:cool:takeaim
this may also help you inyour desire to edit....
http://www.videoredo.com/en/index.htm
now your setup for success.
have fun and good luck

thanks, if i can't get tmpgenc working (since i already own it). then i'll try dvrmstoolbox as that's free. if neither of those work, i'll give videoredo a shot.

Hi!
Getting closer to built my HTCP (bought more parts over the weekend)

One question which tuner card can I use and how many (I want to use two for now) for OTA HDTV recording and for later playback.

Thanks

Takeaim - if you're having choppy video in wintv - disable hardware accel - use the "Primary" program and go minimum settings (forget the exact wording right now)
Also, if it plays back poorly in an editing program - DO NOT WORRY.
My HD recordings were so massive that virtualdub could not play it back properly - stuttered. But the final product played fine. Try to encode a bit first and see.

Also, if you want to edit the dvr-ms format try using my program, its based on ffmpeg and extracts the mpeg2 stream from the dvr-ms.

I don't think I went far enough back to see what card you had, but I have an HVR-950 and wintv was choppy to watch HD - once i turned off the overlay/accel using Primary, it was fine - though still slow. I don't even have it installed anymore, I just use watchhdtv (which I finally got working in 64bit! Over a year without 64bit drivers working right for the tuner, but its all good now.)

Here's my program:
http://dvrmstompeg.googlepages.com/dvr-mstompegconverter
If you're worried about how safe it is, you can just use the ffmpeg enclosed via command line - but rest assured, its safe, all I did was write a quick GUI to speed things along (select the input file, create and output file, and "start")

I tried the program and it works great...finally can get it to a format AutoGK likes.
Thanks for sharing!

Well, I bought the AverTV combo PCIe card for my new HTPC build, and I cannot get XP media center (MC) to scan any OTA stations with my CM4221 connected.

I installed latest driver for this card, that went smooth. I then installed the latest version of Avermedia media centre app first, it then hung when I ran it for the first time :( I promptly uninstalled it.

I tried using XP MC to set up the card. When prompted, I told MC to do an automatic scan. It reported it "signal not detected." To prove the antenna circuit, I unplugged the RG6 from the card and plugged it directly to my HDTV. CBC came in crystal clear, plus some other analog stations.

I went so far as to uninstall driver + flakey Avermedia app and also removed the card physically. I re-booted, then powered down, installed card, powered up, installed driver only and then went straight to MC to scan for channels, same result.

I chatted with Avermedia tech support today. He said it's possible the card doesn't like the impedance of my circuit, he recommended trying a different antenna. He also mentioned that entering a US zip code in MC does influence reception ability. Unfortunately, failing to detect channels doesn't give me an opportunity to enter a US zip code (I did see pnear's blog entry about setting this stuff up).

I'm running out of ideas here, I definitely need your help ! I'm not sure whether my problem is hardware or software. I am open to any suggestions you may have.

Much thanks,
yagibear

Try a 3rd party software like Easy HDTV see it if sees your card?

thanks recneps77, conversion worked fine and i'm creating a dvd as we speak to try it out. it seems your program probably sets a bitrate for the resulting mpeg file, is that correct? is there a way to adjust it to keep better quality in the video? basically my sample is about 45min and with the conversion file size i can actually put about 1.5 hrs on a disc. i was thinking i'd put about 1 hr per disc for quality purposes. let me know.

thanks again for your help as well as everyone else

it does a direct rip - if your recorded stream is 15mbit the end result is 15 mbit.
If its 14.63738573 you'll get 14.63738573 ;)
(If you read the ffmpeg window as its converting you will see the bitrate it is at - if you have a lot of errors in the recording, you will see the average bitrate is lower than normal)

Just wondering if there are any TV Tuners out there that are ONLY ATSC. I already have a combo card, but want to eventually add another one, but don't need another NTSC one. Obviously if it is cheaper to get one with both then I will. Hoping to go PCI-E but will go USB or PCI if it is cheaper.

If you don't mind using an Ethernet tuner, you could get an HD Homerun (made by Silicondust).

It's ATSC and QAM (cable) only...

Have a nice day!

Nick

I hope you can find one that is ATSC only to suit your needs, but I think NTSC capabilities will still be with us for quite a long time after the changeovers due to the fact that many remote, low power OTA repeaters/translators will remain using analogue NTSC as far as the authorities have decided. Hauppauge and AverMedia have PCI-E cards now but they're ATSC/NTSC.

Also, why would you need ATSC only?
If you have a combo card, and don't need NTSC, don't use it.
Keep in mind you can use it to tune a VCR, for example, to transfer your VHS collection to digital.

You're right, I was only wondering if there was some benefit to having an ATSC only card. Maybe for pricing reasons, maybe for performance. Sounds like it's just as cost effective to get a combo card.

Dvico Fusion HDTV7 is a dual tuner ATSC/QAM/NTSC card. It does have analogue capabilities but does not have a hardware MPEG-2 hardware encoder for the analogue, so they may have shaved a few dollars off because of they. I've seen it for $139US. It has good reviews and worth looking into if yo need 2 more tuners.

Hauppauge has the HVR-1250 which is a single tuner ATSC/QAM/NTSC card also without the MPEG-2 hardware encoder to save cost. Its around $60.

I'll check into that one...thanks!

The hauppauge 1800 is PCI E but it is ATSC and NTSC. I don't think there is an advantage other than cost savings.

Hauppauge is supposed to be releasing a new dual ATSC/NTSC card shortly model 2250.

cool. But I bet there will be a premium cost for a new device, which I'm trying to avoid.

Although maybe the price of the older models will drop, once it comes out though.

hauppauge has finally released the 2250. I have been waiting for this card ever since they announced it in Feb. '08.

Was reported as selling for $129 but on hauppauge's web store it is $149.

Haven't found any CDN retailers that have it yet. I will be buying this card for sure before september.

Thanks Q, that 2250 looks like a great unit!

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr2250.html

I see that ATSC and Clear QAM are hardware encoded to MPEG-2, so for those wanting a pure transport stream this new card might not be the answer. I'm going to wait to see how long Linux drivers will take, unless they're already available. Hauppauge is pretty good about Linux support.