Newbie Question

Well, maybe I'm not exactly a newbie, as I've had my Panasonic TH-42PHW5
plasma screen since last June, but I still have a few probably dumb
questions that I hope someone can answer for me. In addition to
satisfying my own curiosity, I'd like to be able to give visitors an
intelligent answer when they ask, "Why does the picture look like that?"

First some background: I live in a condo in downtown Washington, DC, and
I receive TV via Starpower Cable. Satellite reception would be
impossible for me, and while I admit I've never tried, it's doubtful I
would get an acceptable over-the-air HDTV signal, considering my
concrete canyon location. So Starpower it is, and basically I'm happy
with the service. For a fee, Starpower offers me eleven HDTV channels
in addition to all the regular channels via a digital cable box:

ABC
CBS
NBC
Fox
PBS
Discovery HD
ESPND
HDNet (Full time HD programming)
HDNMV (HDNet Movies)
HBOHD (Home Box Office HD Movies)
SHOHD (Showtime HD Movies -- I don't subscribe to this one.)

Question 1: I've observed that much, if not most, of the programming I
receive on the HD network channels really isn't HDTV. Yes, many of the
evening network programs are in 16:9 HDTV and look gorgeous, but all the
local programming and a good bit of the network programming is 4:3 with
black bars on the sides. However, this 4:3 picture still looks better
than the same picture when I watch it on the regular (non-HDTV) channel;
it's sharper than a regular broadcast, but *not* as sharp as a genuine
HDTV broadcast. So why does the local TV seen on the HDTV channel
appear sharper than local TV on the regular cable channel, when it's
clearly not really HDTV?

Question 2: What's the deal with ESPND? Most of their programming is
regular 4:3 stretched to 16:9 -- everybody looks short and fat. Only
occasionally, when there's a special broadcast of an NFL game (like the
Steelers/Ravens game I'm watching now), do I see a true HDTV picture on
ESPND.

Question 3: How long will we have to wait until most of what we see on
TV is HDTV? I know many old TV shows will never be available in HD, but
many of them can be. If they were originally recorded on film, they can
be shown in HDTV, can't they? I mean, HDNet occasionally shows Hogan's
Heroes in HD, so why not others? Will we ever see, for example, I Love
Lucy in HD? Are the local stations in a grace period now, waiting until
the day they'll show local news and such in true 16:9 HDTV?

OK, I know these aren't exactly important questions, but still they've
been bugging me for some months now. Many thanks to anyone who will
take the time to explain things.

--
Bill Anderson

I am the Mighty Favog

"Bill Anderson" wrote in message
...
Question 1: I've observed that much, if not most, of the programming I
receive on the HD network channels really isn't HDTV. Yes, many of the
evening network programs are in 16:9 HDTV and look gorgeous, but all the
local programming and a good bit of the network programming is 4:3 with
black bars on the sides. However, this 4:3 picture still looks better
than the same picture when I watch it on the regular (non-HDTV) channel;
it's sharper than a regular broadcast, but *not* as sharp as a genuine
HDTV broadcast. So why does the local TV seen on the HDTV channel
appear sharper than local TV on the regular cable channel, when it's
clearly not really HDTV?

Regular programming you'ld see on a studio monitor doesn't look like what
you'ld get with an antenna or even a cable transmission. It looses alot
because its analog and filtered down somewhat, you loose color and
resolution just sending it out analog- it picks up noise and the atmosphere
or cabling sucks up some of the information in the picture. Handling the
transmission digitally and with component cabling or DVI produces better
images, even if its not really "high definition". In short, even the
digital channels that aren't doing HDTV will look better than regular TV.


Question 2: What's the deal with ESPND? Most of their programming is
regular 4:3 stretched to 16:9 -- everybody looks short and fat. Only
occasionally, when there's a special broadcast of an NFL game (like the
Steelers/Ravens game I'm watching now), do I see a true HDTV picture on
ESPND.

