• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

do you use your computer as a vcr?

D

draggoon01

Senior member
if so, what is your setup/method? i'm pretty unhappy with mine, and wanted to see if there were better ways out there.

for hardware, although it's been asked tons of times, what card are you using. what signal are you capturing from (cable, dish, etc)

for software, what program do you use to capture, what compression do you use, if you re-encode what compression do you use then

to answer my own post:
i have cable, and tried ati tv wonder, radeon all in wonder, and wintv go. in all instances i found that capturing through the tuner gave inferior quality to using a vcr and capturing through video input. this has made timed recording an annoying task (setting vcr to channel) and not practical if there's more than 1 show i want to record on different channels. as a result i end up just using my vcr for timed recording and capture off tape. i capture using avi_io mjpg, then re-encode using virtualdub divx5 (with some filters to compensate for using tape). i have since stuck with wintv go since i only need a video input card and not so much a tuner card.

i suppose people who have satellite have to go through same hassel of setting channel. any of you out there? is that what you do?

if i had the money i'd just get a replaytv and upload the shows i want to keep to my pc.
 
I've time shifted for years with my two SVHS VCR's with quite accepatable results. I just bought a TV/FM tuner/capture card, the LEADTEK WINFAST "DELUXE" TV2000XP TV/FM MULTIMEDIA CARD, but haven't installed it yet, much less started playing with it. This card will let you schedule digital recording of TV programs and it includes the software. There's an extensive thread on the card in the Anandtech Forums here.
 
Aside from continually updating (wanting to, at least) my main PC, my next project is to build a home theater PC. With the advent of HDTV, I have yet found a solution that would work today for a reasonable price, with little to no upgrade costs to support HDTV.

You really, really, really need to visit the HTPC forums at www.avsforum.com. Your life will change. The photo galleries are very nice as well.

-SUO
 
No. I tried to use my VCR as a computer though and it didn't work as planned. Mitsubishi lied about the "cable mouse". Damn them! :|

Cheers!
 
Originally posted by: SUOrangeman
Aside from continually updating (wanting to, at least) my main PC, my next project is to build a home theater PC. With the advent of HDTV, I have yet found a solution that would work today for a reasonable price, with little to no upgrade costs to support HDTV.

You really, really, really need to visit the HTPC forums at www.avsforum.com. Your life will change. The photo galleries are very nice as well.

-SUO
Click to expand...
Hey hey, SUOrangeman! I am now building my "home theater PC", and it's Baby Rigzilla in my sig. Today ordered NEC FP2141XB-BK 22" monitor (yup, not going to buy my HDTV monitor for a while), and have a new as-yet uninstalled BFG Asylum Ti4200 video card. My new JBL NSP-1 II speakers are still in the box and my DLS 10" 100 watt powered subwoofer is on backorder and should be hear in less than a month. My new Leadtek TVWinfast Delux TV/FM capture card also, as yet uninstalled. Not a hell of a lot I can do until the monitor comes next week (with my 14" B&W monitor, that's really a 12" in Windows 2000 ! Also need to order an A/V receiver and am leaning to the Kenwood VR-6070. Need a DVD player, too. Probably just order a Liteon online.

 
You could try using software from Snapstream. Not only can you set recording times, once you capture the video you can export it to your pocketPC device or stream it over the internet to your desk during lunch. Because this is software dependent encoding, make sure you have a decent box before using the software.
 
I got a Hauppage WinTV-PVR-PCI on the forums. It's nice because it does the MPEG2 encoding in hardware - this gives a very low CPU performance hit. It doesn't do decoding in hardware though; that can be left to the CPU, or maybe a PCI-addin card if you want to use one. It seems that Hauppage has ditched the PVR-PCI and is devoting a lot of its resources to the WinTV-PVR 350. That card does everything in hardware, and has TV outputs. I hope to give that a try eventually.

Anyway, my recording methods:
I record to MPEG2, 8Mbit Variable Bit Rate off of cable TV. I use the included software - WinTV2000 and the scheduler. It is adequate, but it could stand to have a few more frills. If I re-encode, I use Vidomi to edit the files and then encode to Xvid - it's basically Divx, only Xvid is an open source format - no licensing fees or anything to pay to get advanced features.🙂

If I do get the PVR-350, I will want a DVD writer to go with it; then I'll need different editing software - something that does a good job of editing MPEG2, output back to MPEG2, and deinterlace, crop and resize as well.
 
i actually use my computer as a dvr. i have a cctv security system running on it. it doesnt record movies. just clips of people entering on my property.
 
I went ahead and bought the new asus tuner card. No idea if it's great, but forums have only said positive things about it, supposedly it's quality is way better than the older generation cards. I'll give a report once it's here in a week or so.
 
Originally posted by: ShowdOWN
i actually use my computer as a dvr. i have a cctv security system running on it. it doesnt record movies. just clips of people entering on my property.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I was tripping on ideas like this. Seems to me that computer technology, yes even what we have today, is the future of security. You could monitor who might be invading your property (inside and out) from any location via the Internet. You could hear what's going on via microphones. Oh, man, it's enough to make you paranoid just to think about it! LOL 😀
 
a lot of business owners monitor their businesses from home or vacation when they are too lazy to come to work.
these things can do motion detection recording too, so you dont waste your time reviewing trees swaying or a cat running around.
 
i already have two vcrs, one connected to the pc through a tv card. only dabbled with pvr on pc when i needed 3 programs at once,n but that happens like never🙂 pc not good as vcr. vcr dirt cheap, tapes dirt cheap. i just stack the vcr on its side beside the tower.

if u want to record your favorite show which would you trust more? 🙂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top