MonsterMaxx
8th February 2004, 21:30
Using a PC to watch record, edit TV & remove commercials.
Doesn’t that sound wonderful?
You can go thru the TV guide on-line, select the shows you want to watch and your machine does the rest. It records, then comes back and removes all the commercials and lists everything in a library for you to watch at your own leisure.
Like Magic! It would be wonderful! Having my entire video collection on the drive, never have to hunt for DVDs or VHS, and watch commercial-less TV anytime.
I bought into this mystery.
Built a machine (out of parts laying around – dual P3-1ghz w/ 1.5gb of ram), bought a PVR350 and attacked the project.
I’m now 100+ hours into it. At this point I can rip and compress a DVD onto the drive on every machine on my network EXCEPT the TV machine w/ the PVR350 (it takes 9 different programs and 3 hours of CPU time to do this.) I can playback that ripped DVD on every machine on my network EXCEPT the TV machine w/ the PVR350 - on one machine I can actually put the video on the television, unfortunatly that machine doesn't have AC3 6 channel like the stereo does.
Watching live TV is hopeless. It works for ~10 minutes before it crashes one of the 4 different applications I’ve spent days trying to configure. Even when it does run it lays both those 1ghz p3s at 100%, which is OK except that I've got all these thermal slowdown fans in the machine to make it quiet and pretty soon it sounds like someone has fired up a blowdryer over there.
If I sound frustrated, it’s because I am.
I’ve installed Win2k three times, XP twice and Linux 4 times.
I’ve bought $1200 worth of hard drives for the server to store all this data.
I’ve futzed with all these programs until I’m ready to throw the whole thing out the window.
Then when I don’t toss it, I attack it again the next day with the enthusiasm that I can solve it today.
The windows apps that come with the PVR are completely worthless. The windows apps that you can buy (and try first) aren't much better. The MythTV/Linux is very cool, getting it setup requires a high level linux weenie (even they struggle) - which I am not.
I’m no dummy either. I run my own Domain, Exchange, Webservers, etc. It’s true I get help with some of this stuff, but a lot of it I can handle on my own. Mostly I’m a high level engineer who has had to learn this stuff all in the name of the head broompusher here at Unlimited Engineering.
This TV ‘magic’ just is no where near being mainstream yet. It’s a very cool idea, but until the software catches up to the hardware this is a project that should come with a warning label on the insanity it can cause: $2000+ and 100+ hours of work to WATCH TV. I mean come on, how crazy is that?
Today I actually got so crazy that I pulled down my primary file server to 'borrow' it's video card because it has S out. How crazy is that?
I’m also not the type to give up, if this stuff is here I’ll keep taking another crack at it.
I have a company to run and spending this kind of time to watch TV is pure insanity.
Therefore I’m selling this PVR card. Best offer in a week (2-14-04)takes it. It was purchased at the end of Dec, appears to work fine on a hardware level and will come with all the cables, software etc that it shipped with.
I’m done.
I can take credit cards thru the company site (SSL and all that.)
Help me stop the insanity.
MM@ueusa.net
Doesn’t that sound wonderful?
You can go thru the TV guide on-line, select the shows you want to watch and your machine does the rest. It records, then comes back and removes all the commercials and lists everything in a library for you to watch at your own leisure.
Like Magic! It would be wonderful! Having my entire video collection on the drive, never have to hunt for DVDs or VHS, and watch commercial-less TV anytime.
I bought into this mystery.
Built a machine (out of parts laying around – dual P3-1ghz w/ 1.5gb of ram), bought a PVR350 and attacked the project.
I’m now 100+ hours into it. At this point I can rip and compress a DVD onto the drive on every machine on my network EXCEPT the TV machine w/ the PVR350 (it takes 9 different programs and 3 hours of CPU time to do this.) I can playback that ripped DVD on every machine on my network EXCEPT the TV machine w/ the PVR350 - on one machine I can actually put the video on the television, unfortunatly that machine doesn't have AC3 6 channel like the stereo does.
Watching live TV is hopeless. It works for ~10 minutes before it crashes one of the 4 different applications I’ve spent days trying to configure. Even when it does run it lays both those 1ghz p3s at 100%, which is OK except that I've got all these thermal slowdown fans in the machine to make it quiet and pretty soon it sounds like someone has fired up a blowdryer over there.
If I sound frustrated, it’s because I am.
I’ve installed Win2k three times, XP twice and Linux 4 times.
I’ve bought $1200 worth of hard drives for the server to store all this data.
I’ve futzed with all these programs until I’m ready to throw the whole thing out the window.
Then when I don’t toss it, I attack it again the next day with the enthusiasm that I can solve it today.
The windows apps that come with the PVR are completely worthless. The windows apps that you can buy (and try first) aren't much better. The MythTV/Linux is very cool, getting it setup requires a high level linux weenie (even they struggle) - which I am not.
I’m no dummy either. I run my own Domain, Exchange, Webservers, etc. It’s true I get help with some of this stuff, but a lot of it I can handle on my own. Mostly I’m a high level engineer who has had to learn this stuff all in the name of the head broompusher here at Unlimited Engineering.
This TV ‘magic’ just is no where near being mainstream yet. It’s a very cool idea, but until the software catches up to the hardware this is a project that should come with a warning label on the insanity it can cause: $2000+ and 100+ hours of work to WATCH TV. I mean come on, how crazy is that?
Today I actually got so crazy that I pulled down my primary file server to 'borrow' it's video card because it has S out. How crazy is that?
I’m also not the type to give up, if this stuff is here I’ll keep taking another crack at it.
I have a company to run and spending this kind of time to watch TV is pure insanity.
Therefore I’m selling this PVR card. Best offer in a week (2-14-04)takes it. It was purchased at the end of Dec, appears to work fine on a hardware level and will come with all the cables, software etc that it shipped with.
I’m done.
I can take credit cards thru the company site (SSL and all that.)
Help me stop the insanity.
MM@ueusa.net