Q. Can I record cable or
satellite HD programs?
A. No for MDP-100 and 120, see addition for the MDP-130 below. All HDTV cards "stores" high-def signals in their raw data
form and decodes the signal during playback. Since Cable and Satellite services do
not use 8VSB modulation, their signals require dedicated tuners, and once decoded, cannot
be routed to the input of the HDTV PC cards.
MDP-130
includes a QAM capable tuner that allows you to tune unencrypted HDTV
signals from your cable service. The MDP-130 is connected to the
coaxial connection directly to the RF input of the card much like
tuning for over-the-air service. Unencrypted HDTV generally
consists of the local broadcasts (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS) which are
sent in the clear as mandated by the FCC for all cable services and
does not include any of the premium services which require a cable box
provided by the cable service. Output from the cable box via
Component or DVI/HDMI output cannot be captured by the MDP-130 or any
other consumer device on the market today.
Q. What is a Decoder Card used
for?
A. Majority of Digital TV sets sold today only receives NTSC (480i)
TV broadcasts and use
an internal line doubler to display the low-resolution broadcasts. Labled as
HD-Ready TV, these sets requires a separate HDTV Tuner, often an optional set-top box tuner
to receive and display display high-definition (720p or 1080i) and standard digital (480p)
signals. HDTV PC cards work as an over-the-air tuner for your
local high-definition broadcasts, but also offers the ability to
record the broadcast to the hard disk, allowing the user to timeshift their favorite
shows..
Q. How do you connect it to
receive a broadcast?
A. Where available, over-the-air local programs need an antenna to
receive. Simply connect an antenna coax cable to the 'RF" input of the HDTV card and
scan for signals. Check with TitanTV for
available programming in your local area.
Q. What kind of display do I
need?
A. You can connect your PC monitor or output to your HDTV. For HDTV's with
Component (Y-Pb-Pr) input, a transcoder or VGA to Component Dongle
(available from the video card manufacturer) is required for the PC Desktop if you plan to use
your PC as the main monitor.
Q. Can I schedule a recording
like a VCR?
A. Yes. You can program MyHD with Channel/Date/Time/Duration of the show to be
recorded. High Definition channels will be recorded in transport stream
(.tp)
format. Analog channels will be recorded as .avi. MyHD program can launch to
record at the specified time, and can be programmed to shut down after recording is
completed.
Q. How much hard disk space is
required to record HDTV?
A. ATSC signals require 8.7GB per hour.
Q. How do I get HDTV image on my
monitor?
A. Using the Loop-back feature will allow you to toggle between your PC desktop and
full-screen HDTV. When in the PC Desktop mode, you can view HDTV in a window if so
configured. The video window can be sized to your preference.
Q. What connections are
available on the MyHD card?
A. 1x VGA output (can be configured as Component Y-Pb-Pr), 1x VGA Loop-back for
single monitor configuration, 2x RF inputs, 1x S/PDIF output, 1x S-Video input, 1x
Composite (RCA) input, and 1x Analog audio (L+R) input.
Q. Can I watch standard
definition (NTSC) TV?
A. Yes. The card will tune to analog TV or cable. The output can be
scaled to the HDTV signals of 720p or 1080i.
Q. Will it scale the S-Video and
Composite inputs?
A. Yes. The video will be scaled to the resolution chosen for HD output
(1080i, 720p, 480p, 1440x960, 1024x768).
Q. Can I record analog TV?
A. Yes, but with all the limitations of Video For Windows (VFW),
unless you install alternative codecs that can be utilized by the MyHD.
The AVI files created by MyHD needs to be viewed with Windows Media
Player or some other non-MPEG decoder and not the MyHD application.
Q. Can I create screen captures?
A. Yes. MyHD will allow captures in fields (1/2) or frames (full) of the
incoming signal. We recommend that you pause the video before
capturing.
Q. Does it
work with Dual-Processor/HyperThreading systems?
A. MyHD software will work with Dual and HyperThreading systems,
however there are some functions that do not work properly without
disabling this feature. The three functions that will not work
under dual processor/hyperthreading is:
-
DVD-Playback
-
Playback
of recorded files over a network
-
Firewire
recording to D-VHS tape player using MDP-130 software
Q. Can I get digital audio?
A. Yes. The HDTV card offers output of digital audio via
the on-board S/PDIF connector or utilize the S/PDIF output of your
sound card (refer to installation guide for configuration below).
Installing DVI daughter card will add Toslink digital output.
Q. Can
I use my sound card instead of the audio out of the MyHD card?
A. MyHD can be configured to use the system sound card instead
of the S/PDIF output for digital as well as analog sound (analog
output). Please
note that this will result in all PC and HDTV sounds being routed out of the sound
card. Change your configuration as shown
below using "Stereo" for analog output of 2 or 5.1 channels
(depending on the Windows configuration of your sound card), or choose
"S/PDIF" for digital coax output.
Step 1 : Set
"Audio" to Wave.
Step 2: Set "Digital
Audio" to the option used for "OutputMode".
-
Sound card using
S/PDIF,
choose SPDIF.
-
Sound card using
2-channel analog output, choose either Stereo.
-
Multi-channel
5.1 sound cards configured in Windows, choose Stereo.
Known
compatibility problems with motherboards.
MyHD
may not operate in some motherboards with PCI-E Slots in certain
configurations. Shown below are test results with some common
models:
Chaintech
VNF4/Ultra
nForce4 Ultra, AMD Athlon64, Nvidia on-board audio
1 PCI Express x16, 2 PCI Express x1, 3 PCI slots
with Nvidia 6600 : OK
with ATI X300 : OK
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum
nForce4 Ultra, AMD Athlon64, Nvidia on-board audio
1 PCI Express x16, 1 PCI Express x4, 1 PCI Express
x1, 4 PCI
Marvell 88E8053 LAN controller (PCI Express)
Silicon Image SiI3114 S-ATA controller (PCI)
VIA VT6307 1394a controller (PCI)
with Nvidia 6600 : OK
with ATI X300 : OK
Gigabyte GA-K8N Ultra-9
nForce4 Ultra, AMD Athlon64, Nvidia on-board audio
1 PCI Express x16, 2 PCI Express x1, 3 PCI slots
Marvell 88E8053 LAN controller (PCI Express)
Silicon Image SiI3114 S-ATA controller (PCI)
TI TSB82AA2 1394b controller (PCI)
with Nvidia 6600 : Failed
with ATI X300, X600 : Failed
MSI 915P Combo-F
915P(ICH6) FSB800MHz, Pentium4, Intel on-board
audio
1 PCI Express x16, 2 PCI Express x1, 3 PCI slots
Realtek 8110S LAN controller (PCI)
with Nvidia 6600 : OK
with ATI X300, X600 : no boot
Gigabyte GA-8I915P-G
915P(ICH6) FSB800MHz, Pentium4, Intel on-board
audio
1 PCI Express x16, 3 PCI Express x1, 2 PCI slots
Marvell 88E8001 LAN controller (PCI)
TI TSB43AB23 1394a controller (PCI)
with Nvidia 6600 : OK
with ATI X300, X600 : OK
Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal
955X(ICH7R) FSB1066MHz, Pentium4, Intel on-board
audio
1 PCI Express x16, 2 PCI Express x1, 3 PCI slots
2x Broadcom 5751 LAN controller (PCI Express)
Silicon Image SiI3132 S-ATA controller (PCI
Express)
ITE IT8212 IDE RAID controller (PCI)
TI TSB82AA2 1394b controller (PCI)
with Nvidia 6600 : OK
with ATI X300, X600 : OK