Because they are retards who think people actually like watching it that
way. If they don't have the content available, they should just do what the
networks do, "pillar box" for the bits they don't have in widescreen. I'm
not a big sports fan, so I just took it out of my channel listing for Direct
TV. If I wanted to watch a sports game, CBS looks alot better anyways.


Question 3: How long will we have to wait until most of what we see on
TV is HDTV?

10-20 years. Some shows may never be high definition. It's possible too
that they might have a mixed standard... only a few shows in high definition
during prime time, with multicasting during the daytime. See the end for an
explanation of the "why".

I know many old TV shows will never be available in HD, but
many of them can be. If they were originally recorded on film, they can
be shown in HDTV, can't they? I mean, HDNet occasionally shows Hogan's
Heroes in HD, so why not others?

Hogan's Heroes has been "pan and scanned" and zoomed for a 16:9 screen
using a film master, then converted to HDTV. It actually looks very good
for the most part.

Will we ever see, for example, I Love
Lucy in HD?

Maybe. Purists I think would want to see the show "pillar boxed" (like a
letterbox, but sideways with grey or black bars), but they could possibly do
a "pan and scan" version like with Hogan's Heroes. The only problem is
black and white is probably going to look very "dated", who knows if the ADD
Playstation generation will put up with that?

Some shows or episodes filmed on videotape will be impossible to do really
high resolution versions with alot of detail. At best they will probably
use a sophisticated video scaler and processing to reformat the images and
possibly sharpen and balance the color/contrast etc., but the picture will
look softer than HD.

Don't quote me on this, but I think that a show like Star Trek: The Next
Generation, all that's left that are readily available are essentially
digital tape masters of NTSC/DVD quality. So you might not get a much
better picture than you'ld get off satellite.

Are the local stations in a grace period now, waiting until
the day they'll show local news and such in true 16:9 HDTV?


Get ready for a shock...

By law they don't have to show HDTV at all. HDTV isn't an ATSC/FCC
requirement in the US. They just have to show at least one channel of 480i
material equivalent in quality to an NTSC broadcast. The rest of the
bandwith they can do whatever they want with (almost). Have crappy shopping
channels, whatever...

"Bill Anderson" wrote in message
...
Question 1: I've observed that much, if not most, of the programming I
receive on the HD network channels really isn't HDTV. Yes, many of the
evening network programs are in 16:9 HDTV and look gorgeous, but all the
local programming and a good bit of the network programming is 4:3 with
black bars on the sides. However, this 4:3 picture still looks better
than the same picture when I watch it on the regular (non-HDTV) channel;
it's sharper than a regular broadcast, but *not* as sharp as a genuine
HDTV broadcast. So why does the local TV seen on the HDTV channel
appear sharper than local TV on the regular cable channel, when it's
clearly not really HDTV?

Regular programming you'ld see on a studio monitor doesn't look like what
you'ld get with an antenna or even a cable transmission. It looses alot
because its analog and filtered down somewhat, you loose color and
resolution just sending it out analog- it picks up noise and the atmosphere
or cabling sucks up some of the information in the picture. Handling the
transmission digitally and with component cabling or DVI produces better
images, even if its not really "high definition". In short, even the
digital channels that aren't doing HDTV will look better than regular TV.


Question 2: What's the deal with ESPND? Most of their programming is
regular 4:3 stretched to 16:9 -- everybody looks short and fat. Only
occasionally, when there's a special broadcast of an NFL game (like the
Steelers/Ravens game I'm watching now), do I see a true HDTV picture on
ESPND.

Because they are retards who think people actually like watching it that
way. If they don't have the content available, they should just do what the
networks do, "pillar box" for the bits they don't have in widescreen. I'm
not a big sports fan, so I just took it out of my channel listing for Direct
TV. If I wanted to watch a sports game, CBS looks alot better anyways.


Question 3: How long will we have to wait until most of what we see on
TV is HDTV?

