S/Pdif digital audio and Svideo I/O, what does it?

[mikeford]

I may not have the right keywords or something, but I want to stick my PC between the cable box DVR and my receiver, so with current setup that means spdif digital audio and Svhs video in and out, but I haven't found any cards that do that. Needs to run with Win7 too.

Suggestions?

 

[Rifter]

what are you trying to accomplish, i am confused.

 

[happy medium]

You audio card or onboard sound does the S/pdif and most older video cards have a s/video output.

Video
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130098

Audio,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829118103

Windows 7 64 bit drivers for audio,
http://www.turtlebeach.com/support/index.php?View=files&CategoryID=391

 

[DaveSimmons]

You need a "video capture" card (many "TV tuner" cards also do this) for the s-video input and (probably analog not spdif) audio input from the DVR. BUT: the DVR ouptut may be copy-protected (such as Macrovision) so that this will fail.

 

[Binky]

Get one of these (not available yet):
http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun/prime/

 

[kalrith]

You need a "video capture" card (many "TV tuner" cards also do this) for the s-video input and (probably analog not spdif) audio input from the DVR. BUT: the DVR ouptut may be copy-protected (such as Macrovision) so that this will fail.

If it's capturing the video while the DVR is playing it, then copy protection won't matter. If the OP has an SD DVR, then I think this will work. The only negative is that it will capture stereo sound rather than surround sound. I'm not sure if there are any SD capture devices with TOSLINK input.

For an HD device, the only real option is the Hauppauge HD PVR (unless you want to ditch the cable box and go with a cable-card tuner). That PVR has both S-video and TOSLINK inputs, but I'm not sure if you can use both of them together.

 

[mikeford]

Gee I thought I was pretty clear for a 4:44am post.

Source box is a Time Warner Scientific Atlanta 8300HD, with Svideo and spdif going to a Sony DA3000ES (older all digital receiver), which goes to an older still Hitachi 31" crt. Maybe a good six months before the display is replaced with something big and HDMI, and I revise my video card etc to suit, maybe, big maybe cablecard video cards will be a practical reality by then.

For now goals are;

Media player feeding the receiver with top quality signal, currently S video and Spdif audio, later upgrading video to digital depending on flavor the display likes.

PVR, I have zero over the air antenna signal, so I need a cable digital tuner for the unencrypted channels so I can use both tuners in the Cable DVR and still get Bones off NBC or whatever.

Long term storage on the Cable DVR is a waste, plus any problems and all the programs are lost. I want to be able to dump programs from the Cable DVR to my HTPC with 2TB of mirrored storage. Input could be HDMI, S video, and/or spdif from the Cable box for now, later on the digital input becomes a requirement.

First one is easy, add a Spdif bracket and motherboard cable. Next two I am flexible on, which means solutions need to be cost conscious, or I wait until I am ready for the HDMI requirement. If a good cheap video input card without spdif input is the best I can find for now, I can live with that until I go HDMI.

Thanks for all suggestions, I will be following links etc, and HTPC is running Win7.

 

[kalrith]

Thanks for all suggestions, I will be following links etc, and HTPC is running Win7.

Since you're already running Win7, I'd recommend getting a cable-card tuner, renting a cable card from your cable company, and ditching the cable box altogether. If you don't want to do that, then the Hauppauge HD PVR is the best option, but it can only record one thing at a time (unless you buy two of them). I'm not sure if the HD PVR does surround sound either. I remember reading somewhere that it only does DD 2.0 instead of DD 5.1.

 

[mikeford]

Maybe after CES Jan 2011 a cablecard tuner will be more viable, now to me at least it isn't.

I'm not seeing anyplace that sells a cablecard tuner except to an OEM, and $400 is not a practical price. Time Warner SA8300HD costs me (printed below, wild guess made) $17.85/mo vs $2.75, but what additional isn't clear or how it fits in the bundle price structure. I'm on my third cablebox dvr, so the warranty as part of the monthly has some real value.

EQUIPMENT & EXTRAS
Digital, HD, DVR, HD-DVR Receiver $ 7.85
Digital, HD, DVR, HD-DVR Receiver for 2nd and each additional TV $ 8.99
Includes Remote Control & Digital Programming Fee.

DVR,HD-DVR Service Fee (per DVR) $ 10.00
DVR or HD-DVR Receivers require subscription to Digital Video Recorder Service.

CableCARD $ 2.75
CableCARD for 2nd and each additional TV $ 3.75
Includes Digital Programming Fee.
Digital Programming Fee for 2nd and each additional Receiver/CableCARD $ 1.00
Remote Control $ 0.14

 

[mikeford]

dup post

 

[Binky]

Multi-cablecard tuners are almost here. The one I linked above from HDhomerun is a triple tuner, but it isn't available yet. It is a networked device, meaning that it's a box that connects to your network. Their other product(s) are similar, and they work very well. This is the one I would buy, simply because my experience with their ATSC tuner has been perfect.

Ceton also has their quad tuner. This is a PCIe device. It is available for "pre-order" and they list mid-2010 as the ship date.

Anybody can buy these cablecard tuners once they are on the market. The old OEM-only crap is gone. If you have cable, and you want to get it piped into a Win7 based HTPC in pure unaltered (e.g. >s-vhs) quality, then you only have one real choice and it's cablecard.

You can buy the regular HDhomerun now and fight with the limitations of ClearQAM for $130 or less (two tuners). This tuner does NOT have an analog input so you cant use it for non-clearQAM tuning.

If you need analog input then something like this Avermedia would work.
It will integrate perfectly with Win7 and it has two ATSC or clearQAM tuners. I have zero experience with clearQAM so I can't comment on how good the avermeida unit is.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815100041

 

[mikeford]

I like the Silicondust stuff, kind of what my currently dead Slingbox should have been, and way cheaper. If you go to their website, http://www.hdhomerun.com/ they have a page that will list all the clear qam channels by zip code and cable provider, around 80 for me including HD dups, worth a single tuner at least to me.

I hate my cable DVR ***, but its still the best option, and given the long history of the cable companies resisting and causing problems for alternate devices, I want to see anything new work for a few months before jumping on new technology.

*** I hate it, but you'll pry it from my cold dead fingers, whole family is totally hooked on time shifted viewing, blipping past commercials, and FF, pause, etc watching.

**************

Current plans
I bought the spdif expansion panel bracket and cable for my motherboard, an ATi X1300 PCIe video card with S-Video output, bid on a Silicondust dual tuner, but lost and likely will pick up a cheap ATi HD600 tuner card for qam and S-video input. Once I replace the old S-video crt, system will get revised with HDMI.