Capturing component video (was: In case you have not seen it.....Linux Media Center)

[Thomas Charron]

On 3/25/07, Ben Scott <dragonhawk at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 3/25/07, Thomas Charron <twaffle at gmail.com> wrote:
> >   I just thought of something.  Are there any HD video capture cards
> > which can take composite inputs?
>   You mean component video input (three cables, typically colored red,
> green, blue; carrying Y, Pr, Pb signals).  Composite video (single
> cable, typically colored yellow) is not capable of high definition.

  Correct, my bad.  :-)  I always get the two mixed up in conversations.

>   Composite video carries a minimally encoded analog signal.  So it's
> coming at you in real time, and without any MPEG compression.  I can't
> find any convenient web reference, but I believe to capture it, you
> need to be able to encode something like 4 gigabits per second.  Such
> stuff is currently rather expensive -- I've heard estimates ranging
> from a few thousand to a few tens of thousands of dollars.
>   Meanwhile, the media cartels don't like composite video, because
> it's not copy restricted.  So you can bet they will do everything in
> their power to discourage it in favor of HDMI, which supports copy
> restrictions ("HDCP").

  True, however, I looked it up this morning.  Our HD receiver is
capable of 1080p out the component outputs.  But your right, I looked
today.  I'll just have to wait for DirecTV Home Media Center, and hope
to be able to play with it.  :-D

-- 
-- Thomas