D* h21 + htpc ques

[jessem4145]

I believe this is my first post in this forum. I have the setup in sig which is kind of a mess. I installed two h21 stb's + hd satellite dish. I did not do my homework so I didn't realize there is no way to input hdmi to my htpc. I am using s-vid out from stb to avermedia tuner card. I am using avermedia software for tv and it looks very good; however, non hd stations are all in 4:3--is this normal?? In win mce 2005 all pics are in 4:3. I am going to go with sage tv, girder and usb-uirt. Are there any hd tuner cards on the horizon???

Quite honestly, I don't know where to go from here. I have been thinking seriously of going back to digital and old stb's.

It is very frustrating--any advice would be greatly appreciated.

jessem :D :D

[rajeshh]

Are you going to your htpc so you can record? If only to watch, why not go directly to TV?

[DirecTV3049]

I believe this is my first post in this forum. I have the setup in sig which is kind of a mess. I installed two h21 stb's + hd satellite dish. I did not do my homework so I didn't realize there is no way to input hdmi to my htpc. I am using s-vid out from stb to avermedia tuner card. I am using avermedia software for tv and it looks very good; however, non hd stations are all in 4:3--is this normal?? In win mce 2005 all pics are in 4:3. I am going to go with sage tv, girder and usb-uirt. Are there any hd tuner cards on the horizon???

Quite honestly, I don't know where to go from here. I have been thinking seriously of going back to digital and old stb's.

It is very frustrating--any advice would be greatly appreciated.

jessem :D :D

With Windows XP MCE 2005 you will not be able to record DirecTV HD satellite directly to your HTPC through an HDMI/component connection.

DirecTV is working on a solution for HD satellite to HTPC via USB - it's called the HDPC-20. You can get some info on the HDPC-20 under the "Cutting Edge" section of this forum. You can also run a search for HDPC-20 using your favorite search engine. However, AFAIK, the HDPC-20 will need Vista/Vista Media Center installed on the HTPC.

[mjones73]

Unfortunately if you want to record HD from Directv, you'll need to lease DVR's for now. The HDPC-20 is in very early beta testing with MCE and isn't expected out til late this year at the earliest.