Watching DVDs on a PC connected to a TV, any good??

[Gold_Disk]

I have just bought a Shuttle system as was going to connect it to my TV and watch DVDs through it.

I have never done this before and wondered what the quality was like. Also it has on board 6 channel sound so I was thinking about spending some big bucks on a really good 5.1 PC setup.

I wanted to know if the PC speakers and are as good as Hi-Fi speakers for both music and surround sound.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks.

[RJ]

The quality itself depends on the TV chip. Using a good TV chip the quality is the same as with standalone DVD players.

RJ

[Gold_Disk]

Right ok.

How much should I be looking at for a TV card then? I would like to record from the TV too as my Shuttle system had a DVD burner in too.

Can anyone recommend me a good TV card?

I am in England by the way not US.

Thanks again so far!

[Xayd]

The Leadtek TV 2000XP is a good capture card for the price. Does stereo audio on its own, has an S-Video input, and is bt878 based so will work with lots of different capture software.

They have both PAL and NTSC versions of the card.

As far as the sound goes, if you have an audio system with a digital receiver already, all you have to do is run the digital output from the computer to the receiver.

[videobruce]

Originally posted by Xayd
The Leadtek TV 2000XP is a good capture card for the price. Does stereo audio on its own, has an S-Video input, and is bt878 based so will work with lots of different capture software.

They have both PAL and NTSC versions of the card.

As far as the sound goes, if you have an audio system with a digital receiver already, all you have to do is run the digital output from the computer to the receiver. He doesn't need a capture card he needs TV out, not in.

I haven't seen a video card with TV out that is worth it.
I would recomend a SEPARATE sacn converter. That way you have:
More control over the size of the TV image WITHOUT messing around with the computer image and,
No software is needed for the computer!

Just be sure it has a true VGA DA (distrubition amp) built in and doesn'r use some cheap 'adapter cable' to split the VGA signal between the computer and the device or you will loose signal level and quality!

[Xayd]

lol, my bad, I completely misread this thread.

What type of TV are you running out to? What inputs does the TV have?

For a high definition TV that has VGA and/or DVI inputs, any vid card will suffice since it'll take the same signal that you would send to a PC monitor.

For a standard low-defintion TV, you might not be very satisfied with the results. The TV out of most video cards is ok, but not really comparable to a high end DVD player.

That's not to say you can't use a PC as a media player, though. The Sigma Designs X-Card outputs a very good signal for any ole TV, and when combined with third party media players it can do alot more than a DVD player can do (such as play networked files, MPEG-4 files like DivX and XviD, etc.).

On the other hand the X-Card's 720p output isn't very good compared to a real progressive scan DVD player, so if it's high definition, go with a video card.

This all depends on what the TV is ;).

[Gold_Disk]

My TV is just a pretty standard 28" Widescreen (Philips). Just the normal ports - scart, s-video etc.

I actually need TV in and TV out :). I want to record TV to my HDD and then either burn it to DVD or just play from the HDD. I want this to be really good quality though.

I also want to watch DVDs (I think) on through the Shuttle. I say I think becuase if the quality is poor I simply won't bother and stick to my DVD player.

Sorry if the first thread didn't make any sense!

So basically I am looking for TV capture and quality DVD playback. I was looking at an all in one Radeon 9800. Really wanna hear your advice though guys :).

[videobruce]

From what I have read the ATI cards would be the choice over nVidia.

BUT, AKAIC they all look terrible. Either a scan converter (external box) or best yet spending a little more on a monitor with either RGB, component, VGA or DVI inputs (the last is the best choice and eliminate the conversion process all together)!

[Gold_Disk]

Right I am really confused now!

What I want to do is:

Record TV
Watch DVDs (maybe)

So lets just say if I were going to record TV. Would it be poor quality? Also would my aerial need to go into my system then out to my TV or can I get a signal splitter or something?

And what is a scan convertor? (sorry if I'm being dumb).

[videobruce]

Scan converters convert the computer RGB signal to another format; NTSC composite or Y/C instead of the video card doing it which usually results in a better finished product. It is external to the computer, NO software or changes are needed to the computer or the screen resolution which is the big advantage! The downside is cost. Depending on which one, it ranges to about what a video card with the feature would cost to over $2,000 (if you wanted/could afford a professional model) Figure around $150 to $300 for a mid priced model.
Try here: (knock yourself out)

http://www.tvone.com/scanconpage.shtml

http://www.hallresearch.com/

http://www.analogway.com/z/prod4.htm

http://www.focusinfo.com/products/b_tview_con.htm

http://www.commspecial.com/products.htm

http://www.aitech.com/retail.htm

https://secure2.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=avtoolbox&BusType=BtoC&Count1=624309718&Count2=541450142

and here (most popular I believe):

http://www.aver.com/products/comptv.shtml

[Gold_Disk]

Right had a look at some of those scan converters. I am in the UK and I found one for £50 but pretty sure it will be rubbish.

I will try and explain this a bit further.

I have my nice little Shuttle box all working as a PC. I want to know if I can get good quality DVD playback (on my TV) and how I would go about doing this. I would prefer to have it all in the one little box.

I also want to record live TV onto my HDD and then I can record these on to DVD later with my DVD writer. Again I want the TV recordings to be very high quality. To do this would my aerial need to go into my TV card (when and if I get one) and then out via the TV-OUT to watch TV? Or could I get my aerial to go into my TV and into my PC? (Break the signal into 2?)

