11 replies to this topic

[Dan (electron)]

If your solution isn't listed here, please post below.

[dolphin]

As I don't know what DVR/PVR is, I'm guessing I don't run one. I use Windows Media on my comp though...and I've heard of Tivo.

[Dan (electron)]

a DVR/PVR is a unit that allows you to timeshift (pausing and rewinding live TV) tv broadcasts, and some of these packages let you do much more. Tivo is one of them, most of the other packages listed usually run on PC hardware (which has its advantages and disadvantages).

[dolphin]

Ahh ok, that's cool. I knew you could do that kind of stuff with TiVo, but wasn't sure if that's what they all did.

[AutomatedOutlet]

I have Dish Network TV with a PVR. I tried cable but it really didn't have the features I wanted.

[zack]

Are regular Tivos and ReplayTV capable of recording HDTV.. in both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect that is? I've seen DirecTV advertise that you need their own HD-DVR box to for it to record HD aspect ratios properly. It's probably just an advertising scheme, but just wondering.

[Joshua]

Thats one thing thats kept me from building a PVR, is the DVI output on my nVidia card(it has a S-Video output too), just doesn't seem to produce great images of my recorded video. But I think I'm recording with not the best settings. I need to get that tv tuner with built-in encoder support!

Thats a project for after I move though.

[Dan (electron)]

Are regular Tivos and ReplayTV capable of recording HDTV.. in both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect that is? I've seen DirecTV advertise that you need their own HD-DVR box to for it to record HD aspect ratios properly. It's probably just an advertising scheme, but just wondering.

I am pretty sure it isn't just a scheme since you need a different kind of tuner in order to record true HDTV, Atlantic Scientific (one of the biggest cable box vendors) just released an HDTV version of their DVR, and don't sell these boxes directly to the consumer, so not sure what they would gain by setting up such an advertising scheme.

Josh, if your tv supports hdtv, get an ATI 9800 series card with the HDTV/component adapter, it looks fantastic.

[justonemore]

That's a heck of a chunk of change: 300 bucks for pro and 500 bucks for XT. That would kill my home automation budget for a very long time

[Dan (electron)]

I agree, but if you can afford HDTV, in most cases you can afford the nice ATI card too But if you don't care for HDTV, then the $30 ATI card I have will do the job just fine.

[Joshua]

Well, since we are moving to a new community, hopefully the analog cable channels will be alot cleaner.

I'm not really thrilled by the quality of it, but maybe my cheap ATI tv tuner card has something to do with it.

[Dan (electron)]

the ATI should be acceptable, but if you want a quality tuner, Hauppauge is the way to go (the PVR-250MCE/350 series).