10-20 years. Some shows may never be high definition. It's possible too
that they might have a mixed standard... only a few shows in high definition
during prime time, with multicasting during the daytime. See the end for an
explanation of the "why".

I know many old TV shows will never be available in HD, but
many of them can be. If they were originally recorded on film, they can
be shown in HDTV, can't they? I mean, HDNet occasionally shows Hogan's
Heroes in HD, so why not others?

Hogan's Heroes has been "pan and scanned" and zoomed for a 16:9 screen
using a film master, then converted to HDTV. It actually looks very good
for the most part.

Will we ever see, for example, I Love
Lucy in HD?

Maybe. Purists I think would want to see the show "pillar boxed" (like a
letterbox, but sideways with grey or black bars), but they could possibly do
a "pan and scan" version like with Hogan's Heroes. The only problem is
black and white is probably going to look very "dated", who knows if the ADD
Playstation generation will put up with that?

Some shows or episodes filmed on videotape will be impossible to do really
high resolution versions with alot of detail. At best they will probably
use a sophisticated video scaler and processing to reformat the images and
possibly sharpen and balance the color/contrast etc., but the picture will
look softer than HD.

Don't quote me on this, but I think that a show like Star Trek: The Next
Generation, all that's left that are readily available are essentially
digital tape masters of NTSC/DVD quality. So you might not get a much
better picture than you'ld get off satellite.

Are the local stations in a grace period now, waiting until
the day they'll show local news and such in true 16:9 HDTV?


Get ready for a shock...

By law they don't have to show HDTV at all. HDTV isn't an ATSC/FCC
requirement in the US. They just have to show at least one channel of 480i
material equivalent in quality to an NTSC broadcast. The rest of the
bandwith they can do whatever they want with (almost). Have crappy shopping
channels, whatever...

magnulus wrote:

"Bill Anderson" wrote in message
...

Question 1: I've observed that much, if not most, of the programming I
receive on the HD network channels really isn't HDTV. Yes, many of the
evening network programs are in 16:9 HDTV and look gorgeous, but all the
local programming and a good bit of the network programming is 4:3 with
black bars on the sides. However, this 4:3 picture still looks better
than the same picture when I watch it on the regular (non-HDTV) channel;
it's sharper than a regular broadcast, but *not* as sharp as a genuine
HDTV broadcast. So why does the local TV seen on the HDTV channel
appear sharper than local TV on the regular cable channel, when it's
clearly not really HDTV?


Regular programming you'ld see on a studio monitor doesn't look like what
you'ld get with an antenna or even a cable transmission. It looses alot
because its analog and filtered down somewhat, you loose color and
resolution just sending it out analog- it picks up noise and the atmosphere
or cabling sucks up some of the information in the picture. Handling the
transmission digitally and with component cabling or DVI produces better
images, even if its not really "high definition". In short, even the
digital channels that aren't doing HDTV will look better than regular TV.


Question 2: What's the deal with ESPND? Most of their programming is
regular 4:3 stretched to 16:9 -- everybody looks short and fat. Only
occasionally, when there's a special broadcast of an NFL game (like the
Steelers/Ravens game I'm watching now), do I see a true HDTV picture on
ESPND.


Because they are retards who think people actually like watching it that
way. If they don't have the content available, they should just do what the
networks do, "pillar box" for the bits they don't have in widescreen. I'm
not a big sports fan, so I just took it out of my channel listing for Direct
TV. If I wanted to watch a sports game, CBS looks alot better anyways.


Question 3: How long will we have to wait until most of what we see on
TV is HDTV?


10-20 years. Some shows may never be high definition. It's possible too
that they might have a mixed standard... only a few shows in high definition
during prime time, with multicasting during the daytime. See the end for an
explanation of the "why".


I know many old TV shows will never be available in HD, but
many of them can be. If they were originally recorded on film, they can
be shown in HDTV, can't they? I mean, HDNet occasionally shows Hogan's
Heroes in HD, so why not others?


