How do I get HDTV PVR capabilities in Vista Media Center?

[bovinda]

I'm using Vista Home Premium, a AverMedia AVerTV Combo PCIe card, and OTA HD. (TV is a Samsung LN52A650, if it matters.) I've got it hooked into the analog input on the capture card. How do I get HDTV in Vista MC? Do I have to go through the digital input, or can it be done in analog? What else do I have to do to have HD PVR capabilities?

If I do have to go through the digital input, well...I've tried in the past and I get very few of the OTA channels (whereas if I plug the coaxial antenna cable directly into my TV, I get many). Why is that, and what do I do about it?

Thanks for any help!

EDIT: I don't think it was clear - it is a coaxial antenna feed. I don't have cable.

 

[newnameman]

Plug it into the digital input to get HD.

 

[bovinda]

Thanks new. I did so, and it definitely looks higher definition, but it doesn't look as sharp as when I plugged the antenna directly into the TV. So I guess my questions become: does Vista MC truly output at 1080p? Could I be losing subtle detail because I'm using a VGA cable from the DVI output?

 

[pm]

What are you setting the resolution of the screen to on the TV?

On my HTPC, I have the video card outputing 1280x720 and it looks beautiful in Vista Media Center. It's as good as it is straight into the TV. I'm using a VGA cable too - too cheap to buy the DVI2HDMI cable.

 

[bovinda]

Originally posted by: pm
What are you setting the resolution of the screen to on the TV?

On my HTPC, I have the video card outputing 1280x720 and it looks beautiful in Vista Media Center. It's as good as it is straight into the TV. I'm using a VGA cable too - too cheap to buy the DVI2HDMI cable.

I'm outputting at 1920x1080. It definitely looks better than SD, but it's just not quite as crisp as directly plugging the antenna into the TV. I may need to fudge with some of the settings still (either on the PC or the TV)? I'm also wondering if I need to change TV quality somewhere (I thought it was on "Best", but I need to double-check). In any event, it does look better, just a little softer, somehow.

Is Vista capable of doing 1080p? Do HD stations actually broadcast in 1080p or i, or is it in 720p?

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: bovinda
Is Vista capable of doing 1080p?

Yes. Or 2600p, or whatever you're feeling like today. Vista is not your problem. I personally suspect you need to tweak your video card's overlay settings.

Do HD stations actually broadcast in 1080p or i, or is it in 720p?

They broadcast in 1080i and 720p, depending on what network they're with. There is not a ton of quality difference either way.

 

[pm]

Since your resolution is so high, maybe it is the VGA cable. It's a standard high quality 2m/6ft. VGA cable? It's been my experience with analog VGA that the longer the cable, or the higher the resolution - particularly above 1280x960 - the fuzzier the signal looks. Using thin VGA cables, or using VGA extenders, made it even worse.

Since you are running 1920x1080, I'd recommend switching it to digital and going DVI->HMDI using a cheap cable from one of the online vendors.

 

[bovinda]

Originally posted by: erwos
Yes. Or 2600p, or whatever you're feeling like today. Vista is not your problem. I personally suspect you need to tweak your video card's overlay settings.

I'll try to find those options and play around with them when I get a chance. Thanks for the suggestion. May post back if I can't find them.

Originally posted by: pm
Since your resolution is so high, maybe it is the VGA cable. It's a standard high quality 2m/6ft. VGA cable? It's been my experience with analog VGA that the longer the cable, or the higher the resolution - particularly above 1280x960 - the fuzzier the signal looks. Using thin VGA cables, or using VGA extenders, made it even worse.

Since you are running 1920x1080, I'd recommend switching it to digital and going DVI->HMDI using a cheap cable from one of the online vendors.

Thanks pm...I'll give that a shot. I am indeed using is a standard 6' VGA cable, but I've got a cheap $9 Rosewill DVI -> HDMI cable being shipped from NewEgg as I type. If none of this works, I suppose I'll learn to live with it...it's still a lot better than before. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[destrekor]

You also have the issue of, cable plugged in directly to a TV or cable box, will have better image quality than a PC analog tuner. I don't know why this is still the case, but the hardware just isn't up to par with dedicated tuners. That, and the analog to PC, converted to HD and then to TV is just adding more steps than directly to tv and the TV doing the upconversion.

For PCs, the best option is to find a high-quality decoder. The best route is often having a recent mid-end or better GPU that can decode video during playback, and decoding using that method tends to produce the best picture.

 

[newnameman]

Originally posted by: destrekor
You also have the issue of, cable plugged in directly to a TV or cable box, will have better image quality than a PC analog tuner. I don't know why this is still the case, but the hardware just isn't up to par with dedicated tuners. That, and the analog to PC, converted to HD and then to TV is just adding more steps than directly to tv and the TV doing the upconversion.

For PCs, the best option is to find a high-quality decoder. The best route is often having a recent mid-end or better GPU that can decode video during playback, and decoding using that method tends to produce the best picture.

He's using a digital tuner, not analog.