So I want to:

a) Watch DVDs on my TV via my PC.
b) Record live TV

Are the above possible in good quality?

If I play a DVD at the moment the quality is really poor because my graphics card is 32Mb on board! If I get a better video card will the quality improve? - Pretty sure it will would just like some confirmation.

[Xayd]

Yes it will.

Yes you can record with better quality than any VCR.

The only other consideration is your sound setup. If you have a digital receiver get a sound card with a digital output and run straight to it for your DVDs, otherwise you might look at getting a high end sound card if you don't have one.

You can also set everything up so it's controlled by your existing remote(s).

Take a look at http://www.girder.com and http://www.evation.com/irman for the receiver.

The hardware is fairly simple to choose. The software takes a bit more time to pick out and is based on what you want to do and how, but setting it all up how you want it is part of the benefit and fun of it imo ;).

I like the X-Card setup since it's a standalone device that does hardware decoding and can handle DVDs while recording is going on at the same time, a limitation that HTPCs often have. If that's not a concern for you a single VIVO video card could do it all (recording, playback, etc.).

[Gold_Disk]

Thanks Xayd.

I was thinking about getting some nice PC speakers to play, DVDs, MP3s and TV.

I had a look at the X-Card at it seems good for £70 (I'm in the UK). The only prob I have is I have one PCI slot and 1 AGP slot spare and that is it. I couldn't figure it out but does the X-Card record from TV?

So with the only 2 slots available I was thinking I would need a good graphics card in AGP and a good TV card in the PCI slot.

I saw on another post that the user managed to use his PC at the same time as watching a DVD (DVD on the TV and the normal comp on his monitor). If I could get this it would be great. Then I could get my TV aerial into my PC TV capture card. Then I could use the video out to either watch DVDs or TV on my TV and still use my comp as normal.

[Gold_Disk]

Seen quite a few people have this TV card: Leadtek Winfast TV 2000 XP Deluxe. Is it any good?

Would this card be ok for me to bring TV into my PC then out to my TV?

I understand I will need a good graphics card too so no worries there.

The Leadtek Winfast TV 2000 XP Deluxe looks very affordable though and it seems like a few people have these.

If you could let me know what you think.

Thanks.

[Xayd]

Yes it's great considering the price. Also being based on the Connexant bt chipset it'll work with alot of third party video capture apps as well (like dscaler, etc.).

[Gold_Disk]

Thats great. I was thinking I might get one that lets me get digital TV through my aerial for better quality.

Was looking at this one:

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?action=info&sku=119138&p=&t=1947&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=24&GrpID=6&cks=PRL

If I were to get the above card and a good ATI card would it be good for what I need? As I saw on the other post one user managed to watch a DVD on his TV and still use e-mail etc on his desktop. He has an ATI card. Could I do this with TV and DVDs?

Thanks for all your help guys! I don't wanna purchase cr@p which I have done in the past!

Also could you recommend a graphics card just for watching DVDs?

And does anyone know what speakers are good for both MP3 and films? Not sure how much to spend! Listened to some £65 surround sound Creatives and they are very average. Not good enough for what I need really!

THANKS AGAIN!

[Xayd]

Yeah you can do all that stuff, the key to it all is the overlay controls in the display control panel. With ATI cards you can set video overlays to only go to the TV out, go to both the monitor and TV out, etc.

Read up on "Theatre Mode" in the driver docs for more info on it.

As for speakers I prefer Klipsch over any other PC speakers, but they're not cheap. You can get refurbs semi-cheap from their site at http://store.klipsch.com though.

[Gold_Disk]

Thats excellent news and means want I want to do is possible!

I had a look at those speakers and they seem very nice. Only problem is I am in the UK and can't seem to get any anywhere!

Is there any other speakers you would recommmend? I have a budget of about £200. Looking for music and DVDs with them.

Thanks.

[Gold_Disk]

I was thinking the Sapphire Radeon 9000PRO 128MB DDR DVI TV-OUT Retail Box would be ok for my graphics card. Seems to have had good reviews.

What do you guys think?

[autotran]

Did you look at this TV capture card also?
http://www.tv-cards.com/digitvpci.php

[Gold_Disk]

Thanks that looks like a winner!

That teamed with a decent graphics card and I think I will be sorted.

The speakers I am still up in the air about too.

Anymore suggestions?

Just looking for my graphics card and speaker set now!

[Gold_Disk]

autotran - thanks again, just been looking at reviews of that card and it certainly is the best. Just what I need and spot on my budget!!

[autotran]

You can download the player without buying the card, this gives you a better idea of what it can do. It doesn't seem to play for me thou, it probably only plays PAL. Dave
http://www.nebula-electronics.com/

Edit: My mistake, I just played a TV file I recorded with my KWorld DVD Maker and it played fine. It just wouldn't play my "Good Times" music video.

[autotran]

Gold_Disk, now you can help me. The card I told you about is only PAL, I need NTSC. What card out of all you considered appeared to be the best for NTSC? Thanks, Dave

[Gold_Disk]

I was looking at the Pinnacle PCTV SAT CI. I was looking for card with freeview though m8 so I could get the free channels aswell as digital TV. So the ones I were looking at won't be the same as the one you need.

I would stay clear of Hauppauge though. Seems most users with experience hate them!