Hogan's Heroes has been "pan and scanned" and zoomed for a 16:9 screen
using a film master, then converted to HDTV. It actually looks very good
for the most part.


Will we ever see, for example, I Love
Lucy in HD?


Maybe. Purists I think would want to see the show "pillar boxed" (like a
letterbox, but sideways with grey or black bars), but they could possibly do
a "pan and scan" version like with Hogan's Heroes. The only problem is
black and white is probably going to look very "dated", who knows if the ADD
Playstation generation will put up with that?

Some shows or episodes filmed on videotape will be impossible to do really
high resolution versions with alot of detail. At best they will probably
use a sophisticated video scaler and processing to reformat the images and
possibly sharpen and balance the color/contrast etc., but the picture will
look softer than HD.

Don't quote me on this, but I think that a show like Star Trek: The Next
Generation, all that's left that are readily available are essentially
digital tape masters of NTSC/DVD quality. So you might not get a much
better picture than you'ld get off satellite.


Are the local stations in a grace period now, waiting until
the day they'll show local news and such in true 16:9 HDTV?



Get ready for a shock...

By law they don't have to show HDTV at all. HDTV isn't an ATSC/FCC
requirement in the US. They just have to show at least one channel of 480i
material equivalent in quality to an NTSC broadcast. The rest of the
bandwith they can do whatever they want with (almost). Have crappy shopping
channels, whatever...



Thanks for the responses -- they make a lot of sense. I wouldn't have
guessed Hogan's Heroes has been zoomed, but then I haven't actually
watched enough of it to notice. It never has been one of my favorites,
though these days I find myself preferring High Definition crap over
regular TV crap. The only big disappointment in what you've told me is
that info about local TV choosing not to broadcast in HDTV. You know,
if one of the locals were to go HDTV, that would be the only channel I'd
watch for local news, etc. Surely some day a local station will catch
on to the fact that there are lots of HDTV watchers around here.

I intended to ask one more question, but I hit the send button too soon.
Like a lot of people, I suppose, I want to record some of the HDTV
shows I've seen. But my cable box doesn't offer the connection that
apparently is required for recording HDTV on commercially available HD
VCRs. (IEEE 1394? Firewire? Whatever -- it's not on my cable box.)
So what can I do? My computer is equipped with an All-in-Wonder Pro
card, which does have an unused IEEE connection of some sort, and it can
capture video. And I also have an empty slot on my motherboard, so I
could add an HDTV capture card, if such a thing is available. My
computer has a 250 Gbyte hard drive that I use solely for video editing
-- it's empty and available for whatever I might want to do.

But remember, I can't get over-the-air broadcasts. All my HDTV comes
via a digital cable box, from which the output to the TV monitor is
three wires -- RGB. Is there anything I can add to my computer, or any
device I can purchase for less than a king's ransom, that will take that
RGB output and turn it into a signal I can record and replay?

--
Bill Anderson

I am the Mighty Favog

magnulus wrote:

"Bill Anderson" wrote in message
...

Question 1: I've observed that much, if not most, of the programming I
receive on the HD network channels really isn't HDTV. Yes, many of the
evening network programs are in 16:9 HDTV and look gorgeous, but all the
local programming and a good bit of the network programming is 4:3 with
black bars on the sides. However, this 4:3 picture still looks better
than the same picture when I watch it on the regular (non-HDTV) channel;
it's sharper than a regular broadcast, but *not* as sharp as a genuine
HDTV broadcast. So why does the local TV seen on the HDTV channel
appear sharper than local TV on the regular cable channel, when it's
clearly not really HDTV?


Regular programming you'ld see on a studio monitor doesn't look like what
you'ld get with an antenna or even a cable transmission. It looses alot
because its analog and filtered down somewhat, you loose color and
resolution just sending it out analog- it picks up noise and the atmosphere
or cabling sucks up some of the information in the picture. Handling the
transmission digitally and with component cabling or DVI produces better
images, even if its not really "high definition". In short, even the
digital channels that aren't doing HDTV will look better than regular TV.


