tony.

[Maggi]

Hi Tony,

first off some explanations:

DVB = digital video broadcast
DVB-s = satelite
DVB-c = cable
DVB-t = terrestrial

So in your case (cable TV), the option would be to get a DVB-c card.

In order to watch scrambled TV, you'd additionally need a
- CI (common interface) for ~ 75-100€ for inserting a
- CA module (prices vary for each crypting system, betycrypt is about 200€) to insert your
- smart card (that you obviously already have in use)

That setup is quite expensive, but the big plus is, that it enables you to directly bounce the TV signal onto HD as an MPEG-2 stream for further purposes, such as recrunching it into AVI in order to start up a digital video library like I do with two CDs per movie and finally replace my olden, but golden S-VHS VCR.



Is that what you wanted to know ?

Btw, evil voices whispered to me that there are ways of reprogramming those smart cards to activate even more channels ...

[Fat Tone]

Thanks Maggi.

Yes thats what I wanted to know. Guess I won't be doing that at those prices. It would have been nice to be able to watch/record cable in another room, but I can live without it.

Thanks again.

Tony.

[Maggi]

but still, there are ~100 free TV programms on Astra, plus dunno how many radio programms that are broadcasted using MPEG-1 layer 2 (usually in 192kb/s) ...

Also, very recently they put in support for DVD Max and my PC gets more and more integrated as a central multi media station, serving my home.

The other day I forgot that I was capturing a radio programm as MP2 onto my HD and next day it was still running and I had a +1GB file on my disk

[The PIT]

I have to go with the Nova-T as it isn't my house and I can't put a sat dish up or install cable as the garden would be dug up.
I think the cpu can handle the strain somehow.

[Fat Tone]

Sky are spending huge amounts on advertising the fact that they are shutting down the analoguw service at the end of September. I don't know what else will survive on Astra. There is an unused digital dish on the house that I could tap into.

[The PIT]

In the end they will all charge you for watching. It would be nice if you could get a refund for watching rubbish.