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  1. Member
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    I have an old Pentium 3 desktop collecting dust and was wondering if it would be powerful enough to capture HD streams so I can playback on my PS3. From what I have read you don’t need nearly the CPU to capture as you do to playback so I thought I would ask… Most of the capture cards I have looked at recommend a P4.


    I hear the current rate of capturing ATSC is about 5 gig an hour. I think this is using MPEG-2 though. If I could find a card that could capture in Divx or Xvid then I could record hour long programs without having to chunk the file up into 4GB sections(or rencode).


    This is probably a lot to ask of a Pentium 3 but maybe the right video card could help me out with this?


    Maybe I just get stuck with capture cards like this?


    http://www.digitalconnection.com/products/video/mdp130.asp

    It looks like this can do what I want with or without a good video card, but recording high def is over 8GB an hour. It also stores HD streams in a .tp file extention, and I don’t know if the PS3 will play them without conversion.


    Here is another one that says it needs DXVA on the video card. Also 8GB per hour.
    http://www.digitalconnection.com/products/video/fusion7rt.asp
    Last edited by GLE3; 3rd Mar 2010 at 16:20.
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  2. Video Restorer lordsmurf's Avatar
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    old Pentium 3 = no
    Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
    FAQs: Best Blank DiscsBest TBCsBest VCRs for captureRestore VHS
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  3. Member edDV's Avatar
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    ATSC tuner cards tune the desired subchannel (e.g. KABC-DT 7.1), extract in hardware the MPeg2 program stream and associated AC-3 audio and export via the PCI bus to hard disk. The CPU activity for this is minimal so long as the picture isn't previewed during capture. Preview or playback is heavy on CPU+GPU but a modern GPU will take near the full HD MPeg2 decode load when the player is properly configured.

    If not monitoring, it should be possible to stream from an ATSC tuner to a hard drive with a small CPU so long as the OS meets tuner card system requirements (e.g. XP SP3). The data stream is 19 mb/s (~3MB/s) maximum which is less than DV format.

    As far as transcoding from MPeg2 to h.264 in real time, a Core2 quad core probably can't keep up without heavy quality loss.

    There are no ATSC tuner cards that do MPeg2 to h.264 conversion on the fly but there is the hauppauge HD-PVR that converts HD analog component from your cable tuner to HD h.264.

    If you move to Europe, you will find some DVB TV stations streaming h.264.
    Last edited by edDV; 3rd Mar 2010 at 17:05.
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  4. Member SHS's Avatar
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    ATSC tuner need Pentium 4 2.0 Ghz is bear min as long you get a good Video card as in AGP ATI 36xx or nVidia 66xx for playback
    The HD-PVR bear min Pentium 4 2.4Ghz with ATI 3650/3850 in AGP or ATI 4650 in AGP for playback and you want a min of Memory Interface 128-bit
    As far as transcoding that need lot's hosepower forget the Pentium 3/4 your better off building a new system
    I think the PS3 dose support .ts try download a few ts clips file and steam to your PS3.
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  5. If you don't display the video while capturing a P3 will work with most ATSC or QAM tuners. In that case all the software is doing is saving an MPEG transport stream to a file. The trick is finding software that doesn't insist on displaying the video while it's being captured.

    Viewing and converting is another story. Conversion can be done on a P3 (if it has sufficient memory) but it will be horribly slow.
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  6. Member olyteddy's Avatar
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    If I recall, with the Hauppauge cards / devices and WinTV (the provided software) if you pause WinTV it pauses the display while still capturing the stream. Correct me if that isn't so, SHS.
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  7. Member
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    There is more information on the MyHD MDP-130 here: http://www.hdtvtunerinfo.com/myhdmdp130.html

    It can display video without using the computer's VGA card.
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  8. Member edDV's Avatar
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    If you use scheduled PVR software (not WinTV) the stream capture is done as a background process (no preview).

    This may be possible with WinTV Scheduler. I haven't tried it.
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  9. Member SHS's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by olyteddy View Post
    If I recall, with the Hauppauge cards / devices and WinTV (the provided software) if you pause WinTV it pauses the display while still capturing the stream. Correct me if that isn't so, SHS.
    That ture but as what edDV said scheduled PVR software would be a better way to go
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  10. Member edDV's Avatar
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    GLE3 should forget the idea of any kind of preview, playback or format conversion on a PIII computer. It is only good for scheduled recording with PVR software where no conversion is performed.

    If the PS3 is incapable of direct playback of a 3 to 19 Mb/s MPeg2 program stream with AC3 audio, then another faster computer would be required for playback, commercial edit and conversion.

    Alternative 2 is capture from an HD cable box to an h.264 file with an Hauppauge HD-PVR. Still, a separate faster computer would be required for playback or to edit out commercials.
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