HiDTV Pro 2.0

[Gregg Lengling]

Started a new thread with the proper subject line so it won't become confused with the HiPix card as it is a different company. Here's the web site: http://www.pc-dtv.com
HDTV PC Receiver/Recorder Card, 32-bit PCI bus interface works at 33Mhz or 66Mhz PCI bus speed for Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 or XP (WHCL).
Includes the Powerful Streamzap(r) infrared remote control and USB receiver unit. The Streamzap's remote range is over 40 feet. Sleek remote design has 33- keys for full-featured PC control. Macro keys let the user load play-lists, launch websites or any application with one touch! User-friendly software that's easy to install and configure. Includes the Full version of the incredibly popular Winamp music player.
HiDTV Pro features:
ATSC Receiption(HDTV/SDTV),
NTSC Receiption,
ATSC Transport stream recording full frame/ resolution (Instant, Split),
Timer Recording,
NTSC MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 recording,
Comes with File Editing Tool,
Can record in background,
Still Capture (JPG or BMP),
TitanTV Electronic Program Guide,
Graphical User Interface with 4 selectable Skins,
D-VHS (IEEE1394) support (Windows XP only),
VOP (pci) 704x240p at 60fps or 30fps or VIP 1.1 Overlay
display options,
Full OSD Support,
Resolutions:1920x1080i/1280x720p/1024x768p/704x480p/704x480i,
Audio/ Video Extention cable: S-Video IN, Composite Video IN, S/PDIF OUT, RGB/YPbPr;
Directly onboard: S/PDIF OUT,
1 Year Limited Warranty
US Technical support by Phone (M-F 10-6, SAT 11-1 MST), Webforum and email (max. 24 hours repsonse time on weekdays, max. 48 hours on Weekends or Holidays);
one additional free CD-ROM driver- and application software update shipped to customer

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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[Gregg Lengling]

Well they say they will start shipping the units on Monday. They use PayPal as their on-line ordering system, so seeing as I have a PayPal account it just took seconds to place the order. Hope to have it sometime next week. I'll keep everyone up to date on it.


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[Gregg Lengling]

I started looking for a component video switcher as my set has only 1 set of inputs, this is the only cost effective one I've found the rest are over 200 bucks.

HDTV 4x1 Component Video Switcher
General Features

HDTV Analog (Y,PbPr or RGB) 4-Input to 1-Output Switcher.

Accepts any analog component video type, progressive or interlaced at any scan rate.

Combine HDTV Receiver's and Progressive Scan DVD Players into ONE Monitor Input

Remote Controllable!

Small Size, 2x6x4". All Connectors are Gold Plated RCA.

Very Wideband. Greater then 230MHz.


Model: RGB4X $168

Use your remote control to train the switcher to cycle through the inputs with ONE button.

Perfect for simple systems that may only require manual or simple remote selection.


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[ReesR]

Gregg: Who is the manufacturer of the switcher? Dealer?

[This message has been edited by ReesR (edited 09-13-2002).]

[Gregg Lengling]

http://www.inday.com/?KeohiHDTV

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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[Gregg Lengling]

I found a real nice component video switcher and ordered it today. The HiDTV card should be here tomorrow. The switcher I ordered is a JVC-S111 5 input A/V selector, it has 1 composite/Svideo input and 3 component inputs along with stereo audio(I won't use the audio as I'm doing that with my 5.1 receiver and fiber optics). It then has component, composite and SVideo and audio outputs in nice looking box for only $99.99 you can see it at: http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S-mZZREiQm2CZ/ProdView.asp?i=257JXS111&id=morephotos&a=&s=0

[Greg Oman]

So, dija get it???? And does it have a signal strength indicator?

Greg O.

[This message has been edited by tenth_t2 (edited 09-20-2002).]

[Gregg Lengling]

No it didn't show up today...I just sent them an email to find out if it really shipped on Monday. Let you know....but I did get an email that my Video switch and video cables from another company shipped so that's good. I won't be able to switch it into my set with out the cables (25' foot cable pretty expensive about 125 bucks) and the video switcher so I don't have swing out the set to plug and unplug between it and the DVD. I had to get 25' cables because 10' wasn't long enough to go from the corner with the computer to the set.

[mcq]

Been waiting for this... Ordered it today.

[Gregg Lengling]

Well it finally arrived (HiDTV Pro), maybe I'll get a chance to put it in the computer and start playing with it tonight. Let you guys know what I find.

[mcq]

I installed the card on Saturday and had enough time to watch the some of the 58 football game on HDTV. The directions were a little confusing in light of my video card that has two monitors hooked up. What is really cool for me is that I can do computer junk on the flat screen monitor while I watch HDTV on my 19" viewsonic.

