04-06-2006, 10:49 PM
... I already have some questions:
1) What is the best way to do the AV hookups? I have the following equipment:
A) Radio Shack indoor/outdoor antenna, with optional amplifier-- this is one of the "stick" types; I also have a regular rabbit ears-type indoor antenna, again with optional amplification
B ) Analog (non-HD) TV with coax and four external input connectors (Inputs 1-4; Input #2 is front-mounted, so is kind of unsightly to use)
C) VCR hooked up to the TV via coax; video out from the VCR going to my AlchemyTV tuner card as the composite input (so I can watch TV on the Alchemy either via the card's tuner, or with the VCR; or play tapes, record onto computer via Alchemy; or if there is another input to the VCR, e.g., digital camera video, will show up on the computer)
D) DVD player (crappy one) hooked up to TV via S-video (Input 1)
E) DVD recorder hooked up to TV via composite cable (Input 3)
F) Second DVD player (Philips, good one) hooked up to TV via component cables (Input 4)
One question is, how to hook up the HDTV tuner so as to simultaneously supply signal to the TV, DVD recorder, and Alchemy. For testing purposes, I unhooked the crappy DVD player, and connected the tuner via S-video to the TV. I then connected the composite video cables which had been connected to the VCR, to the tuner instead. So... I can now watch the HDTV on the TV, and also have the signal coming into the Alchemy card (admittedly it's not HDTV on the Alchemy, but I don't care). So I've got two of the three... question is now how to hook up the tuner to the DVD recorder.
Related question is, what is the optimal cable types/setup to use in terms of the hookups. IIRC, component is supposed to be better than S-video, which is better than composite, which is better than coax, right?
2) I've already noticed some weird stuff about the HDTV broadcasts/reception:
A) Some stations show up bracketed on the sides or otherwise compressed. I'm guessing I have to fiddle with some aspect ratio thing to fix that? It seems to be variable by channel (with most channels having a problem of one sort or another), so hopefully if I adjust something for one channel, it won't affect all of them. If it does, I'm gonna end up having to return this thing, which would be a shame...
B ) Some stations (especially the UHF ones) show a lot of pixelation or signal going in and out. Anything to be done about this? I would have thought based on my location (see previous post here: http://forums.macresource.com/read/1/729...#msg-72976, which included a signal chart (here: http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/1746/picture11ea.png)) that reception wouldn't have been a problem. Any point in hooking up more than one antenna at once?
C) At least one station I'd have thought I'd be getting, seems to be a sports channel instead of a news channel? WTH?
The picture and sound is just incredible, I just hope I can tweak this thing to take care of the above problems...
1) What is the best way to do the AV hookups? I have the following equipment:
A) Radio Shack indoor/outdoor antenna, with optional amplifier-- this is one of the "stick" types; I also have a regular rabbit ears-type indoor antenna, again with optional amplification
B ) Analog (non-HD) TV with coax and four external input connectors (Inputs 1-4; Input #2 is front-mounted, so is kind of unsightly to use)
C) VCR hooked up to the TV via coax; video out from the VCR going to my AlchemyTV tuner card as the composite input (so I can watch TV on the Alchemy either via the card's tuner, or with the VCR; or play tapes, record onto computer via Alchemy; or if there is another input to the VCR, e.g., digital camera video, will show up on the computer)
D) DVD player (crappy one) hooked up to TV via S-video (Input 1)
E) DVD recorder hooked up to TV via composite cable (Input 3)
F) Second DVD player (Philips, good one) hooked up to TV via component cables (Input 4)
One question is, how to hook up the HDTV tuner so as to simultaneously supply signal to the TV, DVD recorder, and Alchemy. For testing purposes, I unhooked the crappy DVD player, and connected the tuner via S-video to the TV. I then connected the composite video cables which had been connected to the VCR, to the tuner instead. So... I can now watch the HDTV on the TV, and also have the signal coming into the Alchemy card (admittedly it's not HDTV on the Alchemy, but I don't care). So I've got two of the three... question is now how to hook up the tuner to the DVD recorder.
Related question is, what is the optimal cable types/setup to use in terms of the hookups. IIRC, component is supposed to be better than S-video, which is better than composite, which is better than coax, right?
2) I've already noticed some weird stuff about the HDTV broadcasts/reception:
A) Some stations show up bracketed on the sides or otherwise compressed. I'm guessing I have to fiddle with some aspect ratio thing to fix that? It seems to be variable by channel (with most channels having a problem of one sort or another), so hopefully if I adjust something for one channel, it won't affect all of them. If it does, I'm gonna end up having to return this thing, which would be a shame...
B ) Some stations (especially the UHF ones) show a lot of pixelation or signal going in and out. Anything to be done about this? I would have thought based on my location (see previous post here: http://forums.macresource.com/read/1/729...#msg-72976, which included a signal chart (here: http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/1746/picture11ea.png)) that reception wouldn't have been a problem. Any point in hooking up more than one antenna at once?
C) At least one station I'd have thought I'd be getting, seems to be a sports channel instead of a news channel? WTH?
The picture and sound is just incredible, I just hope I can tweak this thing to take care of the above problems...