Advice needed on a digital terrestrial capture/TV/card DVB-T to use in UK

[manuel2]

I have searched the webb and these forums for info but find it all abit confusing and i am worried that i will end up buying a capture card which will not be compatible for my needs.

I would like a UK DVB-T digital terrestrial capture/TV/card (for a PCI slot NOT PCI express) that is able to instantly record in a widescreen file format that would be compatible with my hand held mobile video player Archos Av530 (without the need to do any file converting encoding etc... as it takes to long). This way once i have recording a program on my PC hard drive i can instantly transfer it to the Av530.
According to the instructions the Av530 supports the following:

The AV 500 plays .AVI files that are encoded with in MPEG-4 format. It can play such video files at a maximum size of 720 x 576 pixels (25 frames/second). It can also play .WMV files (WMV9 SP) up to a maximum size of 352 x 288**.
The AV 500 will not directly play files of type .mov, .mpg, or .mpeg.

•Play MPEG-4 SP & WMV video files* on the built-in screen, a television or video projector
• Record and edit MPEG-4 video files from a television or other video device
• Listen to MP3, WMA, or WAV music files.
Max file size in each video capture is 2GB.

The capture card ideally would be able to adjust quality settings when recording the video in different resolutions and bitrates so i can limit the end result files sizes (ie no more than a total of 2GB)

Finally the picture quality of the video and the audio quality is impotant to me and ideally the card would not be too expensive ie £50.00 although i am flexible on price to get the right one that will work.

Thank you in advance for any advice and help.

[steveryan]

AFAIK DVB-T digital terrestrial cards don't capture, they just dump the MPEG/TS stream to the hard drive. So what comes down the aerial is what you get. You can get DVB-T cards that also have analogue tv which you could capture to AVI.

[RabidDog]

Have you had a look at the plextor converter box or the pinnacle cards? I think your twin needs of freeview and record to mpeg4 are too advanced at present. It take mfrs about two years to catch on. You will have to bite the bullet and re-encode.. however using a good pc and good product like autogk it need not be too time-consuming. Look on archos site for software to do what you want.I reckon 2gb should get you 2-3 hours of quality viewing. encode overnite for viewing at work the next day.

[manuel2]

Thanks for the replies so far.

So from the replies i have received, i guess a DVB-T TV capture card that encodes/records to AVI or Mpeg-4 doesn't exsist at present. Looks like i will have to buy one that captures in Mpeg-2 and re-encode to AVI /Mpeg-4 to enable me to view the videos on my handheld Archos Av530.

Can anybody tell me what the recorded/captured video files will be once on my hard drive?
Are they simply Mpeg-2 or are they Mpeg-2.ts, Mpeg-2.rec, etc... Do the files vary from make to make of each capturecard?
I am use to re-encoding Mpeg-2.ts files to AVI using PocketDivxEncoder which always play on my Archos withouit any problems.

Can anybody recommend a decent PCI DVB-T TV capture card for use in the UK for digital terrestrial? (or one which records both digital (Mpeg-2) and analogue(AVI) so i could try how the qualities differ)

*One which has a good quality tuner that captures a decent picture.
*With decent 7 EPG
*Easy to set timer to record.
*series link if that exists?
*If possible one that switches the PC on and off itself?

Thanks in advance.

[steveryan]

I have the Leadtek DTV100T and if you record a single program it saves as DVD compliant MPEG, if you record a transport stream it saves as a .ts file. It does have analogue inputs for capturing from VCR etc but doesn't have an analogue tuner.



*One which has a good quality tuner that captures a decent picture.
Leadtek DTV100T has been fine for me, does everything I need.

*With decent 7 EPG
The EPG supplied with the Leadtek card is fine

*Easy to set timer to record.
Very easy, a couple of mouse clicks and it's set

*series link if that exists?
Haven't seen that on the Leadtek card

*If possible one that switches the PC on and off itself?
It will turn the PC off after recording but AFAIK it will not turn the PC on. Although the remote will switch the PC on if it's in standby mode.

16 sec clip from Leadtek DTV100T 10MB

http://rapidshare.de/files/32836480/test.mpg.html

[mats.hogberg]

Are they simply Mpeg-2 or are they Mpeg-2.ts, Mpeg-2.rec,

mpeg2 TS

Do the files vary from make to make of each capturecard?

No. As earlier stated, they simply dump the digital stream on your HDD. So what's comes in the antenna, goes out to the HDD.

/Mats

[Sartori]

Are they simply Mpeg-2 or are they Mpeg-2.ts, Mpeg-2.rec,

mpeg2 TS

Do the files vary from make to make of each capturecard?

