Hardware advice requested for someone new to PVR

[schmoppa]

Hi!

Someone referred me to the GBPVR software when I mentioned I was thinking about making my own PVR... looks great!

I already have what I think will be an adequate system for a PVR:

AMD Athlon 2000
512MB RAM
Audigy 1 card with breakout box
an nForce3 card with S-Video out.

I have digital cable, so I have a digital cable box.

I'm thinking of getting a FusionHDTV 5 GOLD PLUS capture card (for future proofing of the system + a remote)

http://www.fusionhdtv.co.kr/eng/Products/ATSC5Gold.aspx

and probably a new video card, like maybe this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814125152

It's an ATI 9250 with DVI, VGA, and S-Video out. Also, VIVO

Does this hardware combo look ok?

I have some dumb questions, any answers are greatly appreciated:

1. Would the gbpvr box take the place of my cable box? If so, is there any reason that it wouldn't work, such as not being "official" hardware?

2. can I custom set recording resolutions, so for shows in HDTV, I could have it record in HDTV resolution, but for SDTV it would record at "normal" resolutions?

3. If I have the gbpvr box networked, could I grab shows and watch them on my other computer (which happens to have a very nice 1920 x 1200 screen)?

4. Hypothetically speaking, would the gbpvr be able to get more channels out of the digital cable? Would I need some sort of software signal descrambler?

5. VIVO: the card I linked to shows a special looking cable with four connectors on one end, and one single connector on the other, which I assume plugs into the card. The other 4 look like, maybe, different types of video connections? I assume 2 go out, 2 come in since it's VIVO? The two that look like they go out, do they look like an s-video cable and a component video cable? It would be nice to have both options, until I actually have a real HDTV. For now, the tv I'm using only has basic 1-cable component input.

Anyways, thanks for any input!

[sub]

I'm thinking of getting a FusionHDTV 5 GOLD PLUS capture card (for future proofing of the system + a remote)

I should point out that GB-PVR will only support the digital side of this device. The analog side would not work with GB-PVR. Instead you'd need a card with onboard MPEG2 encoder if you wanted to record analog transmissions, eg Hauppauge PVR150 etc.

1. Would the gbpvr box take the place of my cable box? If so, is there any reason that it wouldn't work, such as not being "official" hardware

No. Its not currently possibly to tune in digital cable channels.

2. can I custom set recording resolutions, so for shows in HDTV, I could have it record in HDTV resolution, but for SDTV it would record at "normal" resolutions?

GB-PVR records over-the-air HDTV channels in whatever resolution they're transmitted in. Effectively just saving the data that the broadcaster transmitted. With analog recordings you can specify different recording qualities (resolution, bitrate etc)

3. If I have the gbpvr box networked, could I grab shows and watch them on my other computer (which happens to have a very nice 1920 x 1200 screen)?

GB-PVR doesnt really support a networked client, but there is nothing to stop you playing back the recordings from a normal Windows file share.

4. Hypothetically speaking, would the gbpvr be able to get more channels out of the digital cable? Would I need some sort of software signal descrambler?

No. As explained above, there are currently no device supported devices which can tune digital cable channels. The only way to receive digital channels is by connecting the digital cable box to a supported analog capture card, and then adding an IR Blaster into the mix, which will send the appropriate infra-red signals whenever it needs the cable box to change channels.

5. VIVO: the card I linked to shows a special looking cable with four connectors on one end, and one single connector on the other, which I assume plugs into the card. The other 4 look like, maybe, different types of video connections? I assume 2 go out, 2 come in since it's VIVO? The two that look like they go out, do they look like an s-video cable and a component video cable? It would be nice to have both options, until I actually have a real HDTV. For now, the tv I'm using only has basic 1-cable component input.

GB-PVR doesnt support VIVO.

Looking back at these answers, it doesnt sounds like a very good match with what you want to do. Sorry.

[schmoppa]

Did you mean that GB-PVR will only support the digital side of this card in particular, or all cards? It would be nice to be able to capture HDTV signals, but I'm more interested in capturing HBO HDTV (I believe TIme Warner does send HBO in HDTV), which isn't broadcast through the air. I don't care too much about capturing the programming that IS broadcast through the air in HDTV.

If I want to encode analog, I need a capture card that does MPEG2? I guess I didn't think it mattered, I thought you could take any video source and encode it however you like, but I will take your word for it.

It sounds like I can capture the analog signal coming from the digital cable box. This IR Blaster, to clarify, is it what GB-PVR can use to change the channel (by itself) when there is a show it needs to record at a certain time?

So if I understand correctly, GB-PVR only supports digital channels captured by the Fusion device I mentioned. If I want to capture from the cable box, I need an analog capture card (and IR Blaster). Hmm. HDTV is a digital signal, right? So are there not any analog HDTV capture cards?

As for VIVO, I am not attached to the idea of buying this video card either.

Anyways, thank you very much for your response. This is still a bit of a haze for me surrounding this subject, but you have helped me take a few steps in the right direction. I think I might be able to figure out what I need and what will work for me. I haven't counted GB-PVR out yet. It seems like if I am ok with not capturing HDTV, it will work for me.

[sub]

I hope this clears some things up:

ANALOG:
If you want to capture any regular analog TV signals you need to use a analog capture card that GB-PVR supports. GB-PVR only supports analog capture cards with an onboard hardware MPEG2 encoder (also a few MPEG4 hardware encoder devices). Most modern capture cards have an onboard MPEG2 encoder, for example Hauppauge PVR150/250/350/500 cards, ATI Theatre 550 cards, and various clones based on same Conexant reference design.

The analog capture part of Fusion card does not have an hardware MPEG2 encoder, so it is not supported by GB-PVR. The analog part of Fusion requires software encoding, which to be blunt...sucks. Uses large amounts of CPU, is very prone to problems etc. Software encoding is far from simple, and usually requires licensing third party encoder software etc which isnt something I'm in a position to do.

DIGITAL:
GB-PVR supports digital devices that support the BDA interface. The Fusion digital tuner supports the BDA interface, so is supported by GB-PVR.

The Fusion BDA drivers can currently only be used to receive over the air transmissions, not digital cable. Even when their BDA drivers are updated to support digital cable, you will only be able to receive channels that are transmitted "in the clear" (unencrypted). Which channels are transmitted "in the clear"? Apparently it varies wildy depend on what cable network you're on. Some transmit nearly all channels in the clear, some transmit no channels in the clear. That said, HBO HDTV is one of those channels that is unlikely to broadcast in the clear.

How can you capture the channels that are not in the clear (broadcast in encrypted form)? Currently you cant, regardless of app. In theory a new range capture cards will be released on to the market which have a slot for a 'CableCard' unit, which you will rent off your cable provider, but this is probably at least a year away so not really worth worrying about at this stage.

So if I understand correctly, GB-PVR only supports digital channels captured by the Fusion device I mentioned. If I want to capture from the cable box, I need an analog capture card (and IR Blaster). Hmm. HDTV is a digital signal, right? So are there not any analog HDTV capture cards?

Given what I said above, you could currently capture 'over the air' HDTV broadcasts with the fusion device, but if you want to capture digital cable broadcasts then you'd need to just capture stand definition recordings via digital cable boxes svideo/composite cable into an analog card like the Hauppauge PVR150. There is currently no way around this.