Ultimate HD Answers thread

[treads6464]

I have spent some time poking around trying to find info on HD. I know other noobs like myself have the same questions so...please answer the questions below more experienced users and other noobs feel free to add some more questions.
(I know these answers can be found with some digging, but a centralized post would be more effective for noobs looking to make the HD jump)

Here are some questions to get started:

I go thru the local cable/satellite company for my television. SD is a snap with GBPVRs easy setup, now I would like to make the step up to HD. So my first step is to call the cable company and upgrade my package to HD. That being said, and the new HD cable/satellite box(s) delivered to my house...

1)What are my options for setups in terms of hardware?

2) Best capture cards for HD?

3) What is OTA?

4) What is QAM?

5) If i have an HD receiver box from my tv company, which signal am I using?

6) Is the PCH a viable option? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

7) Is the HDHomerun a viable option? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

8) Where is the best place to purcahse these items?

9) Lets assume I want to build a setup with 3 tuners capable of both HD and SD, if i build from scratch what am I looking at monetarily?

10) If I am capable of following instructions on this forum, where is the best place to start setting up and codec/decoder issues with HD?

11) What are the minimum specs for a system with 3 tuners capable of receiving/recording HD and SD?

12) If I would like to run a client like the PCH or the MVP, does this change my minimum system specs?

13) Using schedules direct, where is the best place to start on this forum to get all my HD and SD channels setup correctly in the guide?

14) Assuming all parts are at hand, what is the estimated setup time for a basic HD capable system? A system with multiple tuners?

Thank you for any input and answers you all can provide. I am just trying to make this topic a good place to learn and accomplish those HD dreams.

[mvallevand]

That's overwhelming and I think there is are too many subjective points and opinions for one thread.

Martin

[Anthony]

Lots of questions, but I'll see if I can answer a few...

I go thru the local cable/satellite company for my television. SD is a snap with GBPVRs easy setup, now I would like to make the step up to HD. So my first step is to call the cable company and upgrade my package to HD.

Your local broadcast stations should be available on your cable feed as "free QAM". You should be able to access any of these free stations with a QAM capable tuner card, and not have to upgrade your cable package.

However, if you want any "additional" HD channels, you would need to upgrade your cable package and go through a cable box. Then you'll run into issues of how to get GBPVR to change channels on the box so it can record your shows. There are ways to do it, but that's outside my area of experience.

1)What are my options for setups in terms of hardware?

You won't need much computing power to record HD material, as it simply dumps the digital feed to your hard drive. If you want to "Watch" the HD material on your computer, you'll need a modern video card for starters. I use an external network media player (Tvix M4000P), so playback isn't an issue.

2) Best capture cards for HD?

HD is digital, so all digital cable cards should work about the same (as long as it's supported by GBPVR). I have two Hauppauge HVR-1600 tuner cards. Each has a digital tuner I can use for HD and SD digital, and an analog tuner I use to pick up the few cable channels I can't get over the air.

Other popular digital options are the HDHomeRun (dual tuner), and the OnAirGT.

3) What is OTA?

"Over The Air". Basically, the signals you get from an outdoor antenna.

4) What is QAM?

"Quadrature Amplitude Modulation", I think... Basically, it's the method cable companies use to send digital TV over the cable lines.

Over The Air digital broadcasts use a method called ATSC (don't remember what the letters stand for).

The old analog TV was broadcast using NTSC (or PAL in Europe).

5) If i have an HD receiver box from my tv company, which signal am I using?

For digital stations: Cable=QAM, Antenna=ATSC

However, I have no idea what format the cable box would output.

6) Is the PCH a viable option? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

Yes. I personally use an older TVix M4000 media player, but many people are happy with the Popcorn Hour as well. The PCH is a much more affordable option these days.

Unfortunately, all of the network media players have an issue of some type. Most, like mine, have problems with fast forwarding and rewinding, but normal playback has been flawless for me.

7) Is the HDHomerun a viable option? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

Yes. It's a popular tuner for use with GBPVR.

Strengths: Two tuners, and external making it a simple plug-and-play installation.

Weakness: I don't own one, but I think they're digital only (no analog support). Won't be an issue after Feb 2009, unless you get your TV through cable.

8) Where is the best place to purcahse these items?

Some items are only available direct from the manufacturer, otherwise you'll just have to shop around for best pricing.

9) Lets assume I want to build a setup with 3 tuners capable of both HD and SD, if i build from scratch what am I looking at monetarily?

Too many variables to know...

A digital tuner can receive both SD and HD "digital" material. But if you need support for analog SD material, you'll probably need separate analog tuners. OTA analog broadcasts will end Feb 2009 in the US, but you may still need analog support for some of your cable channels.

