Using a PVR to record the Tour

byron27 said:

I am looking at buying a PVR though am unsure how easy it is to then
plug it into my computer and burn the file to DVD (or even if it is
possible).

The two real options in Oz at the moment are an off the shelf hard disk &
DVD recorder or a build it yourself using Windows Media Center or Linux &&
MythTV. I've had a myth box since last tour and it works a treat, but it's
noticeably a PC next to the TV. That said, a decent case doesn't look that
ugly, and it's a lot more useful than an off the shelf one because I can
add more tuners if I want, but mainly because I tell it to tape Dr Who and
it does all the hard work of figuring out when that's on.

The downside to roll your own ones is there's a fair bit more upfront
work, but that's offset by much less ongoing stuff. They're also better
for watching material that may be entirely legally downloaded that's in a
format that the off the shelf players don't like.

With basic hardware it's not too hard, but there are some gotchas. I know
nussing about Media Centre.

--
Dave Hughes | [email hidden]
Never go off on tangents, which are lines that intersect a curve at
only one point and were discovered by Euclid, who lived in the 6th
century, which was an era dominated by the Goths, who lived in what
we now know as Poland." - Nov. 1998 issue of Infosystems Executive.

byron27 said:

This is kind of cycling related, as i will be using it to record the Tour. 😄

I am looking at buying a PVR though am unsure how easy it is to then plug it into my computer and burn the file to DVD (or even if it is possible).

Is it an easy venture or would i be better off buying a DVD recorder with a hard drive?

1) PVR = go to shop, go home with box, setup and start watching/recording

PC (there are 2 options)
2) Go to PC shop, I want a HTPC running Windows MCE (Vista or XP), comes with remote, go home install PC/plug into TV via HDMI/DVI or analgue (RGB/component), plug aerial into TV Tuner in PC, configure MCE. Slightly longer/more expensive the PVR depending on system configuration and how good you are at configuring/installing PC

3) Myself playing with Custom PC as hobby for last 3 years, I have a high end case which can have 4 hard drives and I upgrade components as I need to. I use a custom App to view TV and Web based APP for scheduling from home or from anywhere while I am not at home via Web. Record/Watch/TimeShift/PnP and I want to burn to DVD to pass onto other people so they can watch via MediaPlayer or whatever.

From the sounds of it I would suggest for you a PVR by the sounds of it, be warned getting into the Custom case/tinkering side of things can become expensive and frustrating at times!

I know the PC's they sell of the shelf these are pretty good and a lot of the hard work with compatibility and stuff is done for you, for example the HP media centre PC's are VERY good.

Media Centre itself is ok... very nice interface, however, if you are in an area where TV reception can be bad you will get frustrated with signal loss issues, especially on the Digital TV side if your antenna is not tuned correctly for Digital TV.

The positive is SBS for has always be ROCK solid for Digital TV reception for "ME". So there is A lot you need to consider, hence why PVR might be the way to go, to get you running.

MikeyOz said:

The positive is SBS for has always be ROCK solid for Digital TV
reception for "ME". So there is A lot you need to consider, hence why
PVR might be the way to go, to get you running.

So while we're on Dig TV for dummies, I don't have a dig TV so if I want
to use a PVR do I need a top set box?

DaveB

On Jul 2, 2:32 pm, byron27 <byron27.2t2...@no-

mx.forums.cyclingforums.com said:

This is kind of cycling related, as i will be using it to record the
Tour. 😄

I am looking at buying a PVR though am unsure how easy it is to then
plug it into my computer and burn the file to DVD (or even if it is
possible).

Is it an easy venture or would i be better off buying a DVD recorder
with a hard drive?

most PVR's (certainly not the cheap ones) use a proprietary disk/file
format and dno't let you upload the recorded data.

DaveB said:

So while we're on Dig TV for dummies, I don't have a dig TV so if I want
to use a PVR do I need a top set box?
DaveB

Digital TV just means the Digital TV signal that is being transmitted, you can still use an old analogue TV to watch Digital TV as long as the device receiving the signal has analogue ouputs e.g s-video or component video/scart.