I tried to do some "taping" but got some periodic pixelation. I think that has something to do with backround junk running on my XP machine. I will look at that this weekend.

I didn't have the time to hook up the "special" USB remote that comes with the premium package. I will do that also later this week.

A future project is to hook the computer up to my Sony HS10. Right now they are in two different rooms about 25-30 feet apart http://www.milwaukeehdtv.org/ubb/frown.gif

So far so good.

[Gregg Lengling]

They have a breakout cable kit that I ordered that is only about 35 bucks that you can use to feed your component video inputs on the other Display in the other room.
Maybe work on mine today.

[Joseph S]

A future project is to hook the computer up to my Sony HS10. Right now they are in two different rooms about 25-30 feet apart

For my HiPix I used a VGA extender Cable + VGA/Component transcoder + component cables + a new hole in the wall. http://www.milwaukeehdtv.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

I don't have any problems with pixelations on recordings, but I'm guessing you don't have the issues I am with CBS since it was mentioned above as tuning.

HiPix's sofware is now blocking 1.1 so I had to switch to an older edition. I can watch and record with the older version, but I can't watch the recordings unless I switch to the newer app. The older apps driver doesn't work in XP.

lummox,

How do you like the JVC Component switcher? I'm flooded with Component outputs now and need something that can handle HD bandwidth.

[mcq]

I have the breakout cable as I need it for my DTC-100. I was worried about a VGA extender as far as signal loss. I wonder how long you can get those vga extenders for. Our company uses a local vendor for such stuff -- www.greatcables.com. (http://www.greatcables.com.) I guess I will have to check them out.

I think the ideal would be to have a seperate machine near the Sony set to act as a DVR. I have a linux machine with dual 500mhz and 2-20gb drives that could be made to run Win2K. Only thing missing would be the ability to tape Direct-TV http://www.milwaukeehdtv.org/ubb/frown.gif

Tonight I will follow up on some troubleshooting ideas found at the company's forum (They use the same forum software as we do.....)

All in all, I am impressed. I was a little concerned about hooking the HD card to my sound card (Live Platinum.) But It seems to handle sound perfectly. As I mentioned, there is a problem with recording, but I am sure I will be able to figure that out.

It seems that the USA vendor is going to be very proactive about software upgrades... we will see.

[This message has been edited by mcq (edited 09-30-2002).]

[Gregg Lengling]

Well I've got it working without manuals (the PDF file on the CDROM was corrupt, I emailed them and asked them to e-mail the file to me). So I've got it working on the computer, the free antenna was useless here in Cedarburg but I thought I'd try it anyway but all I could get was weak 1-1 and 10-1. Went downstairs got a splitter and some coax and split the lead to my big set and now I have great signals. I actually think the receiver is more sensitive than the DTC100. So now I just need the owners manual so I can figure out the cables to my Big Screen and Surround Sound System and I'll play some more. Tonight I'll try my hand at recording some HDTV to the hard drive and see how it works.
(oh my computer has integrated sound on the mother board and I couldn't find a plug to route the sound, but it didn't seem to matter as I have good sound on the computer speakers, so it must be doing it via the bus).



[This message has been edited by lummox (edited 09-30-2002).]

[Gregg Lengling]

got the new PDF manual looks good and I've got it running on the big screen now, still have to make a patch cord to go to the reciever amp for the digital audio but I'll get that later, for right now I've got it up and running. I found that you have to turn everything else the computer is running off to record cleanly. Otherwise you get hiccups, I'll do some investigation on that tonight when I try to record real hidef.

ASIDE TO JOSEPH S. The JVC video selector works fine, can find nothing to gripe about (other than it's manual, you have to go up and click the selector buttons, it's all passive). On top of that I didn't have a short Component video cable so I have a 6 footer going to the box from the DVD, the 25 footer from the HiDTV Pro Card and then I'm feeding the HDTV with a 25 foot component cable. So even with all that cable and switching the picture looks great.


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[mcq]

I taped the entire hour of CSI-Miami...(lol-taped!?) I watched some of the recording and had no problems with the replay. I cleared an entire spare drive (40gb) and recorded to the bare drive. My processor never went over 40 percent. I did other tasks (solitaire, browsing, file stuff, while I was recording. I didn't watch the entire hour but sampled the areas where I knew I was using the computer. No problems with the skipping or jerkyness. I don't like the fact that currently it breaks the recording up into 620mb files.... but that makes sense, I guess.

THe entire hour or so took just under 8gb (yikes) So I may get a little over 4 hours on the drive. My spare drive is the slave on the secondary channel. The master on that channel is the CD-RW. I would suspect that I could not use both.

I am trying to get the "premium" remote working, and that seems to be a challenge http://www.milwaukeehdtv.org/ubb/frown.gif

I am still impressed, but need to grow into this thing. I will try to tape other channels (NTSC) on another night.

