ATI is showing off the world's first and only CableCard HDTV tuner for PCs
ATI's OCUR: world's first CableCard HDTV tuner for (Vista) PCsPosted Jan 6th 2006 2:16PM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: CES, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Laptops, Media PCs, Peripherals ATI is showing off the world's first and only CableCard HDTV tuner for PCs: the ATI OCUR. The Open Cable Uni-directional Receiver allows Media Center PCs running Microsoft's new Vista OS to receive High Definition premium digital cable content. Sure, the internal and external (USB 2.0) versions of the OCUR on demo at CES are only tech previews of their final shipping product but hey, this has potential to make that (Media Center) PC truly suitable as a TV replacement in the living room, and a hi-def video recorder to boot! Besides, the reference design is done so the product is simply waiting for Vista to ship...er, sometime this year, right folks? Click on for a few more pics of the external OCUR and the product in action.
ATI releases TV Wonder 650 OTA HDTV tuner cardPosted Aug 22nd 2006 3:33AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Desktops, HDTV, Media PCsJust in time for those immensely popular MLB playoffs and NFL kickoffs, ATI is dropping a new OTA HDTV tuner card that it apparently hopes will catch the eye of those who have been fence-sitting the issue of making a high definition DVR out of their PC. The TV Wonder 650 is based on the Theater 650 chip, including a "motion-adaptive 3D comb filter" as well as noise reduction, and touts the ability to work in Vista systems, even though it's still questionable whether the rest of your system will. Aside from recording over the air HDTV signals in MPEG-2, DivX, H.264, MPEG-4, and WMV9, the card also sports "Avivo image quality enhancements" for those less stunning SD broadcasts. ATI gives you the ability to record / watch two shows simultaneously via the MulTView functionality (if you own two cards, of course), and touts the nifty ThruView technology that displays content in a translucent box as to keep from interfering with all your (presumably) important background tasks. Although nothing here is really groundbreaking, this just might suffice as a stopgap for ATI's CableCard-ready OCUR, and costing just $129, it probably won't hurt too bad to hit the play button on those lingering HTPC plans.
By Robert Heron Compared with plasmas and conventional CRTs, LCD TVs pack in a lot more pixels per square inch. This makes them ideal for cramped dorms or even big frat house dens. Also, the average price of LCD HDTVs is steadily declining. Keep in mind, though, the old axiom "you get what you pay for" still applies. Knowing when you should spend a little extra, and what for, often means the difference between long-term satisfaction and simmering regret. Fortunately for you, I have everything you need know right here. LCD TV Basics As with any HDTV purchase, the first thing you need to consider is screen size. For LCD HDTVs, 50 inches (measured diagonally) is a good upper limit to keep in mind. Above that size, LCD prices skyrocket; Sharp's 57-inch and 65-inch models command five-digit price tags!
The few 32-inch LCDs that were approaching the $1,000 mark a year ago have morphed into a growing crowd poised to dip below $800, and prices for some models will go even lower before year's end. And now LCDs in the 40-inch range are starting to challenge similarly sized plasma panels in terms of pricing. Generally speaking, the more you spend, the better the resulting picture quality will be.
A low price doesn't just magically happen. The inexpensive HDTVs often sacrifice something, be it image quality, integrated features, or even included accessories or customer support. Don't expect perfection from the cheapest LCDs, but if you're willing to sacrifice a little bit here and there, you can save a lot of money. Liquid crystal TVs offer two distinct advantages over plasma displays: high resolution and a bright picture. LCD TVs offer more pixels per given screen size than plasma displays. And because LCDs pack pixels more closely together, a person can sit closer to the screen before noticing the individual dots that make up the picture. LCD HDTVs with at least 720p resolution (1,280 by 720 pixels progressive) are available in screen sizes starting at just over 20 inches. By comparison, the smallest plasma TVs that offer 720p resolution start at 50 inches and use larger pixels spaced further apart, thus increasing the optimal viewing distance. Hence in a small room, LCDs have an edge. Resolution is often used as an HDTV selling point, but factors like image contrast and color quality are more critical to the quality of a viewing experience than the number of pixels a particular display offers. I also consider video-processing features, such as noise reduction, to be very important for LCD HDTVs.
