Thanks so much for the quick replies! > Sort of. You need a card that can capture from s-video or composite > since this is the only output you can get from your DirecTV receiver > (unless they offer one with firewire). Most cards that have this (PVR > series from Hauppauge, etc) also have a tuner so you basically are > getting both for the price.
Newer D* receivers have both DVI and HDMI outputs. The D* HD10-250 (POS) I just bought has an HDMI port and comes with a HDMI -> DVI cable. Are there any cards that can support either a DVI or HDMI input? > You can record HD without software encoding using an HD-3000 or Air2PC > card. But these work with over-the-air HD signals from an Antenna. > These have nothing to do with your DirectTV system, which, per #1, must > be captured using S-video/composite input to your capture card (software > or hardware) After reviewing these products, I was under the impression that they're hardware *tuners* that do not perform any hardware encoding (which is left to the CPU/software). They have a new HD-5000 card that appears to boast more features than the previous card, with limited hardware support for demux'ing, but it doesn't appear as if it does full hardware encoding. This card is also able to receive unencrypted digital signals, so I believe my type of setup will fall under this category, and I should be able to use this card (if it's not simply just a tuner). http://mythic.tv/product_info.php?products_id=46&osCsid=7c5c1287a18541561a83e932b1d7c8fd > Yes. I believe the Plextor cards can do hardware MPEG-4 encoding on Linux. Hmm, I'm on their web site right now, and all I can see are external devices. Anything in the form of an internal card? Again, I'm still trying to keep everything within the digital domain. > Video card. Highly recommend nVidia card of some kind since ATI has > poor linux support. I felt this pain and suffering when I was gaming on my Linux box. I opted to dump the ATI card and bought an nVidia. :-) Richard, Great explainations of how the FE/BE work, and thanks for the warm welcome. Thanks so much! And thanks to the rest of you who made suggestions regarding video cards! - Ken
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