I am stilling wondering about a dedicated PC for the Sony HS10. Heck I could then browse the web in 61".

[Greg Oman]

8gb per hour is not too bad, I was thinking it would be more like 13-- I think that's what uncompressed miniDV is.

No-- I STILL haven't ordered my card, I took a detour. I'd certainly recommend putting a PC on the TV, that's wat I did this weekend. My 55859 has a VGA input that supports 640x480 only, and that looked horrid. So I installed my old All in Wonder Pro (whopping 8mb card here) into the rig and am using the S-Video out. The display adapter says 800x600, and the image looks much better on the screen now (55"). PiP in split screen is very poor though, not really usable.

About my detour-- So my set has 3 firewire connections. I added a firewire card to my pc and plugged it in, mistakenly thinking that maybe XP would recognize some kind of device, which it did-- a AV/C and another unknown device, and I may be able to either send the pc image to the set via this interface or see the output of the TV on the PC in some digital editing program. So far, no go. I think I need a driver written, I don't know how big of a task that is just yet. http://www.milwaukeehdtv.org/ubb/frown.gif

My logic was that the Mits and JVC DVHS units offered currently do not include tuners, so they have to be getting some kind of tuned signal from my set.

Since I don't have any firewire devices like a camcorder, a guy at work and I may either try his or actually plug his MAC into the connection and see what happens.

I know, I know..... I'll just buy the dang card http://www.milwaukeehdtv.org/ubb/smile.gif

[mcq]

I scheduled a recording for ER this evening, while I was away. The recording happened without a hitch! It was just under 10gb for the entire hour. I still have not tried an NTSC program. I am interested in how big those will be.

[StarvingForHDTV]

I'm glad I found this forum, it's a valuable resource for Milwaukee area HDTV enthusiasts. Thanks.

This sounds interesting to me. I have a couple of questions about the card though. Is it a viable solution to use vs. a traditional set top box? I know it doesn't have DSS capability like the Samsung SIR-TS160 or Sony SAT-HD200/Zenith HD-SAT520, but is HDNET really worth $32 a month (I don't know yet). For someone who is not planning on recording, just watching OTA HD/DTV (On RPTV HDTV Monitor), is this a good solution vs. the STB's?

Also it sounds like this card may be able to put traditional computer signals on my HDTV monitor. Is that the case? Could I surf the web in my 53" Pioneer? I tried once to hook the computer up to my TV with S-Video (they told me in the manual not to go VGA cable from computer to TV) and the results were unwatchable. Just as bad as S-Video to regular non-HD ready TV. Would this card allow me to surf the web in 1080i?

Sorry for all the questions. I registered for this forum a while back and the email reply said that I had to be approved my an administrator before I could post. I waited for an email like that, and today I decided just to try posting. We'll see if this works.

Thanks to all,

StarvingForHDTV

[Gregg Lengling]

I've only had the card for around 2 weeks and still learning how to use all the features. I don't think you can route the computer display through it to give you surfing capability on your big-screen (but I may be wrong, the manual is over 100 pages). If you're not interested in Satellite it would definitely be a choice, however I do find HDNET excellent, in addition I also recieve HBO-HD and Show-HD. Seeing as you are in Mequon and I'm in Cedarburg, I'd be more than willing to get together with you and have you view the operation and everything I've got. Just drop me an e-mail at the address below.


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[Gregg Lengling]

I found some information on whether you can send your desktop in high res. to your HD set...below is the answer as you see it depends if you VIP1.1 interface on your graphis card...I don't....maybe this makes sense for me to get a new graphics card....


I'm assuming that connecting my graphics card to the HiDTV via the VIP port and then connecting the HiDTV to my TV via the component output allows me to display the windows desktop on the TV. Is this correct?

Yes, if you have a graphics card that comes with VIP 1.1 connectors (very rare, only few OEM'made cards with VIP connectors on even fewer cards). BTW: the VIP ribbon cable would be internally connected to the HiDTV and a Graphics card with a VIP connector, just to be clear here. But you really don't need a VIP connection. The HiDTV is capable of displaying the desktop overlay window by using the pci bus of the motherboard. AS long as you have some decent PC (Celeron 700Mhz+,100 Mhz FSB bus speed and the correct settings in device manager: DMA turned on.. you should be doing just fine using the pci bus, which means you don't need to connect or use the VIP port


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[ReesR]

Just a note to point out a small error:

Per DirecTV web site:

HDNet programming is currently available to all DIRECTV customers with HDTV receiving equipment at no additional monthly programming cost.

When I saw that one comment from StarvingForHDTV that it would cost $32 a month I almost did a flip. Whew, I was right. (sigh of relief) I'm getting my new DirecTV HD receiver this week.

