For Michael Robinson, (and anyone else who might find this useful,) If you want to test the ability of your computer to playback recorded HD video (in MPEG2 format), before investing in the hardware, try this:
1. Download and install VLC: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ (This player has the codecs it needs to display many types of video files.) 2. Download this file: http://www.w6rz.net/parkrun1920_18mbps.ts (141MB) It is an MPEG2 Transport stream test file, which is recorded at the bit-rate that would normally broadcast as an HD 1080 channel (just shy of 18Mbps). (This is a good test file IMO as, in practice, the HD 1080 programming I see is coming in, is around 15.93 Mbps -maximum - as recorded over clear QAM, by plugging directly into the Comcast wall outlet.) 3. To run the test, open the test file with the VLC application you installed, and observe the results. This should give you a good idea of whether your computer hardware is capable of displaying HD video, before you go out and purchase any hardware. If the playback of the test file IS NOT acceptable to you (jerky, stutters, does not play, etc.*), and you feel you must have high definition, I would invest in hardware upgrades for the computer, or beg/borrow/buy/build a newer system. * I can detect a little bit of choppiness when I play it back on my AMD 2800+ system (2GB RAM, and NVidia FX5200 graphics card with 256MB video memory, relatively recent SATA disk), but the playback is good enough for me. If the video playback of this test file IS acceptable to you, then I would go ahead and make the investment in the HDHomeRun*, or whatever other video capture device* you want, and you will most likely be fine. *NOTE: You might want to make sure that whatever device you get records in mpeg2 format, or the test you performed here is useless. Different formats vary in the amount of CPU power necessary to decode them. If you do not care about receiving High Definition, and are okay with viewing Standard Definition television, then find a tuner card that can handle Analog NTSC channels, and either get a digital converter box, or use your cable company's box, to convert the Digital broadcasts to Analog. This is not as CPU intensive as trying to view HD video files, and it should be a relatively cheap solution, until you can afford to build your dream system. (I going to guess that your P4 system can handle Standard Definition mpeg2 streams without breaking a sweat.) If you decide the Analog card, and converter box, option is the way you want to go for now, then here is a Tuner Card possibility: http://www.frys.com/product/5234237?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG (It can do both ATSC digital, and NTSC analog, so you can use it in your next computer, too, as long as it has a PCI slot to put it in.) Here is a cheap digital to analog converter box (the first one that came up in my search of Fry's website): http://www.frys.com/product/5850693?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG I hope this helps you decide what you want to do... -Jim _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