A lot/(most ???) PVR's come with a TV Tuner in them, so no you would NOT need to have a set top box. You would plug your current aerial into the back of the PVR and it would decode the Digital signal, and then out to your TV via what ever connection you are using. Topfield do very good PVR's.

Again though Digital TV is very different to analogue in terms of reception, antenna's often time need to be tuned and directed differently to receive the signal correctly we found that out, eventually! So depending on where you are you can have issues with digital TV reception.

you can find good information here

dba.org.auindex.aspOpen ↗

Duncan said:

most PVR's (certainly not the cheap ones) use a proprietary disk/file
format and dno't let you upload the recorded data.

Mytharchive is your friend, and myth is arguably the cheapest of the lot.

--
Dave Hughes | [email hidden]
"Did you know God had a plan for you?"
"Does it involve a high-powered rifle and a belltower?"

Dave said:

Duncan said:

most PVR's (certainly not the cheap ones) use a proprietary disk/file
format and dno't let you upload the recorded data.

Mytharchive is your friend, and myth is arguably the cheapest of the lot.

yes.. but it is not an off-the-shelf PVR.

There are a couple of PVR's that have network capabilities - I think TEAC have (had?) one, Topfield and Beyonwiz(spelling?) were another 2 that had either ethernet or wireless capabilities.

-Ash

Just got 'em my DigitalTV and plugged in my EyeTV. All up $240

too easy, too cheap.. IceTV makes it all to easy too. Managed to book in the TdF stages for recording already!

flyingdutch said:

Just got 'em my DigitalTV and plugged in my EyeTV. All up $240

too easy, too cheap.. IceTV makes it all to easy too. Managed to book in the TdF stages for recording already!

Everything I have got for my HTPC setup was all great, but it never really worked well until I subscribed to IceTV about a year ago, consistent reliable EPG information, the best you can get in Australia at the moment and they survived Channel 9 trying to sue them for having the audacity for publishing Free to Air EPG information, the cheek!

MikeyOz said:

flyingdutch Wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

too easy, too cheap.. IceTV makes it all to easy too. Managed to book
in the TdF stages for recording already!

Thanks Dutchy, I'd forgotten I'd rebuilt some stuff since last year so
"tape anything TDF" wasn't there anymore. Fixed!

Quoted message said:

Everything I have got for my HTPC setup was all great, but it never
really worked well until I subscribed to IceTV about a year ago,
consistent reliable EPG information, the best you can get in Australia
at the moment

I looked at Ice, but couldn't front up for $100+ each year. There is a
free alternative that seems to be working fine for me. Austivo is the
search term, since I can't be arsed logging into the myth box to find out
the URL.

--
Dave Hughes | [email hidden]
Good Night Wesley, see you tomorrow.
I'll most likely kill you in the morning

Dave said:

I looked at Ice, but couldn't front up for $100+ each year. There is a
free alternative that seems to be working fine for me. Austivo is the
search term, since I can't be arsed logging into the myth box to find out
the URL.

Yep, I know of and have used the free ones... but just wait until the one time you set something to record, its been changed and it does not get recorded and your wife smacks you over the head with the Remote Control, because she did not get the last episode of Brothers & Sisters or some other c&$p!!

IceTV I have found is the only one reliable enough to pick up the changes in the schedules.

Duncan said:

most PVR's (certainly not the cheap ones) use a proprietary disk/file
format and dno't let you upload the recorded data.

Topfields (at least the 5000s) have a USB interface. You can download a
program called altair to download programs to a windows machine. I'm not
sure what's available for OSX and Linux.

The topfield recording is a pvr file. There's free software called
projectx which can demux the pvr from which you can remux into mpg using
something like mplex1 or convert to DVD using Mpeg2Schnitt and ifoedit
(I think). Recently I've just been remuxing to mpg - it's a while since
I went the DVD authoring route.

You're probably talking similar technical knowledge required to what you
need to set up a computer as a media centre. Free software is available
to import topfield recordings but it requires finding and downloading,
may be german, and may not be the most user friendly software out there
- but hey it works. The forums and FAQs on digital tv australia and the
topfield sites are necessary resources.

Paul