No. As earlier stated, they simply dump the digital stream on your HDD. So what's comes in the antenna, goes out to the HDD.

/Mats

Which for anyone cross-reading this post , in terms of making dvds this can be a problem , on the recently broadcast V Festival , E4 broadcast it in 544 x 576 (and hence was recording at that resolution) but the staggered channel E4 +1 broadcast it in 720 x 576 - one compliant , one not . My Kworld DVB-T 100 records a lovely picture but I have to take notice (as Mats points out above) of what they are broadcasting if I want to be DVD compliant (I can hack the dvd structure to make it play but why bother) .

Sorry to in effect post slightly off-topic , this is for interest for anyone recording off these cards in a different context and reading this thread .

[steveryan]

You are correct Sartori, i've recorded a few things off More4 and they were 544 x 576. Luckily my DVD player plays raw MPEG so it wasn't a problem for me.

[manuel2]

Thanks steveryan, i have viewed the clip which seems good quality. I am probably being thick here but I am slightly confused at the .mpg file extension? Do you have a choice to choose between .mpg and .ts? Is .mpg the mpeg format for DVD you stated?

I looked on the web for info and price on your Leadtek DTV100T but got no results.

After searching the many sites for reviews on Tv capture cards (very view exist =virtual none) I am now fed up and feel like giving up! (from what i have read alot of tv cards are temperamental?)

In the end on the web i found one tv card that i like which really is all down to the one review i read on it, which seems from a person who has had various problematic tv cards previously and highly recommended this one: Leadtek DVT1000T Digital TV and Capture Card at £43.48.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?lea-dtv100&P=4

Having returned to this thread i have noticed that it seems that the above is the same as steveryan's except it has one '0' less? LOL after all that searching!

The only other tv card which i considered was the Twinhan Ter D+A at £35.00 which gets 5 star rating from computer shopper but they stated that picture quality from digital broadcasts were acceptible??= which has put me of abit.

steveryan can you confirm whether this is the same card (Leadtek DVT1000T Digital TV) you have? If so can i always record in .ts files? asi need this format as know i can convert these with PocketDivxEncoder without any problems.
Also out of curiosity what resolutions and bitrates can you select on the Leadtek DVT1000T Digital TV card?

Thanks in advance for all the help.

[steveryan]

Hiya, it is the same card, I missed an 0 out You get .ts files when you record a complete mux, i.e you get a few BBC channels on the same mux and you can record all of them at the same time. As for bitrate and resolutions, when you record digital TV you get what you're given, but if you record using the analogue inputs you can record in AVI, MPEG 1 and 2. It seems to have most resolutions except for 1/2 D1 (352x576) but i only use the card to record digital TV so that's not a problem for me.

Edit: much cheaper at eBuyer http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=21843654608&action=c2hvd19wcm9kd...duct_uid=99186

[manuel2]

Thanks for the reply steveryan.

with regards to your Quute:

"You get .ts files when you record a complete mux, i.e you get a few BBC channels on the same mux and you can record all of them at the same time."

Does this mean that you infact record all the channels on that particular mux, ie you effectively have 4 of 5 separate .ts recordings from the channels from that mux or do you mean that the mux is tied up recording just the one channel creating one recording / dumping that one channel onto the hardrive?

I am wondering whether it is worth me paying abit extra (£20.00) and going for the Leadtek Winfast PVR 2000 so i can try recording digital and analogue and compare or do you think the quality of analogue will be inferior? (i am fussy about picture quality)

[steveryan]

The .ts file will contain all the programs that are broadcast on that one mux, they will not be seperate files. As for the other card, it's completely your choice, would you use an analogue tuner? I'd rather save the cash and hook a VCR upto the DVT1000 and use the VCR's tuner, like i said though - your choice

As for picture quality, that sample I posted is about as good as it gets for Freeview. It may look a bit ropey when displayed on a monitor but looks very good when played through a television.

[manuel2]

I apologise as i try to get my head around this.

When you record- say a program on BBC1-, it records the whole mux onto a .ts file. But when it comes to watching the recorded program on play back , i take it you can only watch the BBC1 program , you cant watch any other programs that were on ie, BBC2, BBC3 etc.. that were on broadcast on that same mux etc...

i.e. I have PVR digibox recorder. When it records BBC1 it takes up the whole mux (you can't watch any other channels on the same mux whilst its recording), when you play back the recording it is only the BBC1 program that you can watch?
I take it that the DVT1000 and other PC tv capture cards work on the exact same principle?

The reason i am trying to understand this process, is because i am thinking of the re-encoding to AVI afterwards.