Use laptop as PVR? Attention Keith clark

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Question for you Keith:

Is it possible to use a laptop as a PVR?

Is that what Hauppauge's USB device is for in link
below?

http://tinyurl.com/53e99

If yes..... does it work well with any laptop?

 

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me6@privacy.net wrote:

> Question for you Keith:
>
> Is it possible to use a laptop as a PVR?
>

I see no technical reason why not, assuming you have a laptop made in
the last year or two and a reasonable capture device.

Keep in mind I have absolutely no experience with the Hauppauge device
in your link.


>
> Is that what Hauppauge's USB device is for in link
> below?
>
> http://tinyurl.com/53e99
>
> If yes..... does it work well with any laptop?

You realize that's a really loaded question, don't you? ;-> LOL! I
would never answer "yes" to a question like that...

It requires *USB2*, so make sure your laptop has USB2 (if it's fairly
recent then it should be fine).

Just remember mpeg-2 takes a TON of hard drive space. 3.3 GB per hour is
what I end up with. That's relatively slow compared to DV, so I would
expect it's in the realm of possibility.

You need XP-Pro or Win2K so you can use NTFS formatted hard drive.

And you need a good PVR program that supports the Hauppauge USB device.
Sorry Hauppauge, but personally I think Hauppauge software is garbage
(although I respect their hardware quality).

 

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>I'm very happy with Snapstream (BeyondTV) and the PVR-250 card (I now have
>two PVR-250's installed and am considering adding a third).

Wow Keith..... THREE 250 cards?!

Are these all gonna be in the same PC? Or spread out
among several PCs?

Also..... do you do THAT much time shifting of TV
shows?

Just curious....

 

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me6@privacy.net wrote:

> >I'm very happy with Snapstream (BeyondTV) and the PVR-250 card (I now have
> >two PVR-250's installed and am considering adding a third).
>
> Wow Keith..... THREE 250 cards?!
>
> Are these all gonna be in the same PC? Or spread out
> among several PCs?
>
> Also..... do you do THAT much time shifting of TV
> shows?
>
> Just curious....

In one machine. Not so much myself, but often my wife and daughter have
conflicting ideas of what should be recorded (we timeshift *everything* so we
don't have to suffer through commercials).

 

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> Is it possible to use a laptop as a PVR?

Any laptop with built-in TV tuner and Windows Media Edition will do
this --eg. the Sony GRX series, the Toshiba P25 series, etc.

These all come with remote controls, the usual Windows Media Center
for recording and playing TV shows, etc.

Really can't be any easier for an out-of-box setup....

> Is that what Hauppauge's USB device is for in link
> below?

Otherwise, any available USB/PCMCIA device that works with
SnapStream, MythTV, etc. will do the same.

Some, like the ATI TV Wonder USB 2.0 model
(http://ati.com/products/tvwonderusb20/index.html) have everything you
need to PVR right away.

 

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In article <4120E2EC.E5884266@hotmail.com>, clarkphotography@hotmail.com
says...
> I'm using GB-PVR as a front-end/server for my MediaMVP only. It leaves a lot
> to be desired but it's better than the Hauppauge software.
>
> I'm very happy with Snapstream (BeyondTV) and the PVR-250 card (I now have
> two PVR-250's installed and am considering adding a third).
>
> Most people on the Snapstream forums agree that picture quality (on analog
> TV) from the PVR-250 & BeyondTV is better than what we can get using the
> tuners built in to our TV sets.
>
> Using a regular graphics card for TV-out, the BeyondTV on-screen displays are
> awesome. The 3.5 beta is even adding slick new features in the last couple of
> builds. 3.5 is going to be really nice when it's released (in my opinion,
> anyway).
>
> Keith
>
>

Does Beyond-TV use Zap2it for program guide information yet? I wish
they would support the 350's decoder. That's what GB-PVR has going fo
right right now.
--
_________________________
Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
http://www.ramsays-online.com

 

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Chris Phillipo wrote:

> In article <4120E2EC.E5884266@hotmail.com>, clarkphotography@hotmail.com
> says...
> > I'm using GB-PVR as a front-end/server for my MediaMVP only. It leaves a lot
> > to be desired but it's better than the Hauppauge software.
> >
> > I'm very happy with Snapstream (BeyondTV) and the PVR-250 card (I now have
> > two PVR-250's installed and am considering adding a third).
> >
> > Most people on the Snapstream forums agree that picture quality (on analog
> > TV) from the PVR-250 & BeyondTV is better than what we can get using the
> > tuners built in to our TV sets.
> >
> > Using a regular graphics card for TV-out, the BeyondTV on-screen displays are
> > awesome. The 3.5 beta is even adding slick new features in the last couple of
> > builds. 3.5 is going to be really nice when it's released (in my opinion,
> > anyway).
> >
> > Keith
> >
> >
>
> Does Beyond-TV use Zap2it for program guide information yet? I wish
> they would support the 350's decoder. That's what GB-PVR has going fo
> right right now.
> --
> _________________________
> Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
> http://www.ramsays-online.com

No, BeyondTV uses their own guide, although you can specify an "external" guide.

The nice thing about using Snapstream's guide is that it enables you to do "remote
scheduling", from any web browser. If I have to unexpectedly work late on Monday
night for example, I can simply get on the web and set the game to record so I
won't miss anything.

 

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> Any laptop with built-in TV tuner and Windows Media Edition will do
>this --eg. the Sony GRX series, the Toshiba P25 series, etc.

Cool!

I didn't realize that some laptops come with al this
stuff built in!

That would be a good solution, wouldn't it?

 

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> > > Keith
> > >
> > >
> >
> > Does Beyond-TV use Zap2it for program guide information yet? I wish
> > they would support the 350's decoder. That's what GB-PVR has going fo
> > right right now.
> > --
> > _________________________
> > Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
> > http://www.ramsays-online.com
>
> No, BeyondTV uses their own guide, although you can specify an "external" guide.
>
> The nice thing about using Snapstream's guide is that it enables you to do "remote
> scheduling", from any web browser. If I have to unexpectedly work late on Monday
> night for example, I can simply get on the web and set the game to record so I
> won't miss anything.
>
>

You can do that in GBPVR also now although I don't have a USB-UIRT yet
so it can't change the channel on my satelite receiver, as I recall when
I asked snaptream last they did not have lisings for Canadian satelite.
Do they have a demo out of the lastest release you can try now?
--
_________________________
Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
http://www.ramsays-online.com

 

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Chris Phillipo wrote:

> > > > Keith
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > > Does Beyond-TV use Zap2it for program guide information yet? I wish
> > > they would support the 350's decoder. That's what GB-PVR has going fo
> > > right right now.
> > > --
> > > _________________________
> > > Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
> > > http://www.ramsays-online.com
> >
> > No, BeyondTV uses their own guide, although you can specify an "external" guide.
> >
> > The nice thing about using Snapstream's guide is that it enables you to do "remote
> > scheduling", from any web browser. If I have to unexpectedly work late on Monday
> > night for example, I can simply get on the web and set the game to record so I
> > won't miss anything.
> >
> >
>
> You can do that in GBPVR also now although I don't have a USB-UIRT yet
> so it can't change the channel on my satelite receiver, as I recall when
> I asked snaptream last they did not have lisings for Canadian satelite.
> Do they have a demo out of the lastest release you can try now?
> --
> _________________________
> Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
> http://www.ramsays-online.com

They have a demo of version 3.4... I don't know about satellite listings.