Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

The whole concept of using a PC for a DVR is escaping me. It seems that
a selection of software is required to get a decent result. There are
horror stories everywhere regarding video and audio getting out of sync.
I (like a lot of people) do not understand the MANY video formats that
are currently in use. Most frustrating of all, when I have tried to get
help with such simple questions, I get pointed to videohelp.com, which
is a wonderful site but is extremely overwhelming for a beginner.

All I want to do is record shows off of TV onto my hard drive and then
either 1) burn them to a DVD, or 2) transfer them to VHS. Is there a
reasonably price card that will do so, without all of the many problems?
Unlike audio, these consumer-level video capture and authoring products
do not appear to be ready for prime time. I'd appreciate some help,
clarification, and suggestions on a system that functions as described.
However, please don't send me to videohelp.com unless you give me a
static deep link. Every time I have been there on a suggestion (such as
which DVD player to buy that does not have Macrovision -- Answer:
Philips DVP642) I have been unable to locate the information suggested.

Thanks!

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

On Sat, 18 Sep 2004 18:22:18 GMT, mcp6453 <mcp6453@earthlink.net>
wrote:

>The whole concept of using a PC for a DVR is escaping me. It seems that
>a selection of software is required to get a decent result. There are
>horror stories everywhere regarding video and audio getting out of sync.
>I (like a lot of people) do not understand the MANY video formats that
>are currently in use. Most frustrating of all, when I have tried to get
>help with such simple questions, I get pointed to videohelp.com, which
>is a wonderful site but is extremely overwhelming for a beginner.
>
>All I want to do is record shows off of TV onto my hard drive and then
>either 1) burn them to a DVD, or 2) transfer them to VHS. Is there a
>reasonably price card that will do so, without all of the many problems?
>Unlike audio, these consumer-level video capture and authoring products
>do not appear to be ready for prime time. I'd appreciate some help,
>clarification, and suggestions on a system that functions as described.
>However, please don't send me to videohelp.com unless you give me a
>static deep link. Every time I have been there on a suggestion (such as
>which DVD player to buy that does not have Macrovision -- Answer:
>Philips DVP642) I have been unable to locate the information suggested.
>
>Thanks!
I use Hauppauge Win TV PVR USB2 with Sage TV....
I have recorded over 100 episodes of "That '70 Show" without any
problems... I used mpeg-vcr to edit out commercials and I use Vegas 5
if I want to add in my own stuff...
I use DVDA2 to create DVD's that have three show each...
All DVD's play fine and are in sync... very easy to do and very
reliable...quality of audio and video is excellent...
Glenn M



A GREAT DAY FOR FREEDOM...Pink Floyd

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

On Sat, 18 Sep 2004 18:22:18 GMT, mcp6453 <mcp6453@earthlink.net>
wrote:

>All I want to do is record shows off of TV onto my hard drive and then
>either 1) burn them to a DVD, or 2) transfer them to VHS.

There are infinite paths and alternatives to all this, but I shall
recommend you 2 of them which are easy to use and understand, and with
the best results:

1) Get a simple and cheap TV card -an Avermedia for instance-, and
capture as Huffyuv Avi. There should be no synchronization issues.
Avoid any sophisticated card that captures as mpeg -you've been
warned.

2) Trim your stuff with VirtualDub.

3) Encode to mpeg with Tmpgenc.

4) Author with Tmpgenc DVDAuthor.

Or

1) Get a desktop DVD player/recorder

2) Use DVD Decrypter in IFO mode (read it again: in IFO mode -you've
been warned) to bring your recordings to the harddrive.

3) Use mpeg-vcr or VideoReDo to trim your stuff.

4) Author with Tmpgenc DVDAuthor.

You can, of course, use other programs, but those above are well known
for success and ease of use.

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

In article <414C7D28.5DBA@earthlink.net>, mcp6453@earthlink.net says...
> The whole concept of using a PC for a DVR is escaping me. It seems that
> a selection of software is required to get a decent result. There are
> horror stories everywhere regarding video and audio getting out of sync.
> I (like a lot of people) do not understand the MANY video formats that
> are currently in use. Most frustrating of all, when I have tried to get
> help with such simple questions, I get pointed to videohelp.com, which
> is a wonderful site but is extremely overwhelming for a beginner.
>
> All I want to do is record shows off of TV onto my hard drive and then
> either 1) burn them to a DVD, or 2) transfer them to VHS. Is there a
> reasonably price card that will do so, without all of the many problems?
> Unlike audio, these consumer-level video capture and authoring products
> do not appear to be ready for prime time. I'd appreciate some help,
> clarification, and suggestions on a system that functions as described.
> However, please don't send me to videohelp.com unless you give me a
> static deep link. Every time I have been there on a suggestion (such as
> which DVD player to buy that does not have Macrovision -- Answer:
> Philips DVP642) I have been unable to locate the information suggested.
>
> Thanks!
>

Hauppage PVR-350, Sage TV. Just plug and play. You will never sit down
and watch a TV show while it's actually on again. If you use a cheaper
card you will have to learn a few things about tweaking to get the
desired results.
--
_________________________
Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
http://www.ramsays-online.com

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

mcp6453 wrote:

> The whole concept of using a PC for a DVR is escaping me. It seems that
> a selection of software is required to get a decent result. There are
> horror stories everywhere regarding video and audio getting out of sync.
> I (like a lot of people) do not understand the MANY video formats that
> are currently in use. Most frustrating of all, when I have tried to get
> help with such simple questions, I get pointed to videohelp.com, which
> is a wonderful site but is extremely overwhelming for a beginner.
>
> All I want to do is record shows off of TV onto my hard drive and then
> either 1) burn them to a DVD, or 2) transfer them to VHS. Is there a
> reasonably price card that will do so, without all of the many problems?
> Unlike audio, these consumer-level video capture and authoring products
> do not appear to be ready for prime time. I'd appreciate some help,
> clarification, and suggestions on a system that functions as described.
> However, please don't send me to videohelp.com unless you give me a
> static deep link. Every time I have been there on a suggestion (such as
> which DVD player to buy that does not have Macrovision -- Answer:
> Philips DVP642) I have been unable to locate the information suggested.
>
> Thanks!