Question 2: What's the deal with ESPND? Most of their programming is
regular 4:3 stretched to 16:9 -- everybody looks short and fat. Only
occasionally, when there's a special broadcast of an NFL game (like the
Steelers/Ravens game I'm watching now), do I see a true HDTV picture on
ESPND.


Because they are retards who think people actually like watching it that
way. If they don't have the content available, they should just do what the
networks do, "pillar box" for the bits they don't have in widescreen. I'm
not a big sports fan, so I just took it out of my channel listing for Direct
TV. If I wanted to watch a sports game, CBS looks alot better anyways.


Question 3: How long will we have to wait until most of what we see on
TV is HDTV?


10-20 years. Some shows may never be high definition. It's possible too
that they might have a mixed standard... only a few shows in high definition
during prime time, with multicasting during the daytime. See the end for an
explanation of the "why".


I know many old TV shows will never be available in HD, but
many of them can be. If they were originally recorded on film, they can
be shown in HDTV, can't they? I mean, HDNet occasionally shows Hogan's
Heroes in HD, so why not others?


Hogan's Heroes has been "pan and scanned" and zoomed for a 16:9 screen
using a film master, then converted to HDTV. It actually looks very good
for the most part.


Will we ever see, for example, I Love
Lucy in HD?


Maybe. Purists I think would want to see the show "pillar boxed" (like a
letterbox, but sideways with grey or black bars), but they could possibly do
a "pan and scan" version like with Hogan's Heroes. The only problem is
black and white is probably going to look very "dated", who knows if the ADD
Playstation generation will put up with that?

Some shows or episodes filmed on videotape will be impossible to do really
high resolution versions with alot of detail. At best they will probably
use a sophisticated video scaler and processing to reformat the images and
possibly sharpen and balance the color/contrast etc., but the picture will
look softer than HD.

Don't quote me on this, but I think that a show like Star Trek: The Next
Generation, all that's left that are readily available are essentially
digital tape masters of NTSC/DVD quality. So you might not get a much
better picture than you'ld get off satellite.


Are the local stations in a grace period now, waiting until
the day they'll show local news and such in true 16:9 HDTV?



Get ready for a shock...

By law they don't have to show HDTV at all. HDTV isn't an ATSC/FCC
requirement in the US. They just have to show at least one channel of 480i
material equivalent in quality to an NTSC broadcast. The rest of the
bandwith they can do whatever they want with (almost). Have crappy shopping
channels, whatever...



Thanks for the responses -- they make a lot of sense. I wouldn't have
guessed Hogan's Heroes has been zoomed, but then I haven't actually
watched enough of it to notice. It never has been one of my favorites,
though these days I find myself preferring High Definition crap over
regular TV crap. The only big disappointment in what you've told me is
that info about local TV choosing not to broadcast in HDTV. You know,
if one of the locals were to go HDTV, that would be the only channel I'd
watch for local news, etc. Surely some day a local station will catch
on to the fact that there are lots of HDTV watchers around here.

I intended to ask one more question, but I hit the send button too soon.
Like a lot of people, I suppose, I want to record some of the HDTV
shows I've seen. But my cable box doesn't offer the connection that
apparently is required for recording HDTV on commercially available HD
VCRs. (IEEE 1394? Firewire? Whatever -- it's not on my cable box.)
So what can I do? My computer is equipped with an All-in-Wonder Pro
card, which does have an unused IEEE connection of some sort, and it can
capture video. And I also have an empty slot on my motherboard, so I
could add an HDTV capture card, if such a thing is available. My
computer has a 250 Gbyte hard drive that I use solely for video editing
-- it's empty and available for whatever I might want to do.

But remember, I can't get over-the-air broadcasts. All my HDTV comes
via a digital cable box, from which the output to the TV monitor is
three wires -- RGB. Is there anything I can add to my computer, or any
device I can purchase for less than a king's ransom, that will take that
RGB output and turn it into a signal I can record and replay?

