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With big and expandable hard drives and powerful processors, the PC is a great device for watching and recording high-definition TV. Plus, your PC already has a display that supports high-definition, unlike most of our TVs, so it’s ideal for displaying shows in HDTV. So with the broadcast flag having been struck down this past summer, TV tuner card manufacturers have a renewed interest in making it easy for us to transform our PCs into HDTV PVRs.

Enter Beyond TV. Today, we announced that several leading companies have chosen to license and bundle a Beyond TV (with HDTV PVR technology, of course), with their HDTV tuner card products. These companies and their products include:

• ADS Technology’s Instant HDTV PCI
• KWorld’s ATSC-110, and
• VBOX’s Cat’s Eye USB and PCI products.

All of these new ATSC / HDTV products include special versions of Beyond TV 3 that include our HDTV PVR technology. This is the same great technology for HDTV PVR that will be in Beyond TV 4 when it begins shipping in the next couple of weeks. These new products are a big step forward for HDTV PVR — they are affordable (with prices ranging from $100 to $150), easy to setup and easy to use.

ADS Technology’s Instant HDTV PCI

KWorld’s ATSC-110

Now we’ll show you how to complete setup and get started watching your programs in High Definition!

Compared to traditional cable or analog setup, creating an HDTV setup on a PC has a number of extra steps.

Installing the Antenna

CNET has a great video on installing an HDTV antenna. Be sure to look there if you want more detailed instruction.

The method of installation for your antenna will vary based on model but the basic steps will be the same provided you’ve chosen anything larger than the “Rabbit Ear” style.

1. See www.checkhd.com to determine which direction to point your antenna. This website will require you to enter your address, and then will suggest a direction toward which you should point your antenna.

2. Find a suitable mounting location that will withstand the weather conditions of your area. The best location will give an unobstructed view in the direction of the signal.

3. Assemble the antenna according to the manufacturer’s directions.

4. Mount the antenna in the pre-determined location.

5. Run an RG-6 Coax Cable from the antenna to your PC and attach connectors on each end.

6. Adjust your antenna with a compass according to the direction of the signals you wish to receive and to account for any obstructions.

7. Install the proper grounding wires to your antenna. You may need a licensed electrician to legally install this in your area. Check local laws.

If you are unsure about any of these instructions or don’t feel equipped to handle the installation, contact a service professional.

HDTV Television to PC Connection

NOTE: You can skip this step if you’ve chosen to use your PC’s monitor to display HDTV.

Connecting your PC to your HDTV Television is the next step in the HD setup process.

To do this, you will need a video card that supports outputting a signal in the format that your HDTV Television supports.

There are four common connection styles:

1. Digital Video Input (DVI)
If your television supports DVI, you will need a DVI cable, available at most computer and electronic stores, and a video card that supports DVI. Most new video cards already have a DVI connection on them. DVI allows the video to be sent digitally from your PC to your HDTV. Using this method you are assured the best video quality. When available, this is the best method to output video from your PC.

2. High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)

HDMI is a new standard on HDTVs. HDMI is a smaller version of DVI which includes both digital audio and digital video. Since DVI and HDMI are pin-to-pin compatible this connector can be converted from DVI via an adaptor. If your television supports HDMI but your video card doesn’t, you may purchase a DVI to HDMI adapter or cable. This cable will allow the video from your DVI video card to be sent to your HDTV. Please note: when using an adaptor you will not receive digital audio since the original DVI connector does not output digital audio. This is the second best method to output video from your PC.

3. RGB-15 or VGA Monitor Cable

If your television supports RGB-15, you will need only a monitor cable, available at most computer stores, to connect the PC to the television. This connection is just like the connection that PC monitors use.

4. Component Cables

Component Cables—identified by three RCA connections, Red (Pr), Green (Y) and Blue (Pb)—are the most common inputs for HDTVs. To connect your PC to your television via this method, you will need a video card that supports component video output and a component cable. Some video cards support component video output on the card while others require a component video adapter. We suggest a card like the ATI Radeon 9550 to handle this task. You can buy a DVI-to-HDTV (Part Number: 151-V01093) adapter from ATI.com to allow the Radeon 9550 to support component video output.

After connecting your device go to the Display Control Panel in Windows, set the resolution of the video card to a support resolution of your television. This will commonly be 1280×720 or 1920×1080. Please refer to your TV manual for more information.

Configuring Beyond TV

Once you have assembled all of the hardware components, you are ready to configure Beyond TV to work with your HD setup.

To configure Beyond TV for HDTV:

1. Run the Beyond TV Setup Wizard and select “Add a new video source”.

2. In the “Video Broadcast Sourceâ€? page, choose “Antenna (Digital)”.

3. Input your postal code to get the lineup for your area.

4. Select your HDTV TV tuner card (capture device) and click next.

5. At the HDTV signal strength screen, use the signal meter to determine which stations you receive. You may need to adjust your antenna at this point to get the best signal.

