HTPC - TV Tuner Reviews
by Jarred Walton on December 7, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
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Installation Procedures
There were a few topics that were so similar among the cards that we wanted to combine them. For all three of these cards, installing the hardware is a relatively simple process. Open the PC, insert the card, plug in the USB receiver, and power up the PC. You can connect or disconnect the coaxial cable at any time without any problems, though most people will probably only want to do that once.
There may be differences in the suggested order of installation. FusionHDTV recommends installing the software before the card, while MyHD apparently needs the card installed before the software installation will fully complete. We managed to get all three cards installed and running using the same process.
First, we installed the hardware prior to installing the software - and we'd recommend downloading the latest software version before proceeding, if you haven't already. After that, turn on the PC and ignore the "Windows has found new hardware" prompts - cancel them. Run the installation utility, and after a few configuration steps and a reboot, you should be done. (You might also get some "This driver is not WHQL certified" warning messages, which you would also ignore. If WHQL certification is important to you, both the MyHD and Fusion5 do not have it.)
After the hardware/software installation, you need to configure the software for your location. We've covered most of this in the individual card reviews, but we wanted to talk a bit more about the channel scans.
The QAM channel scan turns up a couple hundred channels, many of which are unusable (i.e. encrypted). Out of the numerous channels detected, only about 35 are interesting to most people. All of the encrypted QAM channels can be deleted, as there is no way to watch them. For FusionHDTV, the encrypted channels are clearly indicated. For MyHD, any digital channel that shows a black screen with 0x0 as the resolution and at least a 64% signal rate is almost certainly encrypted.
As is typical of most cable lineups, the remaining channels consist of a lot of junk that you probably don't want, along with the interesting channels. While the analog channels are where you find them normally on your cable box, the digital channels are scattered about on sub-channels in no apparent order. If you get rid of the channels that you know you don't want, you'll probably have 50 or fewer digital channels left to sort through.
To determine the channel lineup, I set the TV to split-screen mode, with the Comcast cable box output on one side and the PC output on the other. (Dual monitors can accomplish this same thing, and you can also reference channel lists on TitanTV or some other site if you recognize the shows.) I chose to get rid of the shopping channels along with any channel that didn't display any content. For the remaining channels, the channel surfer in me had a workout, as I'd tune the card to a channel and then scan through the channels on the Comcast box to find a match. Once a match is found, at least with MyHD, you can label the channel as something more meaningful, like "104 - ABC HD". You might also consider writing them down on paper for future reference - this would definitely be useful when "training" TitanTV on the MyHD card.
While it takes a while, the ability to decode QAM is great for people like me. In fact, you can even connect this card to a standard cable signal and decode the HD as well as the free digital channels, without having anything more than a basic account. (This is assuming that the cable company doesn't put a filter on your line for analog-only subscriptions, which varies by cableco and area.) You might even find a few channels that don't normally show up, though that's subject to change over time. (Watching these "unauthorized" channels also seemed to be one of the factors leading to crashes with FusionHDTV. I could apparently get other subscribers' On Demand movies on at least five or six channels.) FCC regulations require cable companies at minimum to carry the free OTA content, though, so those at least will be available.
There were a few topics that were so similar among the cards that we wanted to combine them. For all three of these cards, installing the hardware is a relatively simple process. Open the PC, insert the card, plug in the USB receiver, and power up the PC. You can connect or disconnect the coaxial cable at any time without any problems, though most people will probably only want to do that once.
There may be differences in the suggested order of installation. FusionHDTV recommends installing the software before the card, while MyHD apparently needs the card installed before the software installation will fully complete. We managed to get all three cards installed and running using the same process.
First, we installed the hardware prior to installing the software - and we'd recommend downloading the latest software version before proceeding, if you haven't already. After that, turn on the PC and ignore the "Windows has found new hardware" prompts - cancel them. Run the installation utility, and after a few configuration steps and a reboot, you should be done. (You might also get some "This driver is not WHQL certified" warning messages, which you would also ignore. If WHQL certification is important to you, both the MyHD and Fusion5 do not have it.)
After the hardware/software installation, you need to configure the software for your location. We've covered most of this in the individual card reviews, but we wanted to talk a bit more about the channel scans.