For example, the WinBook 32M0 delivered impressive color quality for a value-priced LCD, but its lack of effective video-noise reduction magnified the film grain of some movies to the point of distraction. If you want to get the best possible picture from your HDTV, make sure the vendor didn't skimp on the video processing. The ideal viewing environment for watching video is a very dark room. Once acclimated to a dimly lit environment, the eye's perception of image contrast increases dramatically, enhancing a person's ability to see dark details that would otherwise appear indistinct from a black background or from the bars of a letterboxed movie. Some LCD TVs provide a "movie" mode that reduces light output to eye-comfortable levels, but a better solution is a backlight control that enables the viewer to tailor the display's overall light output to ambient lighting conditions. The Sharp LC-32D40U, for example, provides a good manual backlight control whose lowest setting was ideal for a completely dark environment, while its maximum level delivered well-contrasted imagery in a brightly lit room. Unfortunately, not all LCDs offer this functionality, and some that do limit the range of backlight control, making it ineffective.
Some LCD TVs--using a sensor that measures ambient lighting conditions--automate the backlight setting. I consider a good backlight control, manual or automatic, a must-have feature in an LCD HDTV, and I wouldn't recommend a system without it.
One downside of an LCD's transmissive nature is viewing angle. Because an LCD produces imagery by channeling light through a sandwich of glass filters, picture qualities such as color, color saturation, and luminance can alter significantly as viewing angles increase. With the least expensive LCDs, such as the Westinghouse LTV-32w3, viewing-angle artifacts are noticeable starting at about 30 degrees off center. The more expensive Sharp LC-32D40U exhibited less severe artifacting, starting at about 40 degrees off center.
New LCD technologies all but eliminate viewing-angle artifacts, but most people are unwilling to spend two or three times the cost of a similarly sized value-priced LCD to achieve this level of performance.
about Blu-ray and HD DVD playback on your PC. Forgetting unreleased operating systems for the moment, if you want to check your current Windows XP PC for compatibility and get more information on what you can expect from next gen discs, Cyberlink has a FAQ up and also an automated tool for you to download and run, that will let you know if your computer is HD DVD and/or Blu-ray-ready. While the specs aren't guaranteed yet, it is obvious that on top of HDCP for any digital outputs, compatible disc player and plenty of memory, they think you'll need either a Intel Core Duo, Pentium EE/D or AMD Athlon 64 processor and plenty of memory to power those next-gen codecs without a problem. You'll also need a recent graphics card from ATI or NVIDA, PureVideo HD support should ensure the power necessary. As you can see from the picture above, this PC is going to need quite a bit of work, maybe revision two will include an automatic calculator to figure out the cost of the necessary upgrade
LixSystems has introduced a low-cost Linux powered home theater PC (HTPC) packaged in a compact, consumer electronics-style enclosure. The Lx8100-MN, available "barebones" (sans CPU, memory, and hard drive) for around $300, offers quiet operation and is supplied with an easily-installed Fedora 5-based system image on DVD.
The LX8100-MN comes with a Linux installation DVD that is meant to simplify the installation of virtually all required software on the device, once the user has outfitted the system witha processor, memory, and disk drives.
The installation DVD's Linux OS image includes a Fedora 5-based 2.6.16 Linux kernel, along with an extensive set of drivers as well as support for support for USB, card reader audio, a "fully configured LIRC" (Linux Infrared Remote Control) receiver that works with the included handheld remote control, and a set of HTPC-oriented applications.
HTPC applications included on the installation DVD, according to LixSystems CTO Andy Miller, include KDETV, an open source TV viewer; TV-Time, another open source TV viewer; and KRadio, an open source AM/FM radio front-end.
Notably, MythTV PVR (personal video recorder) software is not included. Miller says the company omitted MythTV due to concerns regarding potential copyright infringement issues, especially with respect to mpeg2 and other codecs. However, everything in the system image contained on the DVD has been configured to be MythTV-friendly, to ensure that users have as little trouble as possible in getting their HTPC system up and running, he adds.
Miller says that the following component and drivers are "guaranteed to work" when using the installation DVD:
Networking
Graphic card 3D drivers with support for TV-out with over-scan correction (SVideo and composite video), VGA, DVI, and Component Video
LIRC, works with the included remote and emulates a mouse under X.