The HVR-1600 has one digital tuner and one analog tuner per card (I think the HVR-1800 is the same card in PCIe card style). The only tuner I know of that supports analog and digital on a single tuner is the HVR-2250 (the 1250 may be similar, I'm not sure).

10) If I am capable of following instructions on this forum, where is the best place to start setting up and codec/decoder issues with HD?

The "Support" and "Hardware" subforums?

11) What are the minimum specs for a system with 3 tuners capable of receiving/recording HD and SD?

It depends whether you need analog support or not. Digital can be HD or SD, analog is always SD. Two HVR-1600's would give you two digital tuners and two analog tuners (enough to record four shows at once). If you don't need analog, two HDHomeRun's would give you four digital tuners. There are plenty of other options depending on your needs.

12) If I would like to run a client like the PCH or the MVP, does this change my minimum system specs?

To use any network media player (like the PCH), you should run a WIRED ethernet network to your media player. Wireless can sort of work OK for SD material, but it's unlikely to work well with the data rates of HD shows.

Other than that, lots of hard drive space (about 4 gigs for a one hour HD TV show).

13) Using schedules direct, where is the best place to start on this forum to get all my HD and SD channels setup correctly in the guide?

Too many variables. You'll need to select your tuner cards first, then sign up for an account with Schedules Direct. Then go from there...

14) Assuming all parts are at hand, what is the estimated setup time for a basic HD capable system? A system with multiple tuners?

Again, too many variables. Plugging in an HDHomeRun will be a lot faster than opening your computer and installing a PCI card. Configuration time will vary depending on the channels you have available, whether you have digital and analog tuners, how many cards you have to configure, etc...

I am just trying to make this topic a good place to learn and accomplish those HD dreams.

Unfortunately, there's just WAY too much information to pack into a single thread like this. Every tuner card has it's own issues. The source of your TV listings has it's own issues. Playback has different issues than recording. And on, and on...

There's a LOT to learn, and it's a slow process. It won't happen overnight. I spent many months tweaking my setup, trying different tuners, upgrading my system, etc. before I got things working the way I liked.

My advice... Start small and work up. Buy a single tuner and set it up with GBPVR. You'll find out if the card works with your source (antenna/cable), whether you need to upgrade parts of your system (i.e. more drive space), etc. You can always add more tuners later. I tried the HVR-1600, OnAirGT, and HDHomeRun, and couldn't get ANY of them to work with my Comcast cable feed (though they seem to work fine for other folks). I now get my digital broadcasts over the air, and my analog feeds through cable.

Good luck, and have fun!

Anthony

[ilovejedd]

1)What are my options for setups in terms of hardware?

Too many to mention. What exactly are you hoping to achieve, and for DVR-ing, what channels are you planning to record (ABC, HBO, ESPN)? Digital cable channels available to TV tuner cards are limited.

2) Best capture cards for HD?

This list is a summary, but there have been a couple of new tuners (HVR-2250) released since it's been updated.

3) What is OTA?

Shortcut for "over-the-air", basically local broadcast via antenna.

4) What is QAM?

Shortcut for "Quadrature Amplitude Modulation", basically what cable companies use when transmitting digital video.

5) If i have an HD receiver box from my tv company, which signal am I using?

Depends. The only digital output from the HD receiver box is through HDMI. Since there are no consumer HDMI capture cards available (there's a prosumer one but you only get unencrypted signals), recording through HDMI is a no go. If you're using the RF, composite, S-Video or component connections of your set-top box (STB), then the digital signal is being decrypted and converted to analog before it goes to your TV.

6) Is the PCH a viable option? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

Viable option for what? It's a player, that's it.

7) Is the HDHomerun a viable option? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

Again, viable option for what? It's a dual-tuner for digital TV and it works pretty well at that. I like it because it connects via ethernet. I can put it anywhere in the house which is quite useful for getting good signal. My only gripe about it is it doesn't do analog.

8) Where is the best place to purcahse these items?

What items? The Popcorn Hour, I've only seen direct from popcornhour.com and eBay. As for the HDHomeRun, I've often seen it on sale from Amazon and Newegg.

9) Lets assume I want to build a setup with 3 tuners capable of both HD and SD, if i build from scratch what am I looking at monetarily?

It really depends on the tuners you decide on buying. I'd say you're looking at around $200~300 for tuners alone.

10) If I am capable of following instructions on this forum, where is the best place to start setting up and codec/decoder issues with HD?

