ATI Delivers HDTV reception for the PC

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Joe DeFuria
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ATI Delivers HDTV reception for the PC

Post by Joe DeFuria » Tue Feb 17, 2004 8:09 am

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10342

Sort-of Silent-PC related..since I know lots of folks build silent PCs for digital entertainment / DVRs, etc.

Ralf Hutter
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Post by Ralf Hutter » Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:03 pm

So does that mean that you'd be able to capture HDTV directly to your HDD? Aren't the broadcasters scared shitless about this scenario?

Joe DeFuria
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Post by Joe DeFuria » Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:16 pm

Ralf Hutter wrote:So does that mean that you'd be able to capture HDTV directly to your HDD? Aren't the broadcasters scared shitless about this scenario?
Yes, that's exactly what it means....although it appears this is for "over the air" HDTV only at this time...not Digital Cable or Satellite.

I don't think there's any more reason for broadcasters to be "scared" over this than any other recording of broadcast TV. It's just a better quality VCR. (OK...MUCH better quality....but still..) There are already set-top recorders that will record HDTV to tape I believe.

Later this year TiVos will also be able to record HDTV, and I suspect that set-top DVD recorders in general will offer the feature...especially when dual layer DVD recording hits the street (because of the increased space needed for HDTV.)

sneaker
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Post by sneaker » Wed Feb 18, 2004 3:24 am

Funny how small innovative companies like Nebula have allowed Brits, Aussies, and people in other countries using the DVB standard to receive digital HDTV on their PC for over a year now, while ATI with its huge budget is only just catching up.

Joe DeFuria
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Post by Joe DeFuria » Wed Feb 18, 2004 4:55 am

There is no "standard" in the U.S. for receiving digital (cable or Satellite) for HDTV. Smaller companies can focus on individual systems (like Like Dish or DirectTV), while larger companies won't find it worthwhile. ATI isn't going to make a digital tuner for dozens of different cable systems (who themselves have been changing ther converters and technology regularlay.)

The OpenCable standard should pretty much solve this in the coming year or two. TV Sets, PC Tuners, TiVos, etc., shouldn't need separate converter boxes any more.

al bundy
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Post by al bundy » Wed Feb 18, 2004 5:07 pm

Ralf Hutter wrote:So does that mean that you'd be able to capture HDTV directly to your HDD? Aren't the broadcasters scared shitless about this scenario?
Hi Ralf,

Just curious here: Why are you thinking that broadcasters would be so scared about this?

8)

sneaker
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Post by sneaker » Wed Feb 18, 2004 6:16 pm

Joe DeFuria wrote:There is no "standard" in the U.S. for receiving digital (cable or Satellite) for HDTV.
Sticking with terrestrial, which is what the Nebula card (among others) is and what the ATI is (albeit for the ATSC standard), I think that "larger companies won't find it worthwhile" is consistent with my little jibe. For countries where DVB-T broadcasts have been available for some time, it's the small companies like VisionPlus and in particular Nebula who are throwing together the cards, developing the software for them in-house, and getting them out to market. In the case of VisionPlus cards, an individual Aussie programmer has developed HTPC software for it that supports multiple cards (to enable features like PIP and watching one channel while recording another).

Maybe it's a bit different for ATSC since I've read that there hasn't been much to watch up to now, but for DVB there's been stuff on the air for years, and the big companies like Pinnacle (I guess that's the closest parallel to ATI in DVB land, not that ATI doesn't have the resources to make its own DVB cards) haven't done squat. Yet they will eventually come in when they find it "worthwhile" and use their marketing power to pretend they invented it all :evil:

Anyway, getting a bit more OT here than the thread already is :)

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