--
Bill Anderson

I am the Mighty Favog

"Bill Anderson" wrote in message
...

The only big disappointment in what you've told me is
that info about local TV choosing not to broadcast in HDTV.

Huh? I never said that, I just said they aren't required to do so. Many
do broadcast their primetime in HDTV- it doesn't cost them much because its
part of the process of making masters for their DVD releases, and since they
have nothing better to do with the bandwith (yet), they might as well show
HDTV (from their viewpoint). The only thing that the ATSC does is create a
standard set of resolutions and an off-air modulation scheme that all future
TV's must receive and display in some form. Digital cable and satellite
services are digital already (although it could be argued wheather some
digital cable is really NTSC quality; by law I'm not sure they have to be),
but the digital transition is all about freeing up airwaves and increasing
the efficiency so they can be used for other, more profitable uses (such as
cellular), and to do that you need every TV set out their to have off-air
digital receivers... even if only a small percentage of the population will
actually need to use them.

Now, if nobody broadcasting anything in HDTV in the US... it might have
gotten the government involved because they are counting on early adopters
buying HDTV sets to watch HDTV programs, to drive down the cost of digital
off-air receivers. So perhaps they are putting out HDTV content to stay on
the good graces of the FCC?

You know,
if one of the locals were to go HDTV, that would be the only channel I'd
watch for local news, etc. Surely some day a local station will catch
on to the fact that there are lots of HDTV watchers around here.


I'm not sure there's a compelling reason yet to have HDTV widescreen news,
and certainly there would be alot of costs involved to switch everything
around (some station in NC does indeed have their news in HD widescreen).
In the future I could see the costs comming down, but news will probably be
the last thing to go high definition, if it ever does.

All my HDTV comes
via a digital cable box, from which the output to the TV monitor is
three wires -- RGB. Is there anything I can add to my computer, or any
device I can purchase for less than a king's ransom, that will take that
RGB output and turn it into a signal I can record and replay?


By RGB, I assume you mean red, green, and blue type cables? That would be
component cables and its different from RGB/VGA you get on a computer. RGB
actually has three seperate colors, plus vertical and horizontal sync.
Component has one cable as luminance (black and white), and the other two
cables contain the difference of blue and red from the original signal, so
it figures out the colors using a matrix scheme of sorts, whereas a PC's VGA
is purely color with various ranges of intensity (ie, full blue, red, and
green makes white).

I don't know of any consumer-level PCI cards that can capture component
output and compress it into digital data- the processing required would make
a typical high-end PC look anemic. The Japanese made a VCR (W-VHS) years ago
that could capture high resolution component video and record it in an
analog format, similar to VHS VCR's but with more bandwith and some clever
tricks. Needless to say, they cost thousands of dollars and aren't widely
available in the US.

If the local HD channels off the cable are unscrambled, I think you might
be able to get them recorded to a hard drive via one of the HDTV PCI cards
that have QAM modulation (which isn't uncommon, usually its a coax connector
on the back called "cable" you plug into the cable outlet). Price is
160-300 dollars. I doubt any of them will pick up scrambled channels. MyHD
seems to be a popular card with a good reputation. I have a Fusion II HDTV
card. It works well enough to actually receive the channels, but the
software is buggy, however recording works OK. As I don't have cable,
though, I have never tried plugging it in and seeing what happens- I just
use an indoor antenna with it. So further research on your part might be
required.

The HDTV cards have VCR-like functions, some of them also have Tivo-type
pause if you start recording. An hour long show is 10GB.

If your set-top-box has a non-HD video out of some sort (a composite or
s-video) that's always on you can hook up a regular VCR or DVD recorder and
you can record a downconverted recording, otherwise you have to switch the
box's output to the particular input to which the VCR is connected.

Some time next year a PVR/receiver combination box that can record HDTV is
suppossed to be comming out. As competition between cable and satellite is
heating up, I'd imagine that cable companies will eventually provide them to
costumors.

