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HDMI Video Card

M

motox2121

n00b
Joined
Mar 3, 2005
Messages
53
Hey guys, I been looking at an HDMI video input card. I started a thread in the HTPC forum but it kind of died and I answered some of my questions / changed focus so I decided to make a post in this forum. The original thread is here if you wish to see some background info: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1610241.


I have a presonus audiobox usb 2x2 for my sound interface, outputting TRS to my KRK 8" rokit studio monitors. I am presently very happy with the way they sound. I also have a 40" HDTV that I use as a second monitor (HDMI) / my main TV that has my HD cable box hooked up to it as well as my pc. Since I love the way my monitors sound, I am trying to route it so that my TV will input to my computer so that my studio monitor speakers can double as my home theater system sound.

I've already considered several options, I tried outputting straight from my tv to the speakers w/ rca outputs, this works however it would require me to disconnect/reconnect wires each time i decided to switch from tv to computer use, and the levels were all out of whack and I'd really like to try to avoid doing this.

My main problem is that input-wise my computer/interface is quite lacking. My audiobox only has mic / instrument 1/4" inputs, there are no spdif / rca / hdmi / other stereo inputs.

I thought about buying an HDMI input card, something like this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815100049 . My main question is does anyone here have experience with a similar product who can advise against/for it? Is the quality good, does it lag/stutter? Can I route the sound from the HDMI input in and back out through another interface?

Would something like this work? instead of my cablebox hooking directly to my tv it would just mean that it would go box > computer > output from vid card to tv (assuming this would work). Not only would this allow me to hear tv through my monitors, but would also make my pc double as a HD-DVR.

I also could just buy a new recording interface, and hope to sell this one, but it would be the most expensive option. I know I have seen USB recording interfaces with RCA / optical inputs.

I could also buy another cheap soundcard with an optical input too right?(This would mean multiple soudcards) Not sure if I could route it in windows so that my audiobox will constantly stream out sound from my other cheap optical input.

What do you hardware gurus think would be the best/most cost effective choice to get this seemingly-simple task done? If the HDMI card option will work smoothly I think I would be inclined to do that just so I can have dvr too, idk if anyone has any experience with that. I also was wondering if having multiple sound interfaces would case any hardware conflicts / issues.

Thanks alot guys, been dying to hear some intense movie sound!
 
Also, I'm curious as to how this would work for DVR. Would my cablebox recognize it when i played record a show? or is that only possible if I buy a real legit tv tuner? I'm sure this can record @ scheduled times but im curious if it can change the channel through hdmi only.

Thanks again
 
One problem you may have with that card (and all the cheap HDMI recording cards) is that it doesn't do HDCP, so any source that requires HDCP isn't going to play through there over HDMI.

It does say it has component inputs, so that could work if your cable box has component outs as well and HDMI doesn't work.

I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish here though. If your goal is just to use your monitors as the sound for your TV, there will be much better ways to do this. If you want to record TV from your pc as well, you're going to want to look into a CableCard tuner and then getting a cablecard from your cable provider as your hd cable box most likely requires HDCP and none of the cheap hdmi capture cards are going to work with that.
 
Yeah well as a bare minimum I want my monitors for my tv sound, and I think i'm going to use a mixer for that, or another / different sound card interface.

So you're saying that cable companies use proprietary HDCP "encryptions" so that you can't use any regular tv tuner card, you have to rent it?

If I would still have to buy / rent one from my cable company that would pretty much defeat the purpose.

I do know for a fact that I can record via composite(no hdcp), which this card includes a dongle for. but I don't want to downgrade my setup just so I can record TV.
 
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