Click to enlarge.
The QAM channel scan turns up a couple hundred channels, many of which are unusable (i.e. encrypted). Out of the numerous channels detected, only about 35 are interesting to most people. All of the encrypted QAM channels can be deleted, as there is no way to watch them. For FusionHDTV, the encrypted channels are clearly indicated. For MyHD, any digital channel that shows a black screen with 0x0 as the resolution and at least a 64% signal rate is almost certainly encrypted.
As is typical of most cable lineups, the remaining channels consist of a lot of junk that you probably don't want, along with the interesting channels. While the analog channels are where you find them normally on your cable box, the digital channels are scattered about on sub-channels in no apparent order. If you get rid of the channels that you know you don't want, you'll probably have 50 or fewer digital channels left to sort through.
To determine the channel lineup, I set the TV to split-screen mode, with the Comcast cable box output on one side and the PC output on the other. (Dual monitors can accomplish this same thing, and you can also reference channel lists on TitanTV or some other site if you recognize the shows.) I chose to get rid of the shopping channels along with any channel that didn't display any content. For the remaining channels, the channel surfer in me had a workout, as I'd tune the card to a channel and then scan through the channels on the Comcast box to find a match. Once a match is found, at least with MyHD, you can label the channel as something more meaningful, like "104 - ABC HD". You might also consider writing them down on paper for future reference - this would definitely be useful when "training" TitanTV on the MyHD card.
While it takes a while, the ability to decode QAM is great for people like me. In fact, you can even connect this card to a standard cable signal and decode the HD as well as the free digital channels, without having anything more than a basic account. (This is assuming that the cable company doesn't put a filter on your line for analog-only subscriptions, which varies by cableco and area.) You might even find a few channels that don't normally show up, though that's subject to change over time. (Watching these "unauthorized" channels also seemed to be one of the factors leading to crashes with FusionHDTV. I could apparently get other subscribers' On Demand movies on at least five or six channels.) FCC regulations require cable companies at minimum to carry the free OTA content, though, so those at least will be available.
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8steve8 - Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - link
bottom line:if i want to watch/record hdtv channels like HBO and/or discover via a PC...
im out of luck?
those channels are not ota... are provided through a cable provider....
i can do this once cable card finally comes around?
JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - link
HBO and most other movie channels are encrypted. Funny enough, some of the on demand channels seem to be picked up. For instance channels 101-1, 101-2, 102-1, 102-2, and several subchannels on the physical channels 93 and 94 all showed what amounts to random content. Movies, cartoons, and yes, even porn. If you tuned in to one of the channels, sometimes you would see it going to fast-forward mode, like the person watching the content was skipping ahead.Cable card is supposed to allow you to view encrypted content on TVs as well as computers without a set-top box. Until I see it in actual use, though, I'm not exactly sure how it's going to work. I would assume it will just store an encrypted TP file, and the cable card will contain the decryption logic.
nullpointerus - Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cablecard">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CablecardI've been waiting for decent HTPC CableCard products for ~2 years now. They'll probably come out very late in 2006, achieve their intended interoperability sometime between the second and third generation of products, and become practically flawless around the same time that they become obsolete. That's just a guess, mind you...
Tujan - Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - link
It was intriging because nobody has really compared the use of DIY HTPCs. With what limited parts are available.I wouldn't use a non-multicore processor for something dealing with HDPCs. Just the shear amount of graphics and screen space,the relative newcomer to its display of screen space,. The notorious 'switching between apps,and those running in the background,- much less using the PCI bus to do so.
What I did miss out of this story,was a shot of a connected MYHD130 to its screen display. Kind of lost me there. With the connect ups to utilizing a screen,and the computers video card. See Im reading imagining toggling between user interface,remote,and what this means to the rigging of separate devices outside the computer itself.Caveat Emptor for/from them along side. And you mentioned that ATI was 'out-of-the-picture , for HDTV unless the components where hooked up. So to share that ATI graphics cards are not useful for the MYHD130.
Would certainly make a wish list to the MYHD130 to put it onto the PCI-e lane.Get it off the PCI bus.