Sorry for the insertion of this in this topic but I thought it would be useful.

Now back to the currently scheduled topic. (grin)

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Rees Roberts
Racine, WI
reesr@wi.net

HDTV Receiver: Sony KD-34XBR2 16X9
Bi-directional AntennaCraft VHF Yagi Model #2260P
+
2 Winegard PR9022 UHF yagi's pointing N & S
Antennas at about 30 feet

[Gregg Lengling]

I think he meant he would have to pop for the basic package to get HDNET as that's what he was interested in........

[StarvingForHDTV]

Thanks Gregg,

I would perhaps consider getting the card vs. a traditional STB if I could use the PC on my HDTV Monitor as well. It sounds like this is untested as of yet. I have a GeForce2 vid card the 64MB variety, I doubt if it has the VIP1.1 interface if that is rare to have. I do have a P4-2000 processor computer, so that should handle the PCI bus if needed. I'm not sure if I really understand that though. I guess I wouldn't buy the card unless other people had done the PC to TV with success.

Now you are saying that HDNET has value, and perhaps is worth $32 a month. So maybe I should get the Samsung or Sony/Zenith instead. The Samsung is quite a bit cheaper at $579 w/free shipping @ Soundcity.com I think the Sony/Zenith is more like $799 plus shipping. I wonder if the Sony/Zenith is really that much better (wrong thread for this).

I don't know if it would be wise for me to go see your HDTV setup right now. I'm really in need of HDTV quite bad, and seeing something in action might push me over the edge... I'm really trying to exercise control and get the best possible STB/card for viewing it, rather than just buying whatever to get a signal into my house. I've had my HDTV monitor for almost a year, but have been waiting for a decent STB (my patience is getting real thin) I almost bit on the Zenith1080, but problems eventually surfaced with that box as well... Plus the wait for OTA HD/DTV signals locally kept my need for a STB somewhat in check. But supposedly Oct 15th adds another major network to Milwaukee area and Nov 1st adds a couple more stations. If that really happens. I want to be set up by then at the latest. This involves STB plus antenna (maybe indoor or outdoor) and possibly a satellite dish.

Thanks for your time, and I will consider getting in contact with you. Nice to know there are other HDTV enthusiasts so close to where I am.

Starving

[StarvingForHDTV]

Originally posted by lummox:
I think he meant he would have to pop for the basic package to get HDNET as that's what he was interested in........

Yep, that's what I meant. I have to get the package just to get the one channel I want. I'm StarvingForHDTV, not starving for standard definition channels. Those I can find anywhere.

Starving

[ReesR]

Sorry I misunderstood. I already have HBO, so that is where the confusion was.

[mcq]

I wouldn't wait too long for an STB box. I bought the DTC-100 a couple of years ago. My thought was that as the stations rolled out, and the technology got better, I would move the DTC-100 off the HDTV monitor to an older "family" TV upstairs. Before too long, every TV you own is going to "need" a digital receiver.

I haven'd tried to hook my HiDTV equipped TV to my SONY HDTV monitor. I have some VGA extender cables at work, so I'll bring them home someday this week, and give it a try. I use the HiDTC card on a Dual-Monitor setup. The regular computer junk is displayed on a ADI 17: flat screen and the HDTV playback is displayed on a 19" viewsonic glass tube. This setup works for as I can do computer stuff as I watch HDTV live AND recorded shows.

[Gregg Lengling]

Hey "mcq" been playing the card and still having problems recording.....actually my cpu usage goes to 100% when I run the card....any ideas?

[mcq]

How much CPU... How much memory... What kind of space left on your harddrive, what size hard drive... What OS ?

[Gregg Lengling]

Originally posted by mcq:
How much CPU... How much memory... What kind of space left on your harddrive, what size hard drive... What OS ?


1.8gig Pentium 4...512 meg Ram, 70 gig free space on Hard Drive. running XP, SP1.

[Gregg Lengling]

Well it wasn't me....they were able to replicate my problems in the lab. It turns out the way my video card (Nvidia TNT2 Model 64Pro) works different than they expected and they are writing a patch for it right now...so I should be able to use it properly real soon.....WHEW...at least I won't be banging my head on the desk til the wee hours of the morning anymore.


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[Mike Loew]

Has anyone tried using a DVD recorder to record hd? My understanding is each blank dvd holds 12 gig, and you would be able to archive your recording. The units have come down in price quite a bit. I think $699.

[Gregg Lengling]

Actually the vided DVD's you buy prerecorded hold that much info but the ones you record on a computer and on the DVD recorders only hold half that amount. The DVD recorders out there will not do HD recording, I can transfer my HD recordings to a DVD from my HiDTV Pro card recordings, however I have to play them back through my computer, they will not play on a video DVD player.


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net