SATA, USB, and 1394 interfaces
MPEG hardware acceleration (XvMC)
SAA7134/7131-based TV capture cards
Installation process
According to Miller, the basic steps required to create a ready-to-use Linux-based HTPC starting from the bare-bones Lx8100-MN, are:
Install a processor, memory, hard drive, and DVD/CD-RW drive
Install a video capture / TV card -- anything based on the SAA-7134 chipset is likely to work, Miller says (typical cost under $50)
Insert the Linux OS image DVD that comes with the system into the DVD drive and power up -- the system installs on the hard drive in "as little as 15 minutes," Miller says
Type "yum install mythtv-suite" at the Linux command line, to download/install MythTV software
The installation DVD boots into a 2.6.16 kernel
(Click to enlarge)
The hardware
The system, which is packaged in a 16 x 3 x 11 inch enclosure, offers the following hardware features, according to LixSystems:
Memory -- 4 x 240-pin DIMM; supports up to 8GB DDR2 ECC/non-ECC unbuffered
Graphics:
Integrated GeForce 6 GPU
DVI out
VGA out
Component Video out
High-definition video supports resolutions to 1920 x 1440 @ 75Hz
Audio:
Based on ADI AD1986A
Supports high-definition audio
Supports jack-sensing and S/PDIF out
8 x USB 2.0 ports
IEEE 1394 port
Gigabit Ethernet port
Expansion slots:
2 x PCI
1 x PCI Express x16
1 x PCI Express x1
280 watt power supply with "ultra-quiet" (14 dBA) fan
Rear panel I/O
Availability
Two versions of the LixSystems HTPC appear to be available: a barebones system, priced at $299; and a "fully configured" system, which includes an AMD Sempron 64 3000+ processor, 250GB hard drive, 512MB memory, a TV/radio/video-capture card, and a DVD/CD-RW drive, for $549. Further details are on the company's website.
Additionally, the Linux OS installation disk, which will work with various ASUS motherboards, according to Miller, can be downloaded free of charge, here.
The Ultimate PVR for the PC The Plextor ConvertX PVR model PX-TV402U is the ultimate personal video recorder for the PC. The PX-TV402U allows you to connect to a satellite TV, cable TV or broadcast TV signal and record programs to your PC. You can then watch the video from the PC or burn it to DVD for playback on a DVD player. You can also connect a camcorder, VCR or DVD player to record home videos to the PC. The heart of the PX-TV402U is its multi-format encoder chip which converts video to the DivX®, MPEG-4, MPEG-2 and MPEG-1 formats as it is being recorded to the PC.
Ever since Plextor introduced it's first ConvertX PX-M401U Analog to Digital Video Converter, people have been begging for more features, more options, more power, and PVR functions. The second generation of ConvertX was born - the PX-M402U, which introduced hardware DivX encoding, as well as the standard hardware MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 encoding of the first model, but still no PVR features. Months later, Plextor introduced yet another ConvertX device - the PX-AV100U, and this one was aimed at more the mainstream crowd. The price was reduced, and the quality remained excellent. Plextor had pulled the hardware encoding features, and left this unit with only software encoding - relying on the host machines CPU power to perform the tasks. Once again, PVR was nowhere to be found on this mainstream unit.
Finally Plextor announced the PX-TV402U which features hardware DivX, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 encoding as well as the much sought after PVR functions. This unit includes S-Video, Composite, and now Tuner inputs. It's been interesting to see the evolution of the ConvertX up to this point, and this unit promises to be interesting as well. Stick around as we check out the latest and hopefully greatest from Plextor and find out if it's worth the extra coin.
Bundle & Specs:
When you open up the PX-TV402U Box, you get everything that's required to get yourself started. You get a USB cable, power converter & cable, as well as a full set of composite cables for audio & video, and also an S-Video cable. Because of the TV Tuner feature, there is also a Coax cable for hooking to your cable box. As far as documentation, it is great. Plextor includes a very helpful manual, a quick install guide, and of course the Software CD. The CD includes drivers, the traditional WinDVD Creator 2 software as well as WinDVR 5, Adobe Acrobat Reader, and some trialware. We'll get that in a few minutes.