"Bill Anderson" wrote in message
...

The only big disappointment in what you've told me is
that info about local TV choosing not to broadcast in HDTV.

Huh? I never said that, I just said they aren't required to do so. Many
do broadcast their primetime in HDTV- it doesn't cost them much because its
part of the process of making masters for their DVD releases, and since they
have nothing better to do with the bandwith (yet), they might as well show
HDTV (from their viewpoint). The only thing that the ATSC does is create a
standard set of resolutions and an off-air modulation scheme that all future
TV's must receive and display in some form. Digital cable and satellite
services are digital already (although it could be argued wheather some
digital cable is really NTSC quality; by law I'm not sure they have to be),
but the digital transition is all about freeing up airwaves and increasing
the efficiency so they can be used for other, more profitable uses (such as
cellular), and to do that you need every TV set out their to have off-air
digital receivers... even if only a small percentage of the population will
actually need to use them.

Now, if nobody broadcasting anything in HDTV in the US... it might have
gotten the government involved because they are counting on early adopters
buying HDTV sets to watch HDTV programs, to drive down the cost of digital
off-air receivers. So perhaps they are putting out HDTV content to stay on
the good graces of the FCC?

You know,
if one of the locals were to go HDTV, that would be the only channel I'd
watch for local news, etc. Surely some day a local station will catch
on to the fact that there are lots of HDTV watchers around here.


I'm not sure there's a compelling reason yet to have HDTV widescreen news,
and certainly there would be alot of costs involved to switch everything
around (some station in NC does indeed have their news in HD widescreen).
In the future I could see the costs comming down, but news will probably be
the last thing to go high definition, if it ever does.

All my HDTV comes
via a digital cable box, from which the output to the TV monitor is
three wires -- RGB. Is there anything I can add to my computer, or any
device I can purchase for less than a king's ransom, that will take that
RGB output and turn it into a signal I can record and replay?


By RGB, I assume you mean red, green, and blue type cables? That would be
component cables and its different from RGB/VGA you get on a computer. RGB
actually has three seperate colors, plus vertical and horizontal sync.
Component has one cable as luminance (black and white), and the other two
cables contain the difference of blue and red from the original signal, so
it figures out the colors using a matrix scheme of sorts, whereas a PC's VGA
is purely color with various ranges of intensity (ie, full blue, red, and
green makes white).

I don't know of any consumer-level PCI cards that can capture component
output and compress it into digital data- the processing required would make
a typical high-end PC look anemic. The Japanese made a VCR (W-VHS) years ago
that could capture high resolution component video and record it in an
analog format, similar to VHS VCR's but with more bandwith and some clever
tricks. Needless to say, they cost thousands of dollars and aren't widely
available in the US.

If the local HD channels off the cable are unscrambled, I think you might
be able to get them recorded to a hard drive via one of the HDTV PCI cards
that have QAM modulation (which isn't uncommon, usually its a coax connector
on the back called "cable" you plug into the cable outlet). Price is
160-300 dollars. I doubt any of them will pick up scrambled channels. MyHD
seems to be a popular card with a good reputation. I have a Fusion II HDTV
card. It works well enough to actually receive the channels, but the
software is buggy, however recording works OK. As I don't have cable,
though, I have never tried plugging it in and seeing what happens- I just
use an indoor antenna with it. So further research on your part might be
required.

The HDTV cards have VCR-like functions, some of them also have Tivo-type
pause if you start recording. An hour long show is 10GB.

If your set-top-box has a non-HD video out of some sort (a composite or
s-video) that's always on you can hook up a regular VCR or DVD recorder and
you can record a downconverted recording, otherwise you have to switch the
box's output to the particular input to which the VCR is connected.

Some time next year a PVR/receiver combination box that can record HDTV is
suppossed to be comming out. As competition between cable and satellite is
heating up, I'd imagine that cable companies will eventually provide them to
costumors.