Encoding Digital TV

Ok, so it took me a while... I finally realised that because the HTPC is going to be all about digital TV, I dont need an encoder card. I guess I was still buzzed by all the good reviews I read about the Haupage PVR-350 (which includes a hardware MPEG encoder because it is an analog TV card).

Digital TV is already digitally encoded (Duh!) so the data stream is simply written directly to the disk.

Still, a hardware MPEG encoder might be useful for transcoding into other MPEG formats, but the dual core CPU should be able to handle that without assistance.

Im still learning about video and the various codecs and formats, and it is all starting to fall into place. I have a lot of experience with Linux (since 1991) and computers in general (since 1979) but video is something I havnt played with before.

Ive been shopping, and will post more on that soon.