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So, given a typical PC, how much would it actually cost to equip it such
that you can record and play back TV with it? What actual hardware and
software does this require?
[No, I have no intension of doing this. I'm just curios.]
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:15:37 +0000, Orchid XP v7 wrote:
> So, given a typical PC, how much would it actually cost to equip it such
> that you can record and play back TV with it? What actual hardware and
> software does this require?
A capture card is needed, and I'd recommend a sufficient amount of
memory, disk space, and a decent video card for playback.
Over here, capture cards vary in price; Hauppage is a popular brand from
what I've read/seen. There are some limitations, though - some won't do
digital channels, most won't do scrambled channels, etc. Pricing is
going to vary from a few hundred bucks to a few thousand (depending on
what other upgrades you need).
Jim
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> So, given a typical PC, how much would it actually cost to equip it such
> that you can record and play back TV with it? What actual hardware and
> software does this require?
>
> [No, I have no intension of doing this. I'm just curios.]
>
You could get a Slingbox, it'll broadcast your TV stuff over
internet so you can access it anywhere with a good connection,
you can use it to control a DVR, your cable box etc.
They're a couple hundred bucks or so...
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Orchid XP v7 wrote:
> So, given a typical PC, how much would it actually cost to equip it such
> that you can record and play back TV with it? What actual hardware and
> software does this require?
For Windows, a couple hundred bucks for the capture card and "Windows
Media Center" (aka MCE), or a more recent version of Windows. That's
pretty much what Media Center does, along with showing pictures and
music and stuff like that. It also talks to Xboxes and "media extenders"
so you can network it thru your house like AppleTV does.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Media_Center
There's also MythTV if you want to do it with Linux, don't mind the
typical expert-tolerant Linux type interfaces, and don't mind stealing
the TV listings. (Or have they fixed that lately?)
Most capture cards come with some form of primitive Windows software for
doing this.
I understand TiVo runs some form of Linux inside.
Many places sell machines in a stereo form-factor (i.e., a low flat
case) so you can put it in your stereo rack.
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
It's not feature creep if you put it
at the end and adjust the release date.
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> For Windows, a couple hundred bucks for the capture card and "Windows
> Media Center" (aka MCE), or a more recent version of Windows.
Mmm, OK.
> I understand TiVo runs some form of Linux inside.
>
> Many places sell machines in a stereo form-factor (i.e., a low flat
> case) so you can put it in your stereo rack.
Indeed yes. And they all seem to be very expensive. I was wondering
whether the technology that goes into them is actually expensive itself,
or whether you're just paying to have something that works out of the box...
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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While we're on the subject... If you wanted to, how hard is it to
connect a PC to a normal TV? (Obviously, PCs normally run at vastly
different scanrates and lack the propper connectors...)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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Invisible <voi### [at] dev null> wrote:
> While we're on the subject... If you wanted to, how hard is it to
> connect a PC to a normal TV? (Obviously, PCs normally run at vastly
> different scanrates and lack the propper connectors...)
I honestly can't believe you are such a computer nerd, yet so clueless
about basic PC hardware.
The only thing you need is a graphics card which supports video out,
and then you connect it to a TV (or VCR) which supports video in. I have
owned such a graphics card myself at one point.
--
- Warp
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Warp wrote:
> I honestly can't believe you are such a computer nerd, yet so clueless
> about basic PC hardware.
Hey, nobody knows everything. ;-)
I know about processors and RAM and stuff, but exotic things like fancy
video processing or infrared communication are outside my experience.
> The only thing you need is a graphics card which supports video out,
> and then you connect it to a TV (or VCR) which supports video in. I have
> owned such a graphics card myself at one point.
I know my laptop has S-Video out on it. (While not really knowing what
S-Video is.) I was really astonished when I hooked my laptop up to the
TV; all the text was unreadably blurry. But then, I guess you normally
view a TV from the other side of the room, so why bