HDTV confusion

[ikarus79m]

I'm sorry if I'm about to ask a stupid question, but I am REALLY confused with all this HDTV functions out there now.

Now that Sage 3.0x supports HDTV cards I was wondering if it would be at all beneficial for me to get one of those cards. I only have a regular TV, does it even make sense to record in HDTV?

Also, if I would be to record HDT on my hard drive via a Fusion 5 Lite card, can my Hauppauge 350 output that to my TV, or can i only watch it on my computer?

Are all the OTA broadcasts of HDTV in dolby digital sourround?

In addition, I guess that there exists no card to record hdtv from my directv correct? Because that would be really cool.

If there is a HDTV expert out there, I would trouly appreciate some clarification.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by ikarus79m

I'm sorry if I'm about to ask a stupid question, but I am REALLY confused with all this HDTV functions out there now.

Now that Sage 3.0x supports HDTV cards I was wondering if it would be at all beneficial for me to get one of those cards. I only have a regular TV, does it even make sense to record in HDTV?

Probably not, unless your local feeds are bad, the digital (HD) version might be cleaner. If you get your locals of D*, then there's probably no benefit.

Also, if I would be to record HDT on my hard drive via a Fusion 5 Lite card, can my Hauppauge 350 output that to my TV, or can i only watch it on my computer?

The 350 is SD only.

Are all the OTA broadcasts of HDTV in dolby digital sourround?

Not necessarilly.

In addition, I guess that there exists no card to record hdtv from my directv correct? Because that would be really cool.

Nope.

[Kanati]

Only reason I can think of to record HD in your case would be to watch them at enhanced resolution on your computer... And maybe to resample them back to SD resolutions to play back in sage after importing them... They might look better than the SD signal which is usually compressed a bit by your carrier (DTV in this case?)

Not much sense in investing in HD tech without a tv to play it back. But if you get an HD tv you'll be loathe to go back to watching regular SD ever again... I just had Dish network and VOOM installed specifically because they have a much larger HD lineup than my local cable company.