The PX-TV402U is the world's first DivX Certified PVR. Recording video in the DivX format gives users the ability to record 3 times as much video as normal without sacrificing quality. It also gives you the ability to record video into resolutions perfectly suited for playback on portable and handheld devices. The PX-TV402U contains an integrated high quality TV tuner to assure the highest quality video. Easy and Powerful Software Has Everything You Need
The PX-TV402U has the worlds most powerful and easiest to use suite of software. Intervideo WinDVR software is included to watch live TV, pause live TV and record programs. WinDVR's integrated electronic programming guide(EPG) allows you to schedule recording of programs so they will record even if you are not there. The PX-TV402U also comes with Intervideo WinDVD Creator software for capturing, editing and sharing home videos as well as for authoring interactive DVDs. Specifications
Quality and Performance
Microsoft Designed for Windows XP and Windows 2000 Certified
DivX® Certified
High Speed USB 2.0 Certified
Video Capture Features
NTSC/PAL/SECAM Video Capture
NTSC Only TV Tuner
DivX Hardware Encode (Home Theater, Portable, Handheld Formats)
MPEG-4 Hardware Encode (Microsoft Compatible)
MPEG-2/DVD Hardware Encode
MPEG-1/VCD Hardware Encode
Key Hardware Features
Composite Video, S-Video, Composite Audio, RF/Coaxial Inputs
High Speed USB 2.0 Interface
Up to 720 x 480 Screen Resolution
Key Software Features:
DivX® Licensed Software Included
Watch, Pause and Record Live TV
Time Shifting (MPEG-1, MPEG-2 Only)
Free Integrated Electronic Programming Guide (EPG)
Timeline and Storyboard Layouts
Integrated DVD Authoring and Burning
Direct-to-Disc
Edit-on-Disc
A Closer LookFeatures
First Official DivX Certified PC PVR Product
Hardware Encode to DivX, MPEG-4, MPEG-2/DVD and MPEG-1/VCD
I kinda think HD is a requirement for Ultimate these days. That new ATI card looks nice. I'm gonna stick with my Comcast PVR box for a while though. It does the job.
Overview TV Wonder 650 - A High-Definition Personal Video Recorder for your PC
TV Wonder 650 is loaded with the very latest in digital TV technologies. Features such as its advanced 3D comb filter, noise reduction, automatic color control, and edge enhancement produce brilliant, sharp video that rivals high-end consumer television sets. Loaded with abilities, you'll be able to schedule, watch and record analog TV, "free-to-air" HDTV, and FM stations, making the TV Wonder 650 the ultimate media upgrade for your PC. This complete solution further possesses the ability to allow you to watch the latest DVD title, author your own DVD, or convert your recorded TV shows to take with you on your Portable Media Player. The entire experience is then elegantly packaged within Catalyst Media Center's attractive, easy-to-use 3D interface.
HDTVs on display September 5, 2006 4:00 AM PDT If there's one thing that can be said of America's love for television, it's that we like 'em big. Real big. With flat-screen TVs becoming more ubiquitous in homes across the country, companies are shifting their focus to creating bigger and more stylish flat screens that fit in with consumers' needs. The last year has seen offerings from many of the major electronics manufacturers, ranging from a relatively puny 47 incher to the current giant of the bunch, which tops 100 inches. Here is a collection of just some of the whoppers that have been announced this year. The world's biggest producer of plasma TVs is planning to sell the world's largest plasma TV by early 2007, according to Reuters and other sources. Matsushita Electric Industrial announced in July that it hopes to sell a 103-inch plasma TV, beating out Samsung's announced 102-inch plasma screen by exactly an inch. The flat panel, which was shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, is described as "bigger than a double-sized mattress and almost as heavy as an upright piano." The high-definition television measures about 7.8 feet by 4.5 feet and weighs a mammoth 474 pounds.
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It's hard to believe we've had streaming video for over 70 years. Well, ok, we don't normally think of television as streaming video--but I've found it hard not to think of TV this way since I added it to my PC. I remember my first glimpse at what we currently call streaming video. I downloaded the Real Media Player, and the video was sort of like TV, only tiny, pixilated, and endlessly buffering, buffering. Early streaming video was sort of like watching TV with a VCR. You could watch it when you wanted, pause the video, move around in the action with a slider. All in all, it was pretty bad. I had no idea at the time that a PC would become a better place to watch television. When TiVo arrived, I snatched one up right away. TiVo is basically a PC in disguise, which brought the good features of streaming video to my television, with some added intelligence about program schedules and my personal viewing preferences. After using TiVo for several years, I noticed the DIY PVR software like Freevo, and MythTV popping up. I was always tempted to try them so I could have even more control over the video. I consider myself a technical person, but I've never compiled my own Linux kernel, so these options seemed out of reach for me. Which brings me to the point of this review: SnapStream has put together PVR software for mere technical mortals. The Interface I'm very familiar with TiVo's interface, so finding my way around Beyond TV was second-nature. The interface is set up for all-remote, push-button access--you wouldn't even need a keyboard or mouse attached. (Though they are handy for speeding up the search/record process if they are attached.) Like the TiVo Series 2, you can view your