How is HD encoded when recording?

[JParedis]

I got today an HTPC with 2 standard Hauppauge TV cards in it. I can record on both, while watching a show via the HD200. That's because the Hauppauge TV cards encode the signal in MPEG2 with a chip on the TV card, so my HTPC does not need heavy software encoding.

I want to switch to HD, but do not like the 2 providers I got (Belgium), both force their box on you. It would also make using SageTV not practical anymore. So I want to switch to TV-Vlaanderen, a satellite provider allowing me to use what I want (more or less). I can find many PCI Satellite cards I could use, as the FloppyDTV DVB-S2 (HD Satelliet), but none seems to have encoding on the card.

I have been told that this is not required, as the HD signal is MP4 already, so recording is "nothing but" writing that signal straight to disk.

Is this correct? Would that mean I could have 2 receivers in the HTCP, record with them and at same time watch a show?

Any input/experience would be welcome.

Jan

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by JParedis

I have been told that this is not required, as the HD signal is MP4 already, so recording is "nothing but" writing that signal straight to disk.

Is this correct? Would that mean I could have 2 receivers in the HTCP, record with them and at same time watch a show?

Any input/experience would be welcome.

Jan

Yes that is correct. For HD and most cards no encoding is done. With the HD-PVR the encoding is done in hardware to h.264 because the input is component. (Analog) You could have 2 tuners recording and watch a previously recorded show.

Gerry

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by JParedis

I have been told that this is not required, as the HD signal is MP4 already, so recording is "nothing but" writing that signal straight to disk.

Yes, that's the advantage of having the original signal digital (unencrypted or decrypted on board) and being able to just write it to disk, no heavy processing is required.

[JParedis]

Great, thanks for the confirmation. So I can progress with my sat project

Jan