BeyondTV Question

[isekii]

I'm currently using guideplus+ that came with my AIW.

is there a better alternative ?

What are some of the other ones you guys are using ?



Does it usually lag when switching channels ? I get like a 1 sec delay each time I switch channels.

is this normal ?

this is in a ATI X800XL AIW

 

[TechnoPro]

Beyond TV 4. Excellent program.

 

[isekii]

yea im checking it out.

why is it so expensive.
it's 70 bucks for the beyond tv 4. 80 bucks for the download + back up cd.

how is the firefly remote ?

 

[TechnoPro]

Originally posted by: isekii
yea im checking it out.

why is it so expensive.
it's 70 bucks for the beyond tv 4. 80 bucks for the download + back up cd.

how is the firefly remote ?

I'll be the first to turn to freeware or open source... But this is worth the money. I paid $130 for the Hauppage 150 tuner + Beyond TV software + Firefly remote, so that standalone price seems steep.

Why is it good? I consider Tivo to be the bar-setting standard. For me, this is better than Tivo. BT4 has a clean, easy interface, is rock solid, and has all the watching, time-shifting, and recording functionality a person could want. No DRM, and the MPEG-2 captures can be compressed down into Divx for transfer to portable devices.

I have played with Media-Portal, Windows MCE, and the Winfast 2000XP software. This beats all of them.

The remote is great mainly because it's an RF remote, not IR. So there's no range issues, and no aiming. Decent ergonomics. Can do a lot of things beyond flipping channels, like move your mouse. I know some don't like this, but it has it's uses. Persoanlly, I would be all over the Firefly mini if it was RF based. But that's just me, I like simplistic remotes.

 

[isekii]

well i just looked into beyond tv and it's not an option for me

doesn't support aiw x800xl yet

 

[TechnoPro]

Originally posted by: isekii
well i just looked into beyond tv and it's not an option for me

doesn't support aiw x800xl yet

Looks to me like it does: link.

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: TechnoPro

Originally posted by: isekii
well i just looked into beyond tv and it's not an option for me

doesn't support aiw x800xl yet

Looks to me like it does: link.

nice.

let me try it out again.
fvck i thought the aiw were hardware based encoders

 

[isekii]

up

 

[brtspears2]

Im using a Rage Theater 550 with BTV4. Yes, there is lag between channel changes, mainly due to from the live tv needing to cache to allow you to rewind/ff/pause. I usually never watch live tv, as I only watch whatever I timeshift. BTV works great with the ATI Remote Wonder (I use the Plus model). The stock ATI software (Cyberlink whatever) is horrible and there is no comparison to BTV.

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: brtspears2
Im using a Rage Theater 550 with BTV4. Yes, there is lag between channel changes, mainly due to from the live tv needing to cache to allow you to rewind/ff/pause. I usually never watch live tv, as I only watch whatever I timeshift. BTV works great with the ATI Remote Wonder (I use the Plus model). The stock ATI software (Cyberlink whatever) is horrible and there is no comparison to BTV.

icic. I thought it was because mine uses a software encoder. I guess the hardware based encoder cards do the same thing.

I'm wondering if I switch to the Hauppauge PVR-150 if that would lag as well in switching channels.

I haven't had the chance to install my remote wonder yet, but If the recording and what not works well with beyond tv, i'll most likely purchase the upgrade.

Do you know anything about mythTV ? is that free ?

What's nice is BeyondTV can directly encode to divx. is there a way to skip the recording of commercials automatically with beyondtv ?

Finally, the tv output doesn't look too great. Is it cuz it's analog? I was hoping the quality would be a bit better, but I guess I've been kinda spoiled by Satellite.

 

[ChefJoe]

BeyondTV has to scan through the recording to determine where the commercials are before it removes them. I get my mpg-2 recordings scanned (it's called Smartskip) and then just push "forward" to skip them. I think there's also a way to automatically cut out the commercials but detection isn't 100% perfect (it's like 95%) so I don't do that.