Hello all, this is my first post here.
The FX1 manual says that recording TV onto the camera is only possible in DV mode. It does not mention anything about HD. Are they simply saying that your camera cannot be in HDV mode to capture SD material? I'd like to know if it's possible to record 1080i/720p stuff through an HDTV's S-video out (or the firewire out on an HD box) with the camera in HDV. I don't see why it couldn't be done on unencrypted over-the-air HD broadcasts. Have any of you FX-1/Z1U owners tried to do this?
Thanks for any help

You can't record HD via the component or s-video ports. You can record in HD via Firewire (as you would when sending edited video from your computer back to the camera). I don't know how compatible this would be with home theatre equipment with firewire interfaces. As you mention, there may be some filter which blocks commercial content from being recorded.

Oh that's right, I forgot S-Vid is also analog. By law the free OTA programming cannot be encrypted and that's all I'm interested in recording. Thanks for the input. It looks like I'm screwed, I'd have to find an HDTV with a built-in IEEE 1394 output to record the OTA signal. That ain't happening.

You can get an ATI All In Wonder HD Card for your computer to capture off the air programing. I've had it for a year, and the latest versions of drivers make it pretty clean. I haven't tried using the recordings in an editor yet, but at least you can record...

Chris

Yeah looks like that's my last option. Does the card have any basic HD editing software or will I have to upgrade to Premiere Pro 1.5? What if I connect an HD box to the TV's composite output and record thru the box's firewire out? Are the composite outs a dealbreaker? Will it automatically downconvert it to SD?

In my opinion, the ATI All-in-Wonder HD cards are less than great (and I'm being kind.) I have evaluated all the HDTV PC cards and the MyHD MDP-130 is far and away the best.

http://www.digitalconnection.com/Products/Video/mdp130.asp

John

We'd all wish for a "magic box" that could convert raw ATSC data from 1 end via IEEE 1394 and comes out as HDV 1080i the other end via IEEE 1394. This would be great for HVR-M10 users who would like to use their M10 as a HD Tivo alternative.