VBox DTA-151 ATSC HDTV Tuner & Volari GPU

[Methius]

Link to HTPCNews Review

A HDTV tuner/encode... Does anyone when it will be supported in SageTV?(HDTV tuning I mean)

And while I'm at it:
Anyone have any experience with the Volari from XGI? This might seem as some sort of ad, but I'm seriously considering buying this card. (Its just 58 bucks :-o)
They seem to have excellent 2d tv-output in HDTV resolutions (720p/1080i) for a extremely low price (beginning at around 50$).

It also seem to have some special features in the tv-out:
Color Amp:

Cipher TM video enhancement:


Features of the V3 XT (58$):

High Definition TV-OUT Solution with XV301PAL and NTSC Systems - Composite, S-Video, and Component RGB Output Signals
- Macrovision Copy Protection Process Rev. 7.1.L1
- HDTV 480i/480p/1080i/720p YPbPr Output Signals
- A single link TMDS transmitter with excellent scaling capability for TFT LCD panel display

MPEG-2 Video Decoder
- MPEG-2 MP@ML standards compliant
- Supports up to 20 Mbit/sec bit rate decoding
- True hardware VCD, DVD and HDTV decoding

Video Accelerator
- YUV-to-RGB color space conversion
- Bi-linear video interpolation with integer increments of 1/2048
- Complete graphics and video overlay function
- Hardware video decoder interface
- Independent VBI capture
- Supports DVD sub-picture playback overlay
- Built-in independent Gamma correction RAM

Proprietary Cipher Video Processor
- 5 fields per-pixel motion detection de-interlace function, video sources from MPEG decoder, Video capture and AVI interfaces
- Down scaling function and scaling vector as 1/2, 1/4
- Next generation de-interlaced and 1/2 down scaling function

True DX9 compliant & Passively cooled!


See VolariGamers for a preview

[GbrNole]

i've been trying like a fool to find a volari that actually has the component dongle provided with it.

i can find the cards (v3 and v8) plenty available through volarigamers.com and ebay but i can't find one with the component dongle.

the reviews that have shown people hooking these cards up via dvi to an hdtv have not been positive ala the nvidia and ati dvi problems but all the reviews for those using plain old svid or the component dongle have been stellar.

it could be a great card for a cheap client box.

[Methius]

You mean this?

Watch this thread on volari gamers:
http://www.volarigamers.com/viewtopi...er=asc&start=0

I'm still considering between the V3 XT or a V5/V8.

I'm only gonna use it for HTPC vid playback (no gaming), but is the V3 XT enough for 720p/1080i output?

Will the V5 be able to output the vid more fluently at higher rates? (anything that matters in this way).

I currently have SDTV, and am waiting for SageTV to support HDTV/looking into HDTV. I also have an SDTV but that should be upgraded to an HDTV in the near future.

[GbrNole]

yep that thread - notice who got the ball rolling on the component issue in that thread?

[stanger89]

Methius,

There isn't anything special about that card except the price, all the features you list are at least matched by products from ATI or nVidia. Not to say there anything wrong with that.

[Methius]

Well I have heard a lot about the 6600/6800 tv-out, problem being that their like 400 euro over here. It would be nice to check if this thing even compares to the output the 6600/6800 have.

400-500 euro against 60 euro... makes a lot of difference for me (don't have the money to go spending it on a 6800/6600 card purely for a tv-out.)

But ok, enough 'bout the graphics card. What 'bout that HDTV tuner card?

[Enormous]

I too am curious how this card does with regular SDTV out.

[Scriber]

Originally Posted by Enormous

I too am curious how this card does with regular SDTV out.

This Sudhian article is the only article I've run across.