Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (
More info?)
beernuts <beerwithnutsNOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<LAqDc.8090$Xn.4742@nwrdny03.gnilink.net>...
> Problem - my tv/receiver lack a firewire port. I know people with Mac
> OS X (me) can record HD via firewire using special software, but is
> there any way to convert DVI -> firewire so that I can record the dvi
> output from the Dish 811 HD receiver I have? Is there a DVI->firewire
> converter in general?
Brief answer: no. The problem is that the signal handled by DVI is the
uncompressed HD signal while FireWire carries the highly compressed
MPEG2 transport stream. That recorder for Mac OS X is a transport
stream recorder (which you can probably play back on your Mac with
VLC). If there were a way to electrically connect DVI as an input to
your mac it would require about 100 times the 20 MBps needed for
MPEG2. That would be a blistering 2 gigabits per second. So one minute
would produce 120 gigabits to capture (divide by 8 to get bytes so 15
gigabytes). A one hour program would need 900 gigabytes unless it
could be compressed on the fly. Of course it can, but that requires
what is currently expensive electronics.
The good news is that by FCC regulation your cable company is supposed
to provide you with equipment that has FireWire capability if you
request it. The bad news is that cable companies don't seem to read
FCC regulations. Even if they did there are issues about premium cable
services like HBO. For that topic you need to learn about 5C
encryption for FireWire.
Facebook
Twitter