Capture Card Upgrade

[wcwman28]

I am looking for a easy to install capture card that my system will support. Here are some details of current televison source.

Directv set top box DirecTV
5 Multi LNB Dish
Manufacturer 100
Model HR22
Software 0x290

I am looking for a HD Capture Card. Attached is my current PC Specs.
Hope this helps for starters.


pc%20specs.doc

[reboot]

HVR1600?

[jagabo]

The Hauppauge HV1600 won't capture anything but analog SD from a Sat box. It can capture over the air ATSC and cable clear QAM (usually limited to the same stations you can get OTA).

There are very few options for capturing HD compontent or HDMI. The Hauppauge HD PVR can capture any HD component signal. It saves as h.264/AAC/AC3 transport streams. The Blackmagic Intensity Pro can capture HD component as MJPEG AVI (beefy computer required). It can also capture from non-HDCP HDMI devices. There is a Japanese card called the MonsterX but it's hard to find information about it. It apparently can capture component HD with a cable adapter.

If your source only has HDCP protected HDMI outputs the HDFury2 can convert it to component video that can be captured with the Hauppauge HD PVR.

[wcwman18]

I figure I have a HDMI port on my sat box I think that if I can find a capture card that has a HDMI port I can go HDMI to HDMI. Not sure if that would work but was a thought.

[jagabo]

I figure I have a HDMI port on my sat box I think that if I can find a capture card that has a HDMI port I can go HDMI to HDMI. Not sure if that would work but was a thought.

No, you cannot go HDMI unless you get an HDCP stripper. Just about everything out of your satellite box will be encrypted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDCP

[wcwman18]

So what might be my best option?

[jagabo]

It depends on your computer and your intentions.

If you plan on extensive editing and processing, your computer is beefy enough to encode HD video with software codecs in realtime, and you don't mind spending a lot of time recompressing to more compact formats, you will want the BlackMagic Intensity Pro.

If you only plan on capturing from satellite via component and cutting out commercials, have a computer sufficient to play h.264 video at 1280x720 60 fps, and 1920x1080 at 29.97 fps, then you will want the Hauppauge HD PVR.

Your current 2.8 GHz P4 and Intel 865 graphics (assuming your computer profile is correct) will not be sufficient for either of those. It is possible to capture with the Hauppauge if you don't view the video on the computer while capturing (some third part capture programs have this ability). And you can transfer or stream the captured video to another player like the Popcorn Hour or a PS3 for viewing. Upgrading your graphics card to one that supports h.264 video decoding in hardware would be another option.

[wcwman18]

It depends on your computer and your intentions.

If you plan on extensive editing and processing, your computer is beefy enough to encode HD video with software codecs in realtime, and you don't mind spending a lot of time recompressing to more compact formats, you will want the BlackMagic Intensity Pro.

If you only plan on capturing from satellite via component and cutting out commercials, have a computer sufficient to play h.264 video at 1280x720 60 fps, and 1920x1080 at 29.97 fps, then you will want the Hauppauge HD PVR.

Your current 2.8 GHz P4 and Intel 865 graphics (assuming your computer profile is correct) will not be sufficient for either of those. It is possible to capture with the Hauppauge if you don't view the video on the computer while capturing (some third part capture programs have this ability). And you can transfer or stream the captured video to another player like the Popcorn Hour or a PS3 for viewing. Upgrading your graphics card to one that supports h.264 video decoding in hardware would be another option.

I am looking for the least amount of wires to run from my sat box to my PC. My current PC profile is correct. If it helps I have a Dimension 4600i. Maybe that will help with my board type and case type. I am curious what type of graphics card would be best to upgrade to.

[wcwman28]

Any options where I can capture from HDMI to HDMI? I know their are external capture options these days not just the internal card types.

[jagabo]

Any options where I can capture from HDMI to HDMI?

Only non-HDCP protected signals. Which are basically nonexistent.

[wcwman28]

Are their some good external options that will capture HD channels? I have a Directv DVR and want to capture some shows in HD.

[jagabo]

The Hauppauge HD PVR is an external USB 2.0 device.

Hollywood makes it very difficult for you to purchase anything that can capture HD. All digital outputs are protected with HDCP. I'm surprised they let Hauppauge get away with an HD component capture device. That's why I bought one soon after they came out.

[wcwman18]

The Hauppauge HD PVR is an external USB 2.0 device.

Hollywood makes it very difficult for you to purchase anything that can capture HD. All digital outputs are protected with HDCP. I'm surprised they let Hauppauge get away with an HD component capture device. That's why I bought one soon after they came out.

What one do you recommend? How would I connect it to my devices to get my desired effect?

[jagabo]

I don't really recommend either. You don't have a powerful enough computer for either. With a US$75 graphics card upgrade you could use the HD PVR.

The HD PVR is normally hooked up by running component and audio (either stereo RCA or optical digital) cables from the output device to the HD PVR then another set of the same cables from the HD PVR to the TV. The HD PVR doesn't pass the signal through to the TV unless it's powered up. Occasionally the HD PVR hangs up when you change channels so it has to be rebooted. Once or twice a month for us. You run a USB cable from the HD PVR to the computer.

If you are using HDMI from the sat box to the computer you might be able to continue using that and just run component cables to the HD PVR. But many devices won't output both HDMI and component at the same time.

The h.264/AAC/AC3 transport stream files aren't real easy to deal with. Especially on a slow computer. The best software I've found for cutting out commericals is h264ts_cutter. It only cuts-in on keyframes which only occur about every half second on 720p files from HD PVR, or every 2 seconds on 1080i files. I recommend you check out this site:

http://blog.arogan.com/2008/06/hauppauge-hd-pvr-model-1212.html

There are some sample files there you can play around with.

You should also read through some of this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1015617

That thread started before the device was available so you'll have to seek ahead to read about people's experiences with it.