I have a MythTV box setup with two PVR150s.

I currently just have standard cable...but often times shows say they are "Broadcast in HD"

Does that mean if I had an HD TV I'd see the show in HD?

Do I just need a pcHDTV card in my MythTV box to captute that HD feed?

Or do I need to subscribe to HD cable and have an HD receiver between my cable and MythTV box?

Help the ignorant!

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"The amount of time needed to solve a problem is inversely proportionate to the complexity of the solution" -- Me

KM: R5.5
CPU: Athlon 3800+
Vid: nvidia 7300GT
Snd: Chaintech av-710
Tuner: PVR150
HD: 1000gb sata + 750gb sata + 500gb usb

If you're seeing the "broadcast in HD" pop up on the broadcast channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, etc.), then yes, if you had an HDTV, and if that HDTV had an ATSC tuner in it (most do, the ones that don't are called monitors), and if you connected a UHF antenna to that tuner (either a little or a big one depending on how close you are to a big city, see antennaweb.org for details), then you would see that show in HD.

A pcHDTV card, or an Air2PC card, would let you capture that over-the-air HD feed to your MythTV box. Then, if you had an HDTV, you could connect your MythTV box to it via VGA or DVI and watch your HDTV captures (but the box would have to have enough horsepower to do the playback, which is much more processor-intensive than the capture).

If you subscribed to HD cable, you could connect the cable to your pcHDTV or Air2PC card and record any unencrypted digital channels, including the over-the-air channels. (If you see QAM mentioned on the cards, that's what they're talking about--being able to tune digital channels).

If the cable company gives you a HD box that has Firewire output, you might be able to avoid getting a HD tuner card, but you should probably read the forum here about various snags with Firewire tuning. If not, then that's it for options, as there are no capture cards that work via Linux that can capture HD via a cable box's component or DVI or HDMI outputs.

I can't use that link you gave, I'm in Canada, near Winnipeg, Manitoba to be more specific.

_________________
"The amount of time needed to solve a problem is inversely proportionate to the complexity of the solution" -- Me

KM: R5.5
CPU: Athlon 3800+
Vid: nvidia 7300GT
Snd: Chaintech av-710
Tuner: PVR150
HD: 1000gb sata + 750gb sata + 500gb usb

I've heard that for some cable tv providers in the US, as long as one has some type of cable tv service (be it analog cable, digital cable, phone or internet), you can tune the QAM channels that are "in the clear." I think it depends on the provider. Your best bet is to search this forum for the name of your cable company and ask someone who says they have the same provider as you. Of course I would not think that other person's expereince is guarenteed to work (or not work) for you.

_________________
Mike
My Hardware Profile

Couldn't find many people using Shaw on here.

I did find the HDHomeRun product interesting...

_________________
"The amount of time needed to solve a problem is inversely proportionate to the complexity of the solution" -- Me

KM: R5.5
CPU: Athlon 3800+
Vid: nvidia 7300GT
Snd: Chaintech av-710
Tuner: PVR150
HD: 1000gb sata + 750gb sata + 500gb usb

I'm also in Winnipeg and am a Shaw customer. I have a system setup with 2 PVR 150s as well. I'm running one of them off of my Cable Top Box (Just SD, not an HD unit) and the other is just straight analog cable into the other PVR card.

I don't subscribe to an HD cable feed, and haven't looked into how/where to pull an over the air HD signal. I do live pretty close to Shaw so I'd imagine if they are broadcasting an HD signal that I'd have a shot at grabbing it, but don't have the equipment to attempt this, and don't want to spend the money to get the equipment only to find out I'm not able to grab.

Gibble, if you (or anyone else for that matter) find a way or any info as far as pulling an OTA HD signal I'd be very interested in pursuing this.

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Currently Running:
Too lazy to update this with my current hardware, I'll redo it during my next install =)

Getting over-the-air via an antenna all depends on how far you are from the transmitter, how hilly your area is, how many tall buildings or trees there are, etc.

If you're within 10 miles or so of the transmitter you can often get by with a set of "rabbit ears" as long as it has a UHF part to it. You can find "HDTV antennas" online for $15-$25. It is relatively cheap to get an indoor antenna and try it out to see if it will do.

At work we're probably 10-12 miles from the transmitter and an amplified UHF antenna works just fine for most channels.

Further out than that and you'd want an outdoor UHF antenna, most likely.

Not sure if Canada mandates that over-the-air HD channels be transmitted "in the clear" via cable systems; I am pretty sure that it is mandated here in the States.

The first thing I would do is check with your local broadcast stations and see if they are broadcasting in HD. Check the stations website if possible. Seeing the "Broadcast in HD" during a show only means that the network recorded the show in HD. It doesn't guarantee that the local station is broadcasting it in HD. If the local station isn't HD capable, there's probably little chance the cable company will carry it in HD.

The avs forums are a good source of information for OTA HD. You might see if there is a thread for your area. I've found good info for what others in my area are using for antennas and such.

International threads
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=599384

US threads
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=453241

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Backend R5E50
P4 1.3 - 384MB, 250GB HD, HD5000AV, PVR150 non MCE
Frontend R5E50
EPIA M1000 - 512MB, 40GB HD, Streamzap
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