How to get HD content on your PC
By Evan Blass 
posted February 20th 2006 5:45PM
posted February 20th 2006 5:45PM
Ben over at our
"sister" blog HDBeat has posted a very thorough article concerning the various methods of acquiring HD
content on your PC. The good news is that options exist for users of all three major operating systems to watch and
record high-def programs, and new services are cropping up all the time to constantly expand the slate of offerings. PC
owners today can pull HD signals directly to their machines with capture cards or USB peripherals; HDBeat recommends
devices with MPEG-2 hardware decoding to ease the strain on your processor, and QAM support if you're piping in cable through Firewire from a STB
(although many channels are encrypted and can be neither viewed nor captured). Another option is hacking your HDTiVo to
open up it's USB 1.1 port for output, but this method is both slow and of questionable legality. Finally, the 'Beat
shows you the software and codecs you'll need to watch all the HD swag that you accumulate with the best quality and
performace.
"PC owners today can pull HD signals directly to their machines with capture cards or USB peripherals; HDBeat recommends devices with MPEG-2 hardware encoding to ease the strain on your processor"
Something not right there.
HDTV is already encoded in MPEG-2. There is no encoder needed to pull HD content down.
Maybe they meant they recommend an MPEG-2 *decoder* built into the hardware, since decoding HD content can be taxing on your CPU. But that means doing an unncessarily complex bypass of your graphics card, especially given that most modern graphics cards (any GeForce 5 or above, for example) do hardware decoding themselves. But there are separate HD tuners that also include a hardware-based output; they're expensive and not that common, though.
But if they said you want an *encoder* in the tuner, then they're just wrong. You need one for analog content that you might want to capture, but HDTV is not analog. It's already compressed. All you need is basically a dumb capture card to dump it onto your PC, which is what about 95% of all HDTV tuners are.
jeff ur are 100% correct in fact the best way right now, to get HDTv(mpeg2ts) into pc is via cable and firewire ie moto 62xx cablebox--->pc via ieee1394...allu need is right software i do it all the time...transport stream already mpg2...all u need to do is capture it
ok try to find me into my new blog
je suis francaise et je veux me faire connaitre je tente ma chance !
but whats the cheapest way to do it if you just want ota content and dont want to feed the comcast beast (getting free cable for now and don't want to start paying 100 bucks a month for content i can get for free, atleast with network tv). if most cheap tuners can already do that, are there free options for timeshifting or is it beyond tv or bust?
Jeff, you are 100% right it looks like Evan simply flipped the decoder with encoder, but it seems fixed now. Also you don't need a QAM tuner if your cable STB and computer have a Firewire port.
Thanks for the link and quick sysnopsis Evan!
Ben
The easist way to get HD content on your pc is with bit torrent DUH!
"The good news is that options exist for users of all three major operating systems ..."
I assume by that comment you are referring to:
- Windows XP
- Windows 2000
- Windows 98
Because those three are vastly more major than any niche Mac or Linux OSes that get WAY more coverage than their miniscule percentage of market share would suggest.
LOL At Above. So True. That's how I get my HD TV on my Media Center PC w/o HD Tuner or cable
i am a comment spammer: drinamdars@hotmail.com
Yeah, bittorrent for the cable HD shows I don't get, and a DVICO fusionhdtv 5 gold card to pull all my OTA stations...HD rocks (superbowl in highdef was outstanding).
It's almost hard to believe that OTA HD is completely free (once you get over the guilt of the equipment purchase anyway).
Those "HDTV" files you get via torrent might of started out as HDTV but they are not HDTV when you get them. Those files are sourced from HDTV programming of either 1280x720 or 1920x1080. Then they are re-encoded and downconverted to 652x352 which isn't even DVD quality.
They do look better than SD tv but they are not HDTV.
#10 - Not sure where you get your torrents, but I can assure you there are plenty of places offering both 720p, 1080i AND 1080p scans of original films and programmes.
True, there are many torrents with "HD" in their name but this simply means they are captured via HDTV (not stating their resolution). If you want the original resolution you should look for the ones named HDHR (hidef hires).
It's also worth noting that many of the programmes and movies named HDHR are also downsized due to the popular demand of movies that can be played back on the original Xbox (not powerful enough for full resolution HD). I'm not absolutely sure, but I think they have a resolution around 900 x 450
Hi,
I was hoping you could help me. Firstly, what are the best torrent sites to find 1080p torrents? And most importantly, if I download one of these torrents and played it from my laptop (which is connected to my HD Television)would it be in proper HD? I am using Windows XP.
Thanks.
Im sorry, did anyone else misread that first line as "bend over our sister"? Damn flu medicine making me loopy...
Are you SURE the HD-TIVOhas only a 1.1 USB port? Starting with Series2 hardware SD TIVOs have had USB2 ports, I'd be shocked if the HD unit didn't have that too! Yes, you have to upgrade the drivers but if you're already under the hood it's quite an easy task.
Why would it be illegal exactly to hack your TIVO HD or otherwise? So long as you aren't stealing service go for it! Pretend it's a VCR, you feel bad recording with that too? It's amazing what the **AAs have managed to instill in the way of fear...