which HDTV PCI card can save to 16:9 NTSC MPEG2 for DVD?

[creamypanda]

I'm looking to buy a HDTV PCI card for my PC. (running WinXP Pro)
(located in the U.S.)

It should be able to capture &save HDTV 16:9 program and save it as
16:9 NTSC MPEG2 for later burning to 16:9 NTSC DVD. (or which-
ever MPEG format that will allow direct burning to a DVD, without
having to wait a couple of hours to re-encode)

The reason for this is that I will only play this on my Panasonic portable
DVD player with a 16:9 LCD screen. If the DVD is burned to regular
4:3 NTSC, the unit will zoom in and the picture quality sucks.

Thanks in advance for any information!

[pyrohydra]

The HiPix cards will be able to save your HDTV content as an MPEG2 transport stream (.ts). Some other cards will encrypt your recorded content, so that you'll only be able to play them back with that card (!!). The Program HDTVtoMPEG2 can mux your transport stream into an mpeg2 system stream (.mpg).

Unfortunately, if you plan on playing back this content on your standalone, ANY standalone, you're probably SOL. The standalones simply don't have the processing power to play back 1080i, let alone 720p. Your only option in this case is to re-encode.

edit: You MAY be able to do this if you have a laptop. However, a CPU of around 3 GHz or greater will most likely be required for proper playback. See this thread that I started for more info.

[spiderman2k1]

TechTV did a review on these about a while back. I know Panasonic E80 can do HDTV to MEPG2 is there XP mode that the one hour mode.

[pyrohydra]

My apologizes.

For some reason I didn't catch the part in post where you specified you want to save as an NTSC mpeg2 file. Unfortunately I'm not sure if the HiPix software can do that on the fly, but it may be worth checking out.

[creamypanda]

so there is no HDTV card that can save the video directly to DVD MPEG2 in real time?

???

[ktnwin]

so there is no HDTV card that can save the video directly to DVD MPEG2 in real time?

We all wish there is such a card. However, the HDTV stations do not want to see that as it's too easy to copy their programs to the exact details, without losing any quality whatsoever.
The next thing is once you capture it (which should be MPEG-2 at higher resolution than DVD resolution), what do you do with it ? Use your PC to playback seem to be one option. Re-encode to DVD MPEG-2 and burn disc is the second one. Why bother ?

[phuocle]

so there is no HDTV card that can save the video directly to DVD MPEG2 in real time?

We all wish there is such a card. However, the HDTV stations do not want to see that as it's too easy to copy their programs to the exact details, without losing any quality whatsoever.
The next thing is once you capture it (which should be MPEG-2 at higher resolution than DVD resolution), what do you do with it ? Use your PC to playback seem to be one option. Re-encode to DVD MPEG-2 and burn disc is the second one. Why bother ?

I for one wouldn't mind being able to save the HDTV programs from my cable box or HDTV PVR to DVD. Granted, DVD's are not as good as HDTV, but still, there are concert programs on PBS HD which I would like to save to DVD (PBS HD, which, IMHO, is one of the best HD channels - the others appear to use inferior equipment and/or have converted their non-HD sources to HD and just doesn't look as good). I'm convince that DVD's produced this way will look better than most commecrial DVD's anyway due to the high quality source. The ability to record HD to a disc (not hard disk mind you) for playback later is still some ways off I'm afraid. Sigh.

[codecpage]

I've just added to my website a page on European HDTV, that explains one way to convert HDTV MPEG2 to DVD format MPEG2.
Maybe it's useful to you.
The picture format should be differtent (here it's 1920x1080 interlaced), but with a few numbers changed, the process will work for NTSC as well.

Cheers

[choirislife923]

I've just added to my website a page on European HDTV, that explains one way to convert HDTV MPEG2 to DVD format MPEG2.
Maybe it's useful to you.
The picture format should be differtent (here it's 1920x1080 interlaced), but with a few numbers changed, the process will work for NTSC as well.

Cheers

nope, 1920x1080i is one of the few formats broadcasters can use for HDTV.

[JeffM]

TechTV did a review on these about a while back. I know Panasonic E80 can do HDTV to MEPG2 is there XP mode that the one hour mode.

That's not entirely correct. Yes, you can use the E80H with a HDTV and you can record
a HD channel, but the picture won't be HD quality. The best signal the E80H inputs/outputs
is 480p, and the HD picture is formatted with ugly black bars on the top and bottom.
Recording in XP mode, the best recording mode that the E80H supports, will only get
you a max picture resolution of 704x480.

I would prefer capturing a full-screen HD quality picture, rather than capturing
a widescreen black-bar formatted picture.

[half-eaten]

The Hauppauge WinTV-HD card can save the incoming MPEG2 stream from the airwaves right to a transport stream MPEG2 file without quality loss. I have this card, but the files always playback nothing but a green screen with no audio.... I don't know what the deal is, but it's supposed to work.

-Mike