While it's great that high definition-capable displays are getting so cheap nowadays, there still seems to be a lingering problem with most of them: if you actually want to watch anything in HDTV, it's still going to cost you an arm and a leg for a tuner. And forget about recording it unless you're a DirecTV subscriber and you feel like dropping a grand for a hi-def Tivo. No thanks. So about a year ago, I decided to conduct an experiment and see if I could find a way to watch and record HDTV for a more reasonable price.
I'd had a 42" Toshiba rear projection TV for a couple of years and the only way I'd been able to take advantage its increased resolution was by hooking up my home theater PC to it. This was nice for movies but it didn't make regular TV look any better - on the contrary, I've found that an off-the-shelf Tivo box will almost always beat a PC when it comes to television recording, both in terms of quality and reliability. This is usually due to the fact that when a PC records an analog TV signal, it must encode that signal into a digital format which is very CPU-intensive and prone to error. Standalone DVRs have dedicated hardware to accomplish this task, but PCs are multi-purpose machines designed to do just about everything, but not necessarily everything well. Hence, contention for system resources can often result in choppy video, audio sync issues, and even system crashes.
So there was my dilemma - the only reasonably priced solution was to install an HDTV tuner card in my home theater PC. But could it work? Wouldn't I be prone to all the usual hassles of recording TV on a PC? No, I decided, this time it would be different. Why? Because the difference is that HDTV signals are already digital, so no costly encoding is necessary. All a computer has to do to record it is simply write the signal to its hard drive as it comes in. This is one reason DirecTV Tivo units are so inexpensive - they don't encode anything either - it's all already digital.
After a bit of research, I decided upon the MyHD MDP 120 card (at the time, the ATI HDTV Wonder was not yet on the market, and even if it was, I'm not sure I would have chosen it given their history of flaky software). The MyHD line is manufactured by Macro Image Technology and is sold exclusively through the online retailer DigitalConnection.com. And at less than $250, it was definitely more in line with what I was willing to spend.
Installing the card was a snap and its software was surprisingly professional. I had not a single hiccup getting it to run, which was actually a shock as I typically assume that any signficant upgrade to a PC in my house will at some point result in an exhibition of my cursing prowess. Didn't happen, though. When in fullscreen HD mode (using a separate cable that breaks out to component video) and using the included remote, you literally could not tell that you were using a computer and not a set-top box. Recordings can be scheduled through the TV application interface but more likely you will use the integration with Titan TV, which can show you listings in your area and allows you to click on shows to easily set up recordings. In addition, the MyHD card can convert between HD formats, so my 1080i-only TV can still see 720p broadcasts. I was, and still am, very impressed.
In case you haven't already guessed, these types of cards tune HD signals over the air, which means content is free. Score another one for my wallet. Since I live in Chicago, only a few miles from the source of most HDTV broadcasts, I figured getting a decent signal shouldn't be too hard.
Ahhh... I knew the cursing had to come into play at some point!
The first problem was that I had no rooftop or other outdoor antenna, nor any real ability to install one, since I live in a condo with no access to my roof. My back deck was a possible option, but it was on the far end of the building from my TV and stringing a coax cable through the house was going to be just about impossible. So after conferring with the Consumer Electronics Association's AntennaWeb site, I decided to go the indoor antenna route. I first went out a got an amplified RCA antenna (which can be found for about $50) that allowed me to pick up my local CBS and ABC stations pretty well, but not NBC. However, the nice thing about a lot of these PC HD tuner cards is that they have two tuners in them! So I purchased a less expensive passive HD antenna from Zenith (about $25) and it managed to pick up NBC fairly reliably. WB, UPN, and Fox (which isn't really hi def anyway) came in intermittently on both tuners but not reliably enough to watch without being annoying.
In the end, almost a year later, the card is still going strong even if the reception isn't. I've pretty much settled into recording CSI on it every week as my CBS reception is rock solid. I've assimilated it into my regular routine with very little adjustment. The bottom line: if stations in your area broadcast in high definition and you have the ability to put up a decent antenna, watching and recording HDTV on your PC can be quite an enjoyable experience and it won't break the bank.