I don't know what problems you're talking about.

I use BeyondTV as a Tivo replacement.

The files are DVD compliant (after I created a custom profile which took all
of 30 seconds).

You can edit them with Womble Mpeg-VCR which is extremely fast (it takes me
about 10 minutes to remove commercials and save a new file).

Then you just use your DVD authoring program of choice (I use Ulead DVD
Movie Factory because it was included in the box with my DVD burner). 15
minutes or so later you have a DVD.

So I don't know what you mean by a whole slew of software or problems. I
find it pretty much brain dead simple and painless.

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

All you need is a TV device with a MPEG/MPEG2 encoder such as the
Hauppauge PVR-350 (internal) or WinTV USB2 (external; note _USB2_). I
have both and love them.

If all you want to do is to record to harddrive, you don't need any
fancy software. Both hauppauge models I mentioned come with a scheduler
that allows you to manually schedule shows to record. It even hooks up
to a free program guide service called TitanTV. But if you need
advanced features like program name search, conflict management, etc.
then spring around $70 for software like BeyondTV (which I run) or Sage.
Another thing, they also come with a special edition of ULead
MovieFactory for burning DVDs.

I would not recommend getting a cheap TV card without MPEG encoder built
in like the Hauppauge WinTV/PCI which I also have. The PVR-350 produces
perfect recordings every time; the WinTV/PCI card using software
encoding produces only mediocre quality recordings even with a fast
processor.


Have fun!

/dn


mcp6453 wrote:

> The whole concept of using a PC for a DVR is escaping me. It seems that
> a selection of software is required to get a decent result. There are
> horror stories everywhere regarding video and audio getting out of sync.
> I (like a lot of people) do not understand the MANY video formats that
> are currently in use. Most frustrating of all, when I have tried to get
> help with such simple questions, I get pointed to videohelp.com, which
> is a wonderful site but is extremely overwhelming for a beginner.
>
> All I want to do is record shows off of TV onto my hard drive and then
> either 1) burn them to a DVD, or 2) transfer them to VHS. Is there a
> reasonably price card that will do so, without all of the many problems?
> Unlike audio, these consumer-level video capture and authoring products
> do not appear to be ready for prime time. I'd appreciate some help,
> clarification, and suggestions on a system that functions as described.
> However, please don't send me to videohelp.com unless you give me a
> static deep link. Every time I have been there on a suggestion (such as
> which DVD player to buy that does not have Macrovision -- Answer:
> Philips DVP642) I have been unable to locate the information suggested.
>
> Thanks!

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Don Noti wrote:

> All you need is a TV device with a MPEG/MPEG2 encoder such as the
> Hauppauge PVR-350 (internal) or WinTV USB2 (external; note _USB2_). I
> have both and love them.
>

To ***encode*** you only need a PVR-250, not the more expensive 350. The
PVR-350 only makes sense if your PC isn't powerful enough to decode mpeg-2 on
it's own for playback. If you can watch DVDs on your PC, you're wasting money
on the 350,

At least that's my opinion...



>
> If all you want to do is to record to harddrive, you don't need any
> fancy software. Both hauppauge models I mentioned come with a scheduler
> that allows you to manually schedule shows to record. It even hooks up
> to a free program guide service called TitanTV. But if you need
> advanced features like program name search, conflict management, etc.
> then spring around $70 for software like BeyondTV (which I run) or Sage.
> Another thing, they also come with a special edition of ULead
> MovieFactory for burning DVDs.
>
> I would not recommend getting a cheap TV card without MPEG encoder built
> in like the Hauppauge WinTV/PCI which I also have. The PVR-350 produces
> perfect recordings every time; the WinTV/PCI card using software
> encoding produces only mediocre quality recordings even with a fast
> processor.
>
> Have fun!
>
> /dn
>
> mcp6453 wrote:
>
> > The whole concept of using a PC for a DVR is escaping me. It seems that
> > a selection of software is required to get a decent result. There are
> > horror stories everywhere regarding video and audio getting out of sync.
> > I (like a lot of people) do not understand the MANY video formats that
> > are currently in use. Most frustrating of all, when I have tried to get
> > help with such simple questions, I get pointed to videohelp.com, which
> > is a wonderful site but is extremely overwhelming for a beginner.
> >
> > All I want to do is record shows off of TV onto my hard drive and then
> > either 1) burn them to a DVD, or 2) transfer them to VHS. Is there a
> > reasonably price card that will do so, without all of the many problems?
> > Unlike audio, these consumer-level video capture and authoring products
> > do not appear to be ready for prime time. I'd appreciate some help,
> > clarification, and suggestions on a system that functions as described.
> > However, please don't send me to videohelp.com unless you give me a
> > static deep link. Every time I have been there on a suggestion (such as
> > which DVD player to buy that does not have Macrovision -- Answer:
> > Philips DVP642) I have been unable to locate the information suggested.
> >
> > Thanks!