TV Tuner for HTPC, with HDMI input

[b4u]

Hi,

I'm looking forward to build a new PC for my living room.

In the near future, I'll have a 40" LCD screen, and want to connect my PC to it.

I'll make the connection through HDMI graphic card output, so everithing will be great.

Now my problem comes with TV signal ... I live in Portugal (west-europe) and the digital terrestrial signal will arrive soon, in the form of MPEG4 encoding.

My TV service provider provides (eheh) a box that will give my HD content, and a remote to go with it. The box has an HDMI output port, so I can connect it to my LCD.

As I see it, I'll have to change from the LCD input ports to allow me to choose from TV/PC data, which I don't want to ... I want my PC to be the sole content provider of the LCD, so I can work on my PC and be able to see TV broadcasts at the same time.

Since my TV box has an HDMI output, instead of connecting it to the television, I was hopping to find a TV tuner for my PC, which has HDMI input, and software that can display content in full-screen or window-mode ... then the TV box remote would change the channels, and I could be doing whatever I want in the computer at the same time ... so a full HTPC solution this way ...

Now I need your help ... is there a TV tuner card around with HDMI input for the purpose?

(Can be internal, or external ... I prefer internal, but most of all, I need a solution, so external would be fine)

Thanks

 

[Modelworks]

Blackmagic makes some cards that can capture from HDMI.
http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/

I do not know how well it works with software like windows media center , so may want to research that a bit.

 

[b4u]

Eh I was just looking into that product ... looks great on the paper, and reviews are good too.

For TV, I believe I can go with the 720p that the card complies to, and I would be using VLC for capturing (for display only). It's a free and great software for the job.

It also specifies:
HD Format Support 1080i50, 1080i59.94, 720p50 and 720p59.94.

So will I get problems if I connect, in the future, a Full HD output device? They supposedly output 1080p ...

Also what is that "50" and "59.94" numbers? Frames per second? What are the "normal" values for Full HD?

(More hardware available would be great to compare ... post if you know some )


Thanks

 

[Spicedaddy]

that HDMI input card doesn't support HDCP, so it might not work.

If your HD box has component output, your best bet would be a Hauppauge HD-PVR.

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: b4u
Eh I was just looking into that product ... looks great on the paper, and reviews are good too.

For TV, I believe I can go with the 720p that the card complies to, and I would be using VLC for capturing (for display only). It's a free and great software for the job.

It also specifies:
HD Format Support 1080i50, 1080i59.94, 720p50 and 720p59.94.

So will I get problems if I connect, in the future, a Full HD output device? They supposedly output 1080p ...

Also what is that "50" and "59.94" numbers? Frames per second? What are the "normal" values for Full HD?

(More hardware available would be great to compare ... post if you know some )


Thanks

They only list 1080i on the site. 1The numbers 50, 59.94 are frames per second . Standard is 50 and 60. 59.94 is about as close as you can get most of the time.

The card cannot copy HDCP content so forget plugging in something like blu-ray player.
It does have component inputs on the pro version so you could capture that way from blu-ray but it will not be 1080P, since they only pass that on hdmi.

There really is not a lot of consumer level products for capturing HD. There are plenty in the pro market, but this card is probably as good as it gets for reliable hardware and not spending a bundle , next card up is about $650.


Other option:
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html

The main difference is that the blackmagic card captures in full HD with no compression and has hdmi and component. The hauppauge box compresses everything using h.264 and does not have hdmi.

Uncompressed HD video takes a LOT of space so you might like the happauge solution better.

 

[gameover]

I hate to break it to you but you can pretty much forget about the Black Magic cards. Like others have said it doesn't support HDCP so it won't work with your cable box. On top of that even if you did get it to work you would still have tons of problems getting it to do what you actually expect it to do.

If you want to use your PC like a media center then your only real option currently is the Hauppage HD PVR. If you want to use your TV like a big display then I guess your options open up.

As for using your TV remote to control everything there will be about a 3 second delay on any capture device you choose.

