MY brand new lcd HDTV as a monitor

[hirosakuraba]

Hi,
I just got a new samsung LT-P266W and I have a problem.

Which hardware should I purchase inorder to intergrate the HDTV functions(or even regular TV and intergrating meaning recording tv shows to my pc hard drive and being able to play it back or burn it on my dvd rom) to my pc??
I need something that works like a Tivo, but that cost less and that works with my computer. And if it has HDTV reciever built in that would be great too since my monitor is HDTV ready.
Any suggestions to what hardware I should get will be helpful THX! :D

[i an not a nerd]

Well, a nice card that has ViVo (Video-in/Video-out) is the ATI X850 Platinum (expensive). For this I would go with one of ATI's All-In-Wonder cards.

Also, what interface are you using? AGP or PCIe?

[hirosakuraba]

I currently use a geforce 6800 ultra agp. If you are talking about svideo out from my video card, I tried that and It Does Not look good on my monitor.
Anyways I guess I should be getting all in wonder?? Are those cards able to record HD to my pc? And should I get a progressive scan dvd player for my HDTV or just use the Dvd-rom I got in my pc? (which works best quality and performance wise?) I'm willing to spend less than $400. Any advice will be great THX!

[i an not a nerd]

Well, the X850 Platinum has a HDTV out. So if you want to spend lots of money, i'd recommend this (http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102519) .

[hirosakuraba]

:eek: I'm not sure why I would need to spend another half a grand for a video card I don't need especially when I already got a geforce 6800 ultra. besides that 850xt only got hd out for my moitor. Thanks for advice though. I'm just gonna get a dvd recorder with a hard drive or a tivo.

[jcnoernberg]

you'll need component/dvi input to your pc from your cablebox/source to get hd... i dont think ive ever seen a consumer level card with this feature... not for under $200 at least. My advice would be to get a pansonic DVD recorder (they support dvd-ram discs) once you record whatever you need on the disc, you can pop it into a dvd-ram compatible (i got one for 60 bucks new on ebay my lg electronics) and you can extract the .mpg video off the disc. it wont be hd, rather it will be ed (enhanced definition, which is 480p, instead of hd's 720p)

[hirosakuraba]

So let me get this clear, I can not watch any HD or capture HDTV with my PC (unless I spend thousands)?
Now that makes things more understandable 'cause I saw this HDTV capture video card for $1200 plus on neweggg.
And for dvd recorder, I'm gonna get the liteon DVD recorder with VCR, its like $260 from neweggg LITE-ON LVC-9006 DVD Video Recorder & VCR . Any more advice which dvd recorder I should get, maybe spend more and get the one with hard drive??
BTW Thx for the continues replies and help!

[jcnoernberg]

how long did your last vcr last? if you get a combo and the vcr goes (which will be the first thing to go) your whole unit will probably be dead. besides, once you get all your material transfered over to dvd, you wont ever play a vcr tape again. i would opt for a stand alone player and just hook a vcr upto the inputs for temporary transfer.

i would also go for a dvd-ram compatible recorder. dvd-ram is a udf format disc, so it works just like a big floppy disk essentially. you can copy to and from the disc easily, and when it comes to video, you can copy, rather than rip, the video off the disc which means no quality loss for you.

panasonic is the only major company offering dvd-ram to the best of my knowledge, and they just realeased the dmres10s model a few weeks ago for $199.99 at any retailer.

i was in the same situation a year ago and was new to the dvd-ram, but once i researched and tried it, i loved it...

[hirosakuraba]

jcnoernberg thx for the reply.
Now I'm on a debate if i should just get one of thoese panasonic SD card camcorder (or the sanyo) after looking at the websites for the dmres10s. lol...
I been spending too much money on electroics and on this monitor and now I want a camcorder. This online shopping makes money just numbers on my monitor not currency....
Anyways I'm just gonna wait a few more months until I make another major purchase instead of breaking my back. Hopefully things get cheaper by then or perhaps something better comes out.

[jcnoernberg]

the quality on the sd camcorders isn't anything spectacular. in fact, it isn't as good as a minidv (digital tape) camcorder, it's just more convenient to have a card than a tape. same thing applies to the miniDVD camcorders. keep in mind too the tremendous storage you get out of, say, a minidv tape... a handful of gigs, compared to a 512mb sd card (thats a lot more recording time). hitachi has a compact flash camcorder and comes with a 2 or 4 gig harddrive that fits in a compact flash card slot, but is not flash memory, but a little hard drive... its close to $1000 i think, and doesn't offer you better quality than the $250 panasonic cheapy

This all being said, buy the dmres10 and a sony dcrhc21 camcorder for 379.99
you'll have two great new toys and still spend less than you would for an SD cam.
i spent three years working at circuit city previously, and this is what i recommended to countless people... even though the boss wanted us to push the dvd cams... cuz they cost more, and in my opinion, look like crap...

oh yeah, buy a 4 to 6 pin firewire cable (get it on ebay for like 5 bucks!) and a firewire card if you dont already have one. good luck...

[hirosakuraba]

THX for the great advice.
The reason I wanted to get a SD camcorder was to take pictures as well. The SD camcorders I was looking at retails around $1000, but I can get it for $700. It is not one of those cheap Sd camcorders, but high quality taht can take 3.1 mega pixel pictures as well.
Anyways I'm just gonna get a digital camera, something compact so that I can carry around with me and actually use it.