jargon time :-)

[johns]

So, my new home pc PVR is working fine.
I can record incoming cable tv programs
to mpg2. I'm pretty sure, but have not tried
to create a dvd. I think that is kind of a
waste of money if all I want to do is view
that program at a later time. I would like
to be able to view the program on my
living room tv ... which is much closer to
the refrigerator. What is the best way?
1. I could burn a dvd for about $1 ...
2. I could figure out some way to send
the video signal down the hall ... dvi
to UHF ???
3. Is there a re-writable dvd ?
4. Sure I can watch it on the pc monitor,
but sooner or later I'll spill a beer in
the keybd.

johns

 

[Rod Speed]

So, my new home pc PVR is working fine.
I can record incoming cable tv programs
to mpg2. I'm pretty sure, but have not tried
to create a dvd. I think that is kind of a
waste of money if all I want to do is view
that program at a later time.

Really depends on whether you have enough hard
drive space to keep recorded stuff for long enough.

One of the real problems with PVRs is that they use drive
space like there is no tommorrow. 2-3G per hour per
channel is quite common and that isnt HD format either.

I would like to be able to view the program on my
living room tv ... which is much closer to the refrigerator.
What is the best way?

Generally best to use TV out on the PC or a media player.

1. I could burn a dvd for about $1 ...

Not that great if you do that much.

2. I could figure out some way to
send the video signal down the hall ...

Yep, that is very viable and what I do myself.

dvi to UHF ???

Most of the TV outs use svideo thats easy to
do remotely with the usual video sender etc.

3. Is there a re-writable dvd ?

Yep. You dont get a lot on each DVD tho in
the native format, couple of hours at most.

Quite slow to transcode down into a much more compact format.

4. Sure I can watch it on the pc monitor, but
sooner or later I'll spill a beer in the keybd.

I actually run both, a normal monitor on the
PVR and TV out to the big TV as well.

The keyboard is on the opposite side of me sitting in a big arm chair
with my feet up to the beer so it never ends up in the keyboard.

 

[Dave]

So, my new home pc PVR is working fine.
I can record incoming cable tv programs
to mpg2. I'm pretty sure, but have not tried
to create a dvd. I think that is kind of a
waste of money if all I want to do is view
that program at a later time. I would like
to be able to view the program on my
living room tv ... which is much closer to
the refrigerator. What is the best way?
1. I could burn a dvd for about $1 ...
2. I could figure out some way to send
the video signal down the hall ... dvi
to UHF ???
3. Is there a re-writable dvd ?
4. Sure I can watch it on the pc monitor,
but sooner or later I'll spill a beer in
the keybd.

johns

2) Is possible with something like a 'wavecom pro', but your microwave will
screw with the signal (annoying)

3) Is the best method. But, you need a good dvd burner in your PC (those
are cheap now). Also, you need a fairly new DVD player in your living room.
One that advertises DVD-Ram playback compatibility is a good bet. -Dave

 

[johns]

Amazing how many new cables I have now.
Looks like I have an S-video that came with
the 7900 video card, and I also have an S-video
that came with the ATI tv-tuner. Both cables
are S-video to 4 composite RCA jacks. Not
a clue whether they are "in" or "out" cables.
The 7900 claims to be HDTV ready. Also,
my new DVDRW is apparently both DVD-RW
and DVD+RW. Just tried to make a video
cd using Nero and a Sony DVD-RW disk.
Nero seemed to run fine until the final write,
and then it said my disk was the wrong
format. After that, it tried to sell me an
upgrade .. probably so it would work
I think the next stunt I'm going to try is to
make a data dvd, and copy the straight
mpg2 I captured off tv. Take that down the
hall and see if my living room dvd player
is smart. It is JVC, and they tend to be
pretty clever.

johns

 

[johns]

3) Is the best method. But, you need a good dvd burner in your PC (those
are cheap now). Also, you need a fairly new DVD player in your living room.
One that advertises DVD-Ram playback compatibility is a good bet. -Dave

It is a JVC player. Fairly new. I think I need to figure out
dvd-disk jargon before I get this working. Also, NERO is
trying to sell me something before it will play nice. NERO
wants to do the tv-capture too. Looks like it can do it all,
if I'm willing to pay the price. Need to find a teenager to
teach me how to drive this mess.

johns

 

[Rod Speed]

Amazing how many new cables I have now.