shows by series, or as a list: Because all shows are simply files on your machine, the list mirrors what you'll find if you browse the SnapStream shows folder: And because all of the shows are standard mpeg files, you don't even need Beyond TV to view them. Here's a look at an episode of Futurama playing in the open source Media Player Classic: For me, the best part about this is if I'm going on a trip, I can simply copy some of these files over to my laptop and view them with a lightweight player. Instant Futurama on the plane! Not to mention opening the files in an editor so I can quote video clips on my weblog, or share clips with others. (I'm talking about fair use only here, of course.) Saving video files in a completely accessible format gives me the control over the video I've been looking for. Adding Programs Beyond TV has season-pass style recording. You can search by keyword or title: Or browse the lineup. Clicking a program will give you the option to record the episode, or set up a recurring recording for the series: All of the channel guide info comes from SnapStream, and is updated every few days. Beyond TV differs from TiVo in a key way: there are no continuing subscription fees for program guide data. The one-time fee of $70 for the software is all you pay to have continuing access to the guide. Nice Extras
Another nice feature is Skip Forward. Instead of hiding the commercial-skipping option as a back-door feature, Beyond TV has skip forward as a customizable feature in the settings. You can adjust the skip forward button to jump ahead as many seconds as you'd like: Because Beyond TV is remote-centric, it's almost a necessity. The video capture device I'm using is Hauppauge's WinTV PVR USB-2, which ships with a fairly standard remote: It's not as nicely designed as the TiVo remote, but it works perfectly with Beyond TV. The only feature I found missing was instant-access to the full schedule of programs--there's no "Guide" button. Beyond TV supports multiple tuners, and I was lucky enough to test drive a two-tuner setup. Basically this means I could record one program while I watched another, or I could record both shows at the same time. This worked well, and I didn't even notice the hard drive grinding away at the extra work. The drawback to implementing this, of course, is the cost of the extra tuner, but it's a nice option. The final perk is that Beyond TV itself is also a web server. If you open up port 8129 on your home network's firewall, you can access most of Beyond TV's functionality through a browser from any location with web access. I can see that this would be handy for setting up last-minute recordings from the coffee shop, but I haven't actually used this feature yet. A Note of Caution There are a couple of caveats to consider before you rush out and replace your TiVo with a Windows box running Beyond TV. Be sure to check out the hardware requirements very carefully. I tried to install the program on a four-year-old laptop
New features (as documented in the release notes) include a new menu system, an improved internal DVD player, support for DVB radio channels, and mouse support. There is also a new plugin - MythArchive - which allows recordings be written to DVD. You can download MythTV from MythTV.org."
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· WikiWelcome to the information and documentation wiki for MythTV! We're here to provide collaborative documentation of the MythTV project, an open source software Personal Video Recorder. It lets you build a box similar to a TiVo or ReplayTV, but much more powerful - and more easily modified. Quick Links Register yourself and contribute. Anyone with an account and a confirmed email address can edit our pages. Never used a wiki before? Read the Quick Start Contributing? Read the Manual of Style for pointers Look to help for information on categorization ...and don't forget all the navigation links in the sidebar to the left.
TeddyChicago
ATI is showing off the world's first and only CableCard HDTV tuner for PCs: the ATI OCUR. The Open Cable Uni-directional Receiver allows Media Center PCs running Microsoft's new Vista OS to receive High Definition premium digital cable content. Sure, the internal and external (USB 2.0) versions of the OCUR on demo at CES are only tech previews of their final shipping product but hey, this has potential to make that (Media Center) PC truly suitable as a TV replacement in the living room, and a hi-def video recorder to boot! Besides, the reference design is done so the product is simply waiting for Vista to ship...er, sometime this year, right folks? Click on for a few more pics of the external OCUR and the product in action.
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LixSystems has introduced a low-cost Linux powered home theater PC (HTPC) packaged in a compact, consumer electronics-style enclosure. The Lx8100-MN, available "barebones" (sans CPU, memory, and hard drive) for around $300, offers quiet operation and is supplied with an easily-installed Fedora 5-based system image on DVD.
The Ultimate PVR for the PC
Features 
Thlayli
Overview TV Wonder 650 - A High-Definition Personal Video Recorder for your PC
BlackHat
All of the channel guide info comes from SnapStream, and is updated every few days. Beyond TV differs from TiVo in a key way: there are no continuing subscription fees for program guide data. The one-time fee of $70 for the software is all you pay to have continuing access to the guide. Nice Extras
It's not as nicely designed as the TiVo remote, but it works perfectly with Beyond TV. The only feature I found missing was instant-access to the full schedule of programs--there's no "Guide" button. Beyond TV supports multiple tuners, and I was lucky enough to test drive a two-tuner setup. 