That's really highly dependent on the system you build and choice of video card. I use the free MPV and MPA Decoder. I think I downloaded it from free-codecs.com

11) What are the minimum specs for a system with 3 tuners capable of receiving/recording HD and SD?

For pure recording, it's pretty low, assuming the tuner card selected has a hardware MPEG2 encoder. Your main requirement is a hard drive capable of writing three HD streams at the same time.

13) Using schedules direct, where is the best place to start on this forum to get all my HD and SD channels setup correctly in the guide?

Huh? When you subscribe to Schedules Direct, you create the line-up on the Schedules Direct website. Setting up SD listings on GB-PVR is basically just entering your username and password.

14) Assuming all parts are at hand, what is the estimated setup time for a basic HD capable system? A system with multiple tuners?

Really depends on your parts selection and skill (especially if you're custom building the PC).

[treads6464]

Excellent answers and opinions gentlemen! Different answers to some of these questions will really help someone who wants to build a HD GB-PVR setup. In the very least it will get them facing the right direction. Keep 'em coming!

[treads6464]

14) Regarding the HD Homerun Dual Digital tuner, what do you bring the sgnal in to your system with/as in gb-pvr. I notice the HD HomeRun has a lan jack. Does this connect to the router/switch and thus to the system, or does the system still need capture cards for a coax cable hook-up? Please explain for the noobs the differences between hooking up an HDHomerun vs hooking up a pci card

15) Assume multiple HD streams are being recorded to a hard drive in an HD system, what hard drives are recommended?

16) When controlling a cable box/gbpvr setup, what is IR blasting and is it easy to set up?

17) Assuming the user wants good quality sound to go with good quality HD picture, any recommendations on sound cards? Speaker setup?

18) Let's say, for example that a user receives a HD sports package from their cable/satellite provider, will they be able to view these channels?

19) If a cable/satellite company provides on-demand content like movies or pay per view, are these still attainable in a gb-pvr system?

My goal here is not personal, it is more to help a new person wrap their head around what this sytem is capable of and what they are getting into. I totally agree with several users on here in starting small and building up, tweaking for perfection along the way. At the same time, it is good to give people a view of the ultimate system, because we all know if it was viable we would do it. Thanks again People!

[InVermont]

If you are in North America, and want to record HD off of a satellite box, I think the only option you really have is HD DVR from Hauppauge (http://tinyurl.com/6kelep).
You can record unencrypted channels off of cable or OTA with other hardware, but where I live that isn't an option.

[AndyPro]

14) Assuming all parts are at hand, what is the estimated setup time for a basic HD capable system? A system with multiple tuners?

I think everyone is missing the real truth behind this question!! Truth is the setup will NEVER be finished. even if you're not computer adept at all, you will always be fiddling, changing, tweaking, installing, uninstalling....

Honest!

Reasonable skills: PC assembly from scratch maybe an hour for a complex build, software installation maybe another hour on a modern system. possibly less if you put less on... setup: maybe 15 minutes to an hour if you have no problems. Getting tit he way you want it: NEVER!!

--Andy P

[Anthony]

14) Regarding the HD Homerun Dual Digital tuner, what do you bring the sgnal in to your system with/as in gb-pvr. I notice the HD HomeRun has a lan jack. Does this connect to the router/switch and thus to the system, or does the system still need capture cards for a coax cable hook-up?

Your cable/antenna connects to the coax connectors on the HDHomeRun, and then you connect the output Cat5 ethernet cable to your home network (directly to a LAN port, through a router, or whatever).

Please explain for the noobs the differences between hooking up an HDHomerun vs hooking up a pci card

HDHomeRun - Plug in Cables. Hook up power.

PCI Card - Open case, find an open slot, remove the blank cover on the back of the computer. Plug in card, screw it down, close up case.

OnAirGT - Plug in antenna cable. Connect to computer with USB cable. Hook up power.

15) Assume multiple HD streams are being recorded to a hard drive in an HD system, what hard drives are recommended?

The data rates for even HD material (max around 19kbps I think) are rather insignificant for most hard drives these days. If you computer supports it, select a SATA drive. Easier to hook up and faster. Otherwise, shop for capacity at the best price. You may want to consider noise levels and power usage as well. I have a couple of Seagate 250gig drives in my machine.

16) When controlling a cable box/gbpvr setup, what is IR blasting and is it easy to set up?

Sorry, can't help there. I think you plug an external IR emitter into the tuner card, and place it in front of the IR sensor on the cable box. But I'm just guessing.

17) Assuming the user wants good quality sound to go with good quality HD picture, any recommendations on sound cards? Speaker setup?