As for those encrypted channels.Are you sure they would stay that way ? Think you could pick out your PPV (Pay-Per-view) channel from that list ? [ ]
You mentioned your Monitor,that they have in common Overscan.I simply have the question included to involve just how a HTPC will correctly recognize a monitor (consider a 32 to 40" LCD TV) ,when most this involves the PNP feature Ive known for doing so.? [ ]
ATI cards aren't any good with the DTV if using the DVI for/from them for the HD screens ? Think 32" to 42" LCD TVs here.[ ]
- glad your doing the experimenting here.Good article.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - link
LCD TVs shouldn't have a problem with overscan. Any rear projection displays will have overscan, and I believe all DLP have overscan as well. There are some good DLP displays that only have 1% overscan, though -- too bad they're really expensive.If you want a picture of what the MyHD looks like when connected, let me see about uploading one and I'll provide a link. This is with the DVI daughter card:
http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/multimedia/tvt...">DVI Passthru Image
http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/multimedia/tvt...">VGA Passthru Image
Hopefully that's clear - there's a lot of cable clutter, so I labeled the pertinent connections.
Tujan - Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - link
Thanks for reply. Even though I know a lot,Im still a novice. Know a lot of the acronymns,but dealing with things marketed off the top just keeps me on to them for a limited span.The picture there,the top card is the video card,with the lower cards being the TV tuners then.Im thinkin that somehow your giving up a controlled connection to your display from the computer by using the MyHD130 ? Or it limits the 'out of your video card when you only would have a single hook up on the Display.[ ]
- I will go to there site to look for more.
Encryption ? [ ] Mean if you subscribe to HBO via your home cable line,HBO will not be able to be seen if utilizing the HTPC with the QAM/HD TV cards ?
Certainly the situation would be averted for the configuration of the cable to Display(cable box to default display) - since (T,F) the Display has an encryption chip within it to do so,(1),or (2) Encryption is handled via the cable box. With everything else dealing with something of the HDCP,HDMI type scenarios.... The encryption mechanism has got to work somewhere in the final render at the Display. Certainly the Cable Company isn't selling me the Display.....
Of course this is a whole nother anchalotta.
I pretty much just look for the configuration compatibility in the input,output for the hookups.And if the software will work/..how difficult to navigate them.
Thinking everythings hunky dory after a large investment ...Again thanks for reply.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - link
Decryption of the encrypted channels is handled by the cable box. The cable card standard will allow other devices to do that decryption -- basically, the key/algorithm will be stored on the cable card. Of course, that means you need to have a TV and or computer that has a cable card slot. Hopefully they'll make a USB adapter.mariush - Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - link
I'm a bit dissapointed that you have used Divx to test the analog recording. XViD would have probably been much faster, at least that's how it is on my computer.Also, I would probably either use XViD set to record with quantizer 1 (max quality) which takes about 6-10 MB/s at 768x576 25fps or I would use a lossless encoder such as HuffYUV (~12 MB/s at 768x576 25fps)
JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - link
The DivX codec is officially supported by the MyHD software. Xvid was far slower, and that holds in general, unless there is a special setting to get it to encode faster. All the real-time encoding has to be done through a VFW codec, and I couldn't find a fast codec to handle that. The DivX codec is also the only codec that allows you to resize the video content, at least as far as I could tell. Otherwise you end up with an incorrect aspect ratio, as seen on the top left picture on page 15.If you download the videos, you might feel that the DivX codec results in a loss of quality, even on the X2 system. That video sample is actually very close to what you see when watching live analog content with the MyHD card. At best, it's decent analog video. Just about any analog-only TV tuner will produce equal or better output.
Back to the codecs, if you really want to get a decent compression, while not losing a lot of quality, I would recommend using a second PC or re-encoding the videos while your computer is sitting idle. You could do the same thing with the TP files, re-encoding them using the Xvid codec with a data rate of around 1 GB per hour and the target, resolution of 720 x 480 -- or perhaps go for 2/3 GB per hour and target a 1280x1024 resolution.
One of the benefits of the DivX codec is that quite a few consumer-electronics devices now support it as well. I'm not aware of any DVD players that can handle Xvid.
xtknight - Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - link
Sorry for the double post, but by the way, the program AVI.NET can encode xvid and divx for standalone players. That's the whole purpose of it: to use only the features standalone players support. I recommend you try it out.