Topic: TV Card Output To Television

[GillE]

What would be the best way to output a signal from a computer TV card to a televion set which only has scart sockets?  If buying a new computer to record TV programmes and view them on a television set, what would be the best choice?

[Sandra]

Can you clarify what you have now please Gill.
If you have a TV card that will record TV channels to your hard drive.
To watch those on your TV then you need a graphics card with TV out on it.
Most of the newer ones come with at least S-VHS also called S-Vid and possibly composite. The higher spec ones even have HD out which looks like an S-Vod connector but has more pins.
Any of these can be connected by the correct lead to a S-Vid/Composite to scart adapter which then plugs into your scart socket.
These adaptors also take the left and right audio channels from the PC so you would have to use the line out or speakers out socket.
That socket is a 3.5mm stereo jack, the connection on the scart adaptor is usually a twin phono so you would need a 3.5mm stereo jack plug to twin phono cable.

Let me know your pc setup if you need any more info.

[GillE]

I was thinking about the specification for a new machine to replace various DVD/VHS video players in a living room, Sandra.  I guess I'd also need an alternate input device to the conventional computer mouse and keyboard.

[Sandra]

Seriously long post coming up Gill 

It depends on what your current pc is and where it is in relation to the TV Gill, also possibly what kind of TV you are using.
If you can put up with the abysmal picture quality of plasma and LCD TV when viewing an SD source then the connection to the pc should be very easy, either through DVI, VGA, HDMI or Component.
If you go for a CRT TV option so that you can get a good SD picture then the connectivity may have to be DVI, VGA or even S-Vid to a scart adaptor.
Some older CRT TVs had component inputs that would be a good way to connect.
If you had one of the Samsung Slimfit HD CRT TV like I have then thats the best way for SD TV and is great on HD, allowing the pc to connect via component or HDMI for both SD and HD viewing but you may struggle to get one at the moment

PC specifications would necessitate you having a reasonable good dual core CPU.
I wouldnt go below an Intel D800 series dual core and would preferably go for the new Core 2 Duo or even Quattro, I dont think any AMD CPUs are in the same class at the moment, unless you are spending serious amounts of cash and then for that amount of cash youd get a better Intel Quattro anyway.
I use an Intel D945 3.4ghz dual core CPU in mine, unfortunately I built it before the Core 2 Duos came out and the chipset wont run any faster than the D900 series.
Use as much ram as you can, at least 2 gig preferably 4 gig running in dual channel mode.
A good PCI express graphics card, I like the Nvidia 8000 series cards as they will do HD TV so you will be future proofed a little, if thats possible with pcs

You would need a big hard drive or preferably 2 or 3 as most TV recording uses around 2 gig per hour in the standard DVD quality, if you start getting HD recorded that will increase dramatically 

For now a good multiformat dual layer DVD writer is ok, although some DVD writers with Blu Ray readers are coming out at more affordable prices now.
I wouldnt think it was worth getting a Blu ray writer yet as they are still very expensive.

Now we come to TV tuners.
I am not keen on USB for something like that and would prefer PCI cards.
There are plenty around now that seem to work well and do multiple tuning, some even do terrestrial, satellite and cable.
I currently only use terrestrial ones but am thinking of adding a DVBS 2 satellite card for HD satellite soon, maybe once the new BBC and ITV freesat gets setup this summer as that is supposedly going to have a few HD channels on it.

I use a Hauppauge Nova TD 500 DVB-T twin tuner in this pc which works great with windows media cente thats part of Vista Ultimate (I know you dislike Vista but its worth it for that feature if you want to use a pc for TV and DVD )   

In my other pc, the one with the D945 CPU that I use for playing back on my TV, I have a Nebula master DVBT pci card with a slave USB DVBT tuner.
That allows me to record multiple channels at the same time as long as they are only on 2 diferent multiplexes for each tuner, from what I remember.
They are quite expensive but have excellent software that works with XP as well as the Hauppage does with media centre in Vista.

I hope I havent left anything out and have covered most of what you need to know.
If I havent answered properly for what you wanted then ask me again 

[GillE]

Thanks, Sandra - lots of good advice to think about there .  His Lordship has just discovered the delights of the BBC iPlayer having missed the penultimate episode of Torchwood last week  , so I'm thinking that a May birthday present for him might be just the ticket.

In the absence of decent video editing software for either the Mac or Linux, it looks as if Vista is the only game in town  .  Oh, well. Like you, I'm using the Hauppauge Nova TD 500 DVB-T on my own machine and I agree it's very handy, although the lack of a facility to record from a VHS recorder is a significant handicap.  I will probably opt for a similar card.

The TV is a relatively old CRT, connected to peripherals through SCART connectors, but it's still perfectly serviceable and has such a good picture that we can't justify replacing it at the moment.

[Sandra]

Theyre virtually giving away analogue TV PCI cards now Gill so you could easily stick one of those in and record your VCR tapes to the hard drive then convert to DVD.