Yeah, gets pretty messy.

Looks like I have an S-video that came with
the 7900 video card, and I also have an S-video
that came with the ATI tv-tuner. Both cables
are S-video to 4 composite RCA jacks.

Some that claim to be svideo on the older
cards are just composite, one video line.

Not a clue whether they are "in" or "out" cables.

Depends on the card's capability.

The 7900 claims to be HDTV ready.

Thats more than just composite video.

Also, my new DVDRW is apparently both DVD-RW and DVD+RW.

Yeah, most are.

Just tried to make a video cd using Nero and a Sony DVD-RW
disk. Nero seemed to run fine until the final write, and then it
said my disk was the wrong format. After that, it tried to sell
me an upgrade .. probably so it would work

I use +RW, mainly because thats what I could get very cheap. And
I burn with Roxio EMC, mainly because I prefer the user interface.

I think the next stunt I'm going to try is to make a data dvd,
and copy the straight mpg2 I captured off tv. Take that
down the hall and see if my living room dvd player is smart.
It is JVC, and they tend to be pretty clever.

It was the non branded DVD players that could play mpg2 and avis etc first.

 

[Dave]

It is a JVC player. Fairly new. I think I need to figure out
dvd-disk jargon before I get this working. Also, NERO is
trying to sell me something before it will play nice. NERO
wants to do the tv-capture too. Looks like it can do it all,
if I'm willing to pay the price. Need to find a teenager to
teach me how to drive this mess.

johns

Actually, if you are doing video capture, then your current video capture
software should be sufficient. At worst, you might need to download some
shareware to work with it. If you want to burn a DVD, then the source video
must be captured at 720X480, 29.97 frames per second.

If your capture software won't create DVD files for you, there is shareware
available. The following supposedly has an unlimited trial version:

http://www.tucows.com/preview/328657

Basically, you need to convert the mpeg file (from vid capture software) to
VOB. Then you can use Nero or any other good burning program to burn the
resulting files (in video and audio file folders) to DVD.

What Nero wants money for is to enable the one program to do everything . .
.. capture, conversion (to VOB) and then burning. It's up to you of course,
but why pay money for something that is free and should be free? -Dave

 

[johns]

Yep. They just got $25 out of me, and it worked.
Took hours to find it. They buried the mpg2 converter
under NeroVision SE .. which is buried under Nero
Digital. The JVC liked it fine. I knew it would. If I
were not an addicted hacker, I would have bought
a JVC home entertainment center and be sitting in
the living room drinking a beer.

johns

 

[johns]

I went to Staples this afternoon to see if they had a 30
foot S-video cable. Guy just grinned and told me to put
the PC in the living room and buy a 6 foot cable. That's
no fun.

johns

 

[Rod Speed]

I went to Staples this afternoon to see if they had a 30 foot S-video cable.

You can get them for surveillance cameras.

Guy just grinned and told me to put the PC
in the living room and buy a 6 foot cable.
That's no fun.

And she who must be obeyed can chuck a tantrum if you try that too.

 

[Peter]

Yep. They just got $25 out of me, and it worked.
Took hours to find it. They buried the mpg2 converter
under NeroVision SE .. which is buried under Nero
Digital. The JVC liked it fine. I knew it would. If I
were not an addicted hacker, I would have bought
a JVC home entertainment center and be sitting in
the living room drinking a beer.

But how long did it take to convert? Did you try just copying the mpeg2
file as a data file directly to a DVD as you mentioned? Most players
will be able to play them here in the UK. You normally get some kind of
menu appear your tv screen with the name of the file you have burnt to
disk. Just pressing play on your remote should play it. As long as you
can live with that basic start you should be good to go.

BTW, why $1 per DVD? That sounds expensive. Can get 25 for 5UKP over
here which is 25p per disk or about 40 cents I would think.

 

[johns]

I forgot about that. I'll give it a go and report back.
It would be a kick if it works

johns

 

[johns]

Tried it. It did not work. Rats! That would have
been too nice. Hmmm. Wonder if there is a
DVD player that recognizes mpg2 straight up?
I mean one that just connects to a TV set
.... not a computer DVD player.

johns

 

[johns]

And she who must be obeyed can chuck a tantrum if you try that too.