If you use an external media player, the sound quality will depend on the TV/Stereo system you use. For instance, I routinely watch shows recorded in 5.1 Dolby Digital. Awesome sound.

For listening on the computer, most any modern sound card will work fine. I just use the audio built-in to my motherboard. I have a Creative brand speaker system with a powered subwoofer and two midrange/tweeters. For the money, I think it sounds nice, but you can go crazy with computer sound systems if you really want to.

18) Let's say, for example that a user receives a HD sports package from their cable/satellite provider, will they be able to view these channels?

I don't pick up digital cable, so can't help there.

19) If a cable/satellite company provides on-demand content like movies or pay per view, are these still attainable in a gb-pvr system?

I don't pick up digital cable, so can't help there.

I agree with Andy P, your setup will NEVER be completely finished. You'll always been tweaking and adding something.

Anthony

[ilovejedd]

15) Assume multiple HD streams are being recorded to a hard drive in an HD system, what hard drives are recommended?

On a recent hard drive, requirements are pretty negligible, except it's not exactly as low as 19kbps - that's barely enough for a low res slide show. The maximum bitrate for an ATSC transport stream is 19mbps. Actual bitrate is usually a bit lower, especially for stations that broadcast multiple programs in one transport stream. I was just looking at benchmarks for Samsung 1TB HDD's on Tom's Hardware. Assuming a bitrate of 19mbps (2.375MBps), you can record 16 HD programs at the same time on a 1TB EcoGreen 5400RPM drive (based on minimum write speed of 38.8MBps).

16) When controlling a cable box/gbpvr setup, what is IR blasting and is it easy to set up?

You connect an IR blaster to the tuner or say the Windows MCE IR receiver and the IR blaster basically acts as a remote controlled by the PC. Easy to set-up, yes, fairly, but you might find devices which are not supported. In particular, I could never get it to work with Scientific Atlanta Explorer 3100/3200 cable boxes (non-HD).

18) Let's say, for example that a user receives a HD sports package from their cable/satellite provider, will they be able to view these channels?

Using a Hauppauge HD DVR in conjunction with a set-top box from the cable/satellite provider, yes. Using a TV tuner such as the Hauppauge HVR-1600 or SiliconDust HDHomeRun, you can't for satellite. As for cable, you might, you might not. More likely not since they tend to encrypt everything except channels on the "Basic" subscription level. There was a time when I was able to get Cinemax and a bunch of other stuff unencrypted for a week (after the scheduled preview). I guess my cable provider forgot to encrypt the channels. :p

19) If a cable/satellite company provides on-demand content like movies or pay per view, are these still attainable in a gb-pvr system?

It's possible to capture on-demand content from the composite/S-Video/component output of a cable/satellite box using an analog capture card or Hauppauge HD PVR. What some cable companies do when you order on-demand content is to send the QAM stream unencrypted. It's possible to find it by scanning channels on the TV tuner card, but seriously, a Netflix subscription would be less hassle and give you higher PQ. :p

My goal here is not personal, it is more to help a new person wrap their head around what this sytem is capable of and what they are getting into. I totally agree with several users on here in starting small and building up, tweaking for perfection along the way. At the same time, it is good to give people a view of the ultimate system, because we all know if it was viable we would do it. Thanks again People!

A FAQ divided into sections would be better suited for this. Some of the questions here are addressed in the Wiki, but a more generic repository of knowledge really is quite needed (a glossary being one of them). A simple thread such as this, as you might have noticed, is quite unorganized, and unless you are willing to take on the task of keeping the first post updated it will be hard for newbies to find the answers they need. Also, I've noticed a lot of the questions cater to North American users. GB-PVR also works for DVB so those topics need to be addressed, too.

Some of the questions posted weren't really worded as best as possible. For example, instead of:

Is the PCH a viable option? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

• What is a PopcornHour (PCH)?

Is the HDHomerun a viable option? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

and

Regarding the HD Homerun Dual Digital tuner, what do you bring the sgnal in to your system with/as in gb-pvr. I notice the HD HomeRun has a lan jack. Does this connect to the router/switch and thus to the system, or does the system still need capture cards for a coax cable hook-up? Please explain for the noobs the differences between hooking up an HDHomerun vs hooking up a pci card

• What is an HDHomeRun (HDHR)?

What are my options for setups in terms of hardware?

• What are the minimum system requirements?
  
• List of Known Compatible Tuners (divided into subsections)

Going into hardware recommendations (aside from keeping abreast of known compatible tuners) is an even more enormous undertaking as evidence by this thread so I wouldn't really suggest dedicating a section for it, aside from the minimum requirements.