Recording OTA HD

[Ryand833]

I haven't seen a lot of threads like this, so I figured I'd start a new one.

I'm interested in getting my Sage server to do a little HD recording on the side, but since I don't have cable (I just get standard def. through Dish), I'll be using an antenna to pick up the local channels over the air.

I already have 4 tuners in the system (2 Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150's and 1 Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500) recording from 4 satellite receivers simultaneously, so I'm assuming my system is already straining pretty hard.

It's a 2.0 GHz processor (AMD Athlon64 3200+) with 1 GB of PC3200 ram. Would this setup be enough if I added an HD ATSC tuner, or would I need to beef up the processor?

Also, what would my choices be for tuners? (I should mention now that I have no more room inside the PC as all of the PCI slots are taken.) I looked at the supported list and some of the other threads, and most people seem to opt for the SiliconDust HD Homerun.

The Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950 wouldn't really be an option since it doesn't do hardware encoding, right?

[GKusnick]

Hardware encoding is for analog TV and is irrelevant to broadcast HD, which is already digital when you receive it. All Sage has to do is copy the bits off the air and onto your disk. So there shouldn't be any significant processor load for recording.

Playback is a different story, but if you have separate clients and/or extenders and don't do any playback on your server, you should be OK.

I use Vbox USB ATSC tuners and like them fine. If you get more than one USB tuner, be sure to connect them to a powered USB 2.0 hub, since your motherboard USB controller probably doesn't have enough oomph to power more than one.

[Ryand833]

Ah Ok.

So I'd be OK getting the cheaper (err, less expensive ) Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950 USB stick if I'm only going to be tuning digital OTA channels?

[davephan]

I just started this weekend recording OTA HD content. When I playback the HD content through the MVP unit, the computer has to transcode the signal on the fly. My 3.0 gig dual-core CPU goes between about 32 to 55 percent when one HD file is played back on my MVP. If you have a STX-HD100, then your computer will not have to do the processing during playback.

I also noticed that some of the OTA HD channels have black top and bottom borders on my SD television during playback. Some of the channels are 4x3 and have black borders on top, bottom, left, and right. which reduces the picture size considerably. The analog OTA TV signal is a bit weak here due to a hill that is in the way of the television broadcast towers. The analog signal is fuzzy and has some ghosting. The digital signal with the same roof top antenna is perfect - except for the channels with four black borders being too small.

From what I have read on the forum, I don't think your CPU will be powerful enough to playback the HD content with an MVP (I assume you are using an MVP for playback). It sounds like your system may be marginal already, recording four sources at once. I found when I increased from 1 to 2 gigs RAM, the system functioned much better. My system normally draws close to 1 gig RAM all the time.


Dave

[Ryand833]

Yeah, I've been considering upgrading both the CPU and the RAM since I went to the four-tuner setup.

I don't have a way of playing back the OTA HD content just yet, but I'll definitely be purchasing the STX-HD100 when they are available.

What I'll likely do is just download the MPG file from my sage system and watch it on my desktop computer.

Thanks for the tips guys.