This is true. I told her I would hang it over the family
pictures in the hallway. Not funny.

johns

 

[Rod Speed]

Tried it. It did not work. Rats! That would have
been too nice. Hmmm. Wonder if there is a
DVD player that recognizes mpg2 straight up?
I mean one that just connects to a TV set
... not a computer DVD player.

Yep, mine does. I bought one that does that for that reason.

 

[johns]

Yep, mine does. I bought one that does that for that reason.

How did you know ? We need an information clearing
house for this market. It would not surprise me to find
out that all this technology is complete in a single
commercial product where TV capture can be shipped
directly to a DVD burner in mpg2 format ???? Amazing
the vendors are so silent about this. Maybe they are
not. It is just that they are not about to hire salesmen
beyond the parttime teenager hire. I'm getting ready to
take a course in this area with CNET. First question
I'm going to ask is what formats can be viewed using
BEST BUYS commercial products. Let's see if their
on-line instructors have a clue Almost certain they'll
tell me to move my PC into the living room and get
a 6 foot S-video cable ... won't have a clue about even
their own products.

johns

 

[Rod Speed]

How did you know ?

It said it did in the ebay ad.

We need an information clearing house for this market.

Yeah, but it gets surprisingly complicated. Mine will play most
avis fine too, but not all of them. The manufacturer says that
that is because that is done in the chipset and there is too
much variation in the avis and that not all formats are supported.

It would not surprise me to find out that all this technology is
complete in a single commercial product where TV capture
can be shipped directly to a DVD burner in mpg2 format ????

Yes, that is what some of the dedicated DVD burning set top
boxes can do. They mostly only capture analog TV tho and
I want to capture digital TV for the vastly better quality.

Amazing the vendors are so silent about this.

Yeah, its mostly the non majors that are a lot more
explicit about what their DVD players can play. The
main jap manufacturers can be surprisingly cryptic
about what their players can handle, even in the manual.

Maybe they are not. It is just that they are not about to hire
salesmen beyond the parttime teenager hire. I'm getting
ready to take a course in this area with CNET. First question
I'm going to ask is what formats can be viewed using
BEST BUYS commercial products. Let's see if their
on-line instructors have a clue Almost certain they'll
tell me to move my PC into the living room and get
a 6 foot S-video cable ... won't have a clue about even
their own products.

Yeah, but thats always been the way. When I was physically
building my own house, 30 years ago now, I wanted a calculator
that would work in full sunlight. The salesman who was in his
40s and had a reputation for being one of the best in my
town didnt even know and we had to walk out the front of
the shop and try it so which worked fine in full sunlight,
because I knew that the leds didnt.

 

[Peter]

Tried it. It did not work. Rats! That would have
been too nice. Hmmm. Wonder if there is a
DVD player that recognizes mpg2 straight up?
I mean one that just connects to a TV set
... not a computer DVD player.

Yeah, just double-checked my 3 DVD players. The 2 cheap ones play
mpeg2's just fine, but my rather expensive Philips just didn't want to
know (My mistake). Good thing at least, as Rod stated, the cheap ones
DO seem to play them so, if you wanted to pick one up, you won't be
forking out loadsa wonga.

 

[JAD]

Amazing how many new cables I have now.
Looks like I have an S-video that came with
the 7900 video card, and I also have an S-video
that came with the ATI tv-tuner. Both cables
are S-video to 4 composite RCA jacks. Not
a clue whether they are "in" or "out" cables.
The 7900 claims to be HDTV ready. Also,
my new DVDRW is apparently both DVD-RW
and DVD+RW. Just tried to make a video
cd using Nero and a Sony DVD-RW disk.
Nero seemed to run fine until the final write,
and then it said my disk was the wrong
format.

Ummmm A DVD RW (RW) is not the correct dosk -R +R (not Re-Writable RW)
Almost no player will play an RW, most won't play a -R. +R is the way to go
for me, never had a player NOT play a +R.




After that, it tried to sell me an

 

[johns]

I chose +RW so I'm not spending money on dvd
disks. I don't want to store those things. Just
tested a 5 pack of +RW, and that works for
me. Cost about $9, and I'll burn the same disk
over and over until it stops working. Also, I
won't always do that unless wifey wants to
see the show too. She likes the big tv in the
living room. We've been trying to figure out
the "Chinese" instructions for recording shows
on the VHS portion of the JCV player, but
its like 6 months and counting. Damn those
guys write crappy manuals.

johns