Digi Tv

geoffneck · 15-03-2004, 13:37

I'm on the verge of getting a TV capture card for my PC so I can use my Hard drive as a video recorder and also pipe TV round the house on CAT 5.

Im building a Server in my living room and plan to connect the STB to the PC and the PC to the TV.

This should work fine, but the snag is I cant watch a different channel to the one im recording. I almost need the PC to have its own Decoder for NTL.

Are NTL looking into supporting this market?

Is there another way for me to make this work like a true video recorder?

I've read on this forum you can split the cable before the STB to receive analogue channels 1 - 5 plus a few more, is this an option?

thanx in advance

SMHarman · 15-03-2004, 13:42

You would need a second STB to enable it to work like a video recorder. A VCR has a built in tuner.

You can take the bypass feed, this includes analogue 1-4 and some other stuff.

NTL are not really thinking about a Sky+ competitor at the mo, so I doubt they would be thinking of supporting video capture cards / decoders first.

Sounds like a cool setup you will have though. How will you control it remotely? Will you use XP-MCE or something else?

Scrubbs · 15-03-2004, 13:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by geoffneck

I'm on the verge of getting a TV capture card for my PC so I can use my Hard drive as a video recorder and also pipe TV round the house on CAT 5.

Im building a Server in my living room and plan to connect the STB to the PC and the PC to the TV.

This should work fine, but the snag is I cant watch a different channel to the one im recording. I almost need the PC to have its own Decoder for NTL.

Are NTL looking into supporting this market?

Is there another way for me to make this work like a true video recorder?

I've read on this forum you can split the cable before the STB to receive analogue channels 1 - 5 plus a few more, is this an option?

thanx in advance

I have an old haupauge (pronounced "hophog") tv card which gives me all the freeview channels with a built in recorder, apparently there is an update to get the teletext, tried it once and didn't like it. It's just connected to my main aeriel

geoffneck · 15-03-2004, 14:22

I have no ariel on my house as it blew off last year when it was blowing a hoolie..

It sounds like I should take the bypass feed meaning the PC will be able to select what channel to record. Has anyone done this with a PC card.. If i use a splitter, i suppose this would stick straight into the PC card...?

SMHarman>> I dont have Media Center, but am getting a remote with showshifter. The remote is also an FM transmitter and can navigate the PC. It should also be able to control the lights in living room.

sherer · 15-03-2004, 14:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by geoffneck

I have no ariel on my house as it blew off last year when it was blowing a hoolie..

It sounds like I should take the bypass feed meaning the PC will be able to select what channel to record. Has anyone done this with a PC card.. If i use a splitter, i suppose this would stick straight into the PC card...?

SMHarman>> I dont have Media Center, but am getting a remote with showshifter. The remote is also an FM transmitter and can navigate the PC. It should also be able to control the lights in living room.

i've got MCE and tried this to use the PVR functionality.. i.e pause live tv and setup recording etc.. it did work okk but the problem i had was with the quality of the picture.. i'm used to RGB via my scart cable and you can't get the same quality with my hauppage 250 TV card.. I had to use a scart to s-video converter due to the connections on my STB ( a 1000) and the quaility of the picture wasn't as good so just us the other features of MCE instead now.

Richard M · 15-03-2004, 14:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by SMHarman

You would need a second STB to enable it to work like a video recorder. A VCR has a built in tuner.

The Radeon All-In-Wonder cards have a tuner.
This one is quite cheap.

geoffneck · 15-03-2004, 15:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by sherer

i've got MCE and tried this to use the PVR functionality.. i.e pause live tv and setup recording etc.. it did work okk but the problem i had was with the quality of the picture.. i'm used to RGB via my scart cable and you can't get the same quality with my hauppage 250 TV card.. I had to use a scart to s-video converter due to the connections on my STB ( a 1000) and the quaility of the picture wasn't as good so just us the other features of MCE instead now.

Yeah, this is one area im concerned about... I've never used a TV capture card before, so that parts a bit new to me... I have just bought an ASUS 9600 XT that has video in/out and the results were quite nice. If i can use the Field bypass then I can just plug this into the ASUS card...

dionbwfc · 18-03-2004, 23:00

I am looking into doing something similar, I want to connect an "all-in-wonder" card to use my pc as a video recorder. Is it best to connect this direct to my set top box or to my tv. Can i connect the set top box to my tv and to my pc at the same time?

Sorry i am pretty much a novice at this sort of thing. Does anybody have a step by step guide on the best way to do it.

sherer · 19-03-2004, 10:18

you will probably need to spilt the feed going from your STB so it feeds the PC and the TV. Try the s-video convertor at letsautomate ( can't remember if web site is .co.uk or .com)

also depends if you have RF or scart \ RGB connecions going to your TV... what imputs does your TV card have ?

SMHarman · 19-03-2004, 13:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard M

The Radeon All-In-Wonder cards have a tuner.
This one is quite cheap.

The AIW tuner you suggest is VHF though. It can't decode more than the 5 terestrial channels.

To have the option of recording all NTL channels whilst watching any other channel requires two STBs.

geoffneck · 19-03-2004, 17:45

dionbwfc>> I think Im gonna start with the basics. I've set out to have a server in my living room so I can use it to view my PC media on the TV (Photographs, Movies, listen to MP3's etc) and also have the ability to record TV.

As far as showing the media, its pretty straightforward just using a TV output card from my PC to my TV and controlling the PC via an FM remote.

Its the Recording TV that Im new to.

I wanted to use a Mini-ITX board to receive the TV from the STB, to then display it back to the TV. This means you can only record what the box is set to. Some software can send out an IR signal to change the channel of your STB at the time to record, but to me this is not a true Recorder.

The other option is to get another STB, has anyone done this? is it expensive?

or I can Split the signal and receive the Terrestrial channels and feed them into my Gfx card, which will mean the TV card can then pick which channel to record, but only from channels 1-5 plus a couple of others.

Has anyone tried any of the above... I would like to get Windows Media edition, but not available to buy on own...

cheers