I came across this and thought some of you "techies" might find it interesting.
Until now, there has not been way to record and save HD programs from encrypted satellite and cable channels, such as premium channels. Sure, you can lease a HD DVR from the cable or satellite provider, or buy a TIVO HD recorder a get a cablecard, or even buy a specially configured cablecard ready PC and record encoded/premium shows in HD. But you can’t save them on DVD as HD.
None of that makes sense. In the description they mention using component cables, but the picture of the device shows composite cable inputs. Are there supposed to be more inputs on the back? Because you can't record HD content using composite cables. Maybe you could down-convert it to non-HD, but I don't see how you'd be able to record it in HD. Same goes for 5.1 discrete audio using stereo RCA cables. That just won't work.
And by the way, a single-layer 4.7GB DVD-R holds about 50 mins. of HD content at the bare minimum HD quality (i.e. lowest allowable bitrate and maximum amount of compression to still qualify as being "HD"), not 60 mins. as claimed.
Posted by J2ME (Member # 5728) on :
quote:Are there supposed to be more inputs on the back?
Record your high definition TV programs to your PC, using high quality H.264!
HD PVR is the world’s first High-Definition video recorder for making real-time H.264 compressed recordings at resolutions up to 1080i. HD-PVR records component video (YCrCb) from cable TV and satellite set top boxes, with a built-in IR blaster to automatically change TV channels for scheduled recordings. Audio is recorded using AAC.
The recording format is AVCHD, which can be used to burn Blu-ray DVD disks. Two hours of HD recordings, recorded at 5 Mbits/sec, can be burnt onto a standard 4.7 GByte DVD-R or DVD-RW disk for playback on a Blu-ray DVD player.
The HD PVRs amazing recording quality allows personal archival of your favorite high definition TV programs from any component video HD set top box. The HD PVR also has standard definition composite and S-Video inputs so you can record your old home video tapes into an AVCHD format for creating Blu-ray DVD recordings. Features
* Built-in hardware H.264 high definition encoder, for high performance, high quality TV recordings. * Component video input from most high definition cable TV and satellite TV receivers. Optical or stereo audio inputs. * Record high definition video at up to 1080i resolution, 720p or VGA/D1. * Record at datarates from 1Mbs to 13.5Mbs, constant and Variable Bit Rate. * Blu-ray format AVCHD recordings, so you can burn your TV recordings onto a standard DVD disk (up to 2 hours of video at 5MBits/sec) and playback on Blu-ray DVD players. * Includes HD software video player, so you can playback recordings to your PC screen. * Audio/Video component video loop through to allow HD recording and viewing at the same time. * High Performance Noise Reduction Function. * NTSC,PAL and SECAM Support. * IR receiver for remote control. * IR Blaster to change the TV channels in your set top box.
Posted by journey (Member # 7316) on :
Ohhhhh...it uses AVCHD. That makes sense. The downside then is that not all Blu-ray players will support playback. Sony and Panasonic players will since they are the co-creators of the format, but others may not. The AVCHD format is also supposed to be less stable and more prone to data loss/corruption then others as well, so I'm not sure it's really the best choice for archival purposes.
Posted by jdocster McFly you Irish bug (Member # 5752) on :
All good points., but, for a cheap solution "now" it's pretty nice. AVCHD's near Blu-Ray quality is just that. Near. Some of it though is very hard to distinguish from Blu-Ray. Either way, I would use the DVD+r format for recording due to it's superior tracking ability...
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