6. Once you have configured the tuner device, run Beyond TV.

7. From the SnapStream.Net Program Guide, wait for guide data to load and then go to the channels starting with 1000. These are the HD channels.

NOTE: HD channels will appear in the thousand range above all your highest analog channels. If you have analog channels in the 1000’s then your HD channels will begin at 2000.

8. Find a program to watch, select it and choose “Watch this episode”. You can also schedule programs to record in the future just as you would any other Beyond TV recording!

Wow, that was a lot of information! We hope you now feel ready to really jump into HDTV. We’re looking forward to our release of Beyond TV 4—and we hope that now you are too!

Let’s now explore what you’ll need to setup HDTV on your home PC. Remember, setting up HDTV can take a little bit of work, but once you’re done, you’ll have totally free and totally clear high-definition picture quality for the best TV shows on.

First Things First — Is it available where you live?

Not all stations are currently broadcasting in HD. And even within a given station, only certain programs are being broadcast in HD. To learn more about what TV stations in your area are broadcasting in HD please visit http://www.checkhd.com/.

What you need to create an HDTV PC

In the United States, HDTV is broadcast in the following ways:

• Over-the-air (OTA) in Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) format
• Over cable in Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) format
• Over satellite via a proprietary format

This means that you can get HDTV programs through an antenna, an HDTV cable box, or a satellite box. Currently, however, only OTA format, i.e. through an antenna, can be easily captured on your PC. To capture and play this signal on your PC, you need:

• Beyond TV 4
• an HDTV compliant Antenna
• an Interconnect Cable
• a computer with minimum specifications, outlined below
• HDTV shows broadcast in your area (see http://www.checkhd.com/ for a list)

And optionally (but recommended):

• An HDTV Television set with proper cabling to display content from the PC (see cabling instructions below)

Antenna

There are many different types of antennas that can capture an HD signal. The type that you will need is determined by your location in relation to the source of the HD signal, your terrain, and the distance to the broadcast tower. Antennas range from small "Rabbit Ear" antennas to large rooftop antennas. CNET has put together a very helpful and complete article on choosing and installing HDTV antennas. You may want to check it out when you’re done reading this post! To determine which type of antenna you will need, visit the Antenna Guide at www.checkhd.com, and follow these directions:

1. First, input your location.
2. Then, use the color-coded chart to determine the type. For instance, if your stations are mostly "Light Green", you will need a "Large Multidirectional Antenna." These colors are standardized for antennae approved by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). Whether shopping in a store at Circuit City or online at Crutchfield, you should see these colors indicated on the packaging for all antennae.
3. Select a CEA-approved antenna with the appropriate color code. There are six color codes which denote different types of antennae. They are, as follows:

There are a lot of types of antennae, but it’s pretty simple to determine which type you need on www.checkhd.com. The basic difference between a directional and a multidirectional antenna is that a multidirectional antenna allows you to receive signals from towers that reside in different cardinal directions from your house. In some areas, the broadcast towers will all be located in one general direction, and thus a directional antenna is all you need. But in others, you will need a multidirectional antenna to capture broadcasts, for example, if there is a tower to your north and one to your south, each of which broadcasts channels that you would like to view. Some antennae have more than one color code designated. This means that they will get the channels marked in both of those colors in your www.checkhd.com search results. All of this information refers to HDTV-dedicated antennae. However, you can try to hook up your current antenna to you HDTV set-up and see which OTA stations you can receive. In all likelihood, you will get better results with an HDTV antenna.

Interconnect Cable

To receive the best signal, use RG6-style coax cable and connectors. This style is available at most local electronics stores like Radio Shack. Failure to use this grade of cable will result in reduced or no signal.

Splitter (optional)

If you need to split the signal, use an HDTV-compliant splitter of at least 5 - 1100Mhz. Be sure that you are not getting a combiner. Though combiners and splitters look very similar, if not identical, a combiner will not properly split the signal.

The HDTV Tuner Card

To capture high-definition content with Beyond TV, your TV tuner card needs to support BDA drivers. Ask your manufacturer if you are unsure if your card does. Most BDA compliant cards will work with Beyond TV. We suggest the following HDTV tuner cards for use with Beyond TV:

• ATI HDTV Wonder
• AverMedia AVerTVHD MCE A180
• Divco FusionHDTV3
• Divco FusionHDTV5
• VBox DTA-151
• VBox USB-A 3560

If you want to record high-definition content, you must use an HDTV card or a hybrid card that can record both analog and digital content. Beyond TV 4 supports multiple tuners for free, so you can use an analog card with an HDTV card simultaneously.

The Computer

You will need an up-to-date computer with recent hardware to decode the HD signal. Make sure your computer meets or exceeds these specifications:

• 2.4 GHz or above Intel or AMD processor
• 512MB Ram
• ATI Radeon 9550 or NVIDIA GeForce 5200 or above video card. Failure to use a proper video card will result in a choppy picture.
• Windows XP (Home or Pro) with Service Pack 2. SP2 is a requirement, not a recommendation.
• DirectX 9.0c
• Sufficient gigabytes of free hard drive space. A typical HD show is about 9 GB for one hour of TV. This is up to 8 times more usage than traditional MPEG-2. For normal usage, 200 GB of free space is a practical minimum. The following chart shows the approximate amount of hard drive space you will need depending on recording times.

Now you know what you need to get started creating you own HDTV PC. In the next article, I’ll discuss the process of actually setting it up! Stay tuned…

…But are you ready for it? Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be telling you a little bit about HDTV in our blog. I hope it both educates and excites you…and most importantly, gets you ready for Beyond TV with HD!

The Basics

Why the hype?

High-Definition Television’s (HDTV or HD) major appeal is its sharper and wider image display accompanied by award-winning Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio. Once you have experienced the higher clarity, crisp digital sound and life-like pictures of HDTV, you’ll never want to go back to a Standard-Definition Television (SDTV or SD).

Adding Beyond TV’s HDTV support to your Personal Computer (PC) will empower you to intelligently record and playback your favorite HDTV programs. You can also ShowSqueeze your high-definition recordings to conserve hard drive space and transfer smaller files to portable devices. This guide will help you take advantage of this exciting technology by explaining the steps necessary to create an HDTV setup with your digital video recording PC.

A Sharper Image

There are three main reasons why HDTV is superior to SDTV: picture resolution, video clarity, and high-fidelity Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio.

First, the picture created by HDTV technology has a higher resolution than most consumers are accustomed to. The usual SDTV picture, as established by the National Television Standards Committee (NTSC), has 525 vertical lines of resolution (only 480 of those are visible). However, HDTV adopts a new format established by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) that provides for 480, 720, and even 1080 lines of resolution. As a result of higher density of scan lines, HDTV has approximately ten times the picture detail of SDTV!

In addition to enhanced resolution, HDTV uses the power of digital communications to champion over SDTV. SDTV is transmitted as an analog signal. Over time and through transmission, analog signals can weaken, degrade, and bleed. HDTV, however, is transmitted solely as a digital signal, which provides much more robust control over weak signals and is completely free of signal degradation and bleeding.

 

 

High-definition pictures are 6x the resolution of standard-definition pictures (click to enlarge)

Finally, no television experience would be complete without the crystal-clear and life-like sound provided by Dolby Digital AC-3 audio technology. With HD, you’ll be able to immerse yourself in your favorite television broadcasts as you hear bullets whizzing behind your head or hear the distant birds chirping as if they were right outside your window.

Seeing More

Aspect ratios in HDTV also differ greatly from standard analog or cable television. Aspect ratio is the width to height ratio of the picture displayed on your screen. The aspect ratio of digital television is typically 16:9, while the aspect ratio of conventional television is 4:3. When films are viewed on television, it is thus necessary to crop them, cutting off part of the picture (Panning & Scanning), or to letterbox them, relegating the picture to the middle of the screen with black bars above and below it. The aspect ratio of digital television is much closer to that seen in movie theatres, which means that digital television lets you see more of the original picture in its display of movies than do other formats.

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With HD you see the full picture (left), rather than the cropped standard picture (right).

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How it Works

Compression and Encoding

MPEG-2 encoding is used to compress the large amount of data needed for high definition pictures into the 6 megahertz bandwidth currently used for analog displays. MPEG-2 may sound familiar to some of you out there. As you may know MPEG-2 encoding is also used to compress the video on DVDs today. This is also the technology that SnapStream Beyond TV uses to record your favorite TV shows.

Next time, I’ll discuss what you need to setup your own HDTV with Beyond TV 4. Stay tuned for more on HDTV…"

I’ll admit it, I’m jealous of Canadians. Great healthcare, quality education, low crime rates, beautiful cities. In 2002, Vancouver tied with Melbourne as the top city in the world in which to live, according to The Economist. And living in Vancouver just got better.

As Kevin Tofel over at HD Beat pointed out, Vancouver now has its very first over-the-air high-def signal. CTV recently started broadcasting a high-def signal out of Vancouver and Toronto. Toronto already had two high-def signals, but for Vancouver this is a first. This means that our Canadian friends can soon take advantage of Beyond TV 4.0, which will have support for OTA HDTV recording! The takeaway? For Canadians, it’s been a bad year for hockey, and a good one for HDTV.

NOTE: Just to clear up any confusion, it’s important to mention that we don’t have arrangements to get Canadian guide data right now. Because there won’t be a Canadian EPG, Canadians will have to use manual recordings or XML TV to schedule high-def recordings.

Chrissy Davis
Public Relations Coordinator