Dropbear1503559515

I could not get it to work properly with the Matrox G400, when I first got it. Impatient as I was, I changed the video card, rather than bother chasing drivers, etc to make it work. Hmm there are very good reasons for sticking with the Matrox Card . It has the ability to natively output an interlaced signal to the TV so you don't need to de-interlate signals going out . I already have one and that saves me $120 on a Radeon 9200SE card with TV out, which I am lead to believe has an inferior TV out over the Matrox anyway!..

Hmm that's interesting ... I'm thinking of using the DVB card initially with a Matrox G400 which does not have hardware overlay support (but is fast enough to handle SD decoding fine).. Does this mean the Nebula card is not compatible with the Matrox G400?

Has anyone had any experience with whether the Nebula software coexists with other MPEG2 type players such as PowerDVD or BSplayer or ZOOMplayer?

Thanks fellas.. I'm even more confused than before, if that's possible.. MY primary concern for the nebula now is the fact they have not released the SDK. I hate to throw my eggs in one basket like that.

excellent thanks Joey! it looks very good.. which bits of the digitv software do NOT work with Australian broadcasts?? The EPG and scheduling from the guide does work? Can you record (non scheduled) from the analogue inputs from that program?

Can someone please link me to a thorough review / screenies of DigiTV please? If DigiTV proves to be a nice stable TV friendly interface the decision just became a *lot* harder.

It's hard choice, that is why I got both! I have a limited supply of funds, and an even more limited supply of patience. Two cards is not an option Jason... Which card are you talking about there? The Nebula one? That's some very funky looking software you showed with those images.. Does the EPG work with Australian TV?

That's it! I can't decide! I'm ready to purchase a DVB-T card this week but I really can't make up my mind. What I *need* SD recording An interface I'll be able to read from a normal 4:3 TV connected by composite or TV out from a computer. I will *NOT* have a monitor attached to the PC. So small, had to read fonts will be out of the question SD & HD full screen viewing with a "wife" easy interface for changing channels What I would *LIKE* Analogue inputs for viewing / recording foxtel and VCR, but interfaced in with the normal DVB application Why I like Vision Plus . SDK is released to public so we have local support for apps . I've seen it on a mates PC, so it's a known thing . Extra apps support such as web scheduler and BDA drivers etc. Why I DONT like Vision Plus . No analogue inputs Why I like Nebula . Analogue inputs means the foxtel recording may happen . Card is chosen as part of the showshifter BETA program and this may provide an excellent HTPC front end . Although software is proprietary, it's supposedly very good. Why I don't like Nebula . No hardware acceleration for decoding . The SDK is not readilly available . Reliant on vendor to fix software bugs . Analogue recording and viewing not incorporated with existing software . Software to do time recording etc uses standard windows dialogues which may be hard to read on a TV.

Does anyone else see the irony in two of the popular threads in this forum at the moment. The topfield PVR forum. Someone is asking if it can handle Analogue inputs to allow it to record sources other than DVB, and the answer was "NO" because D to A converters were too expensive / hard what ever and no one would waste time putting them in a box like this (This is despite the fact of course they manage to put a DVD+RW recorder AND an MPEG2 encoder + everything else into a box they can sell retail for under $600) The Digitrex cheap DVD+RW burner thread, where people are asking if the box has a DVB-T tuner in it, and the answer is "NO" because people won't put DVB-T tuners in bulk hardware because the standards are too new etc etc. So what we really have is one requirement, being met by two separate boxes and the "champions" of those boxes using silly arguments to justify why their box doesn't do what it perhaps "should". What we want is a Digital PVR with a hard disk and DVD Recording capabilities. We want it to have analogue inputs and a MPEG2 encoder so we can use the box to encode VCR's and FOXTEL etc. So far, the only solution is a HTPC with a DVB-T card and an analogue capture card with DVD Recorder. An expensive, user-unfriendly solution.

where DO people get this sort of nonsense from?

all this just goes to show that it's entirely subjective... I would put a GOOD plasma above a CRT but not by much and I would certainly put the new range of LCD TV's above the ordinary "budget price" plasmas on the market today..

DVDHack has done this, and he has the same sort of overscan issues as you described ...

hmm $3499 .. does that include the HD STB? That wouldn't be too bad actually... Wonder if they would do that on 24 months interest free.

go to http://www.thegoodguys.com.au - chose their catalogue I entered a SA post code and they seem to have that TV there for $4999 with a "bonus" *cough* HD STB. Certainly not $2999.. Would buy it today at that price. Oh.. looked up the catalogue for a melbourne post code (different catalogue) and the price is $5999 in that one. *rollseyes* They don't give model numbers unfortunately.

oh geez have a sook dudes.. It's called the cost of doing business. I'd tell them to rack off. :ph34r:

yep.. the matrox won't do HD playback. no hardware overlay.

how much of a problem is this box not having 720p?? whats the difference in quality between a DVD upscaled from 720 to 1080i to a proper 720p picture?

The matrox may be able to natively output interlaced signals, so you would not need to deinterlace the stream through software. I know the G400 and G450 have this ability, not sure about the 550.

That's a hell of a lot of video card just to drive a 2D display. I'm assuming any radeon 9000 or better would be able to do this? 9800 PRO is insanely overkill for this task.

can you buy specialist internal aerials for digital reception? these will work well with appropriatlely shielded connectors with DVB-T cards?

ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!!! and really useful as a set top box interface.... this may the DVB-T killer app. I hope the rest of the application looks as good as that. Please try and minimise the use of right-click mouse menus as these don't show up well on the TV

OK... How do I get a PC image from a HTPC to this beasty - through the Component inputs....... I want it to be 1080i...

curiouser and curiouser

well apparently even the original software supplied with it does't scan anything either...

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