 

[thilanliyan]

Like gameover said, I wouldn't go near the cheaper Blackmagic cards. I have no experience with the more expensive ones but the Intensity Pro is a pain to get working. I was trying to get one working with a Nikon D300's HDMI output to capture some images and video but could not get it to work and the software didn't work well either.

 

[b4u]

I'm getting a sad feeling that I cannot get what I want ...

Is there any graphic card that has an HDMI input with HDCP around?

Thanks

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: b4u
I'm getting a sad feeling that I cannot get what I want ...

Is there any graphic card that has an HDMI input with HDCP around?

Thanks

If you find one I will be amazed.
There really isn't a demand for hdmi capture in consumer products. Most people want to go the other way to output the pc display to HD displays.

From the industry view the only people wanting to capture HDMI on a pc are professionals and pirates :disgust:

 

[Blurry]

From the industry view the only people wanting to capture HDMI on a pc are professional pirates :disgust:
[/quote]

Fixed.

 

[brblx]

is HDMI your only output choice?

your signal is already processed, you don't need a tuner. it might be easier and maybe even more cost effective to just pick up a cheap monitor with hdmi or dvi in.

 

[b4u]

Originally posted by: brblx
is HDMI your only output choice?

your signal is already processed, you don't need a tuner. it might be easier and maybe even more cost effective to just pick up a cheap monitor with hdmi or dvi in.

What I want here is a single output solution.

I want to browse the web, check my downloads, my webservers etc. while other people watch TV ... in a 40" screen, that would be nice ... to use the space there.

A normal solution is to pick the remote, and change the TV input signal, from by tv-box-receiver to pc-signal ... so I have one of the devices displayed.

I want to have a full screen video capture software running, and the TV signal is being displayed there ... then on a mouse/keyboard shortcut click, it would change to window mode, and BANG! my desktop is there ... my 24/7 media center computer would be the only input on my TV. PC is a versatile machine, so I want to use it as such ...

 

[Hdmi]

hi

have you found any card yet, I am also looking for an internal TV card with HDMI in to replace my current RCA video connection .

I am going to buy a LED HD monitor, so I also do not want to change the input source between viewing TV and working on the PC . It could be best if I could get both TV and PC desk top from one HDMI input of monitor only.

of course I am already achieving that, via the RCA video out of my STB into the intex Tv tuner , then the CPU has VGA out . so I connect the VGA out of CPU to my monitor and I can use PC. Now in my desk top I have this small icon of my intex card , wen I click on this Icon , my TV starts .

So now after I have a new HD monitor, I will get a new graphics card so that I get HDMI out rather than VGI out and be able to watch TV same way.

I was hoping instead of taking composite video out from STB an into my TV Tuner card , why cannot I take HDMI out from STB and into a New TV tuner card. so everything would be much better quality hopefully,

so STB--Through HDMI ---TV Tuner Card in CPU -- ---CPU --- HDMI Cable -----Monitor ,

So now in monitor I do not need to change input source to view TV. I will be able to watch TV when I click on the TV tuner card icon on the desk top.

I can minimize , maximize etc with the TV window, that could not be possible if I took STB out put to a different monitor Input directly . In the latter case I will get full screen with no flexibility and also will not be able to work on my computer as I am watching TV, you know check mails and all.

So any ideas .

 

[Wall Street]

There are no capture cards that can capture HDCP because the entire point of HDCP is that it is not to be recorded. If a company made an HDMI input that could capture HDCP content, their HDMI encryption key and license would be revoked.

Use component video because HDMI w/HDCP capture isn't going to happen without black market cards or non-sanctioned drivers.

 

[Hdmi]

There are no capture cards that can capture HDCP because the entire point of HDCP is that it is not to be recorded. If a company made an HDMI input that could capture HDCP content, their HDMI encryption key and license would be revoked.

Use component video because HDMI w/HDCP capture isn't going to happen without black market cards or non-sanctioned drivers.

Thanks Wall, Guess I have two options now

1) Use composite Video out (RCA) and into internal TV card use TV and computer from single input of monitor.

2) Take HDMI out of STB directly into HDMI in of monitor and watch TV .
In the second case I will have to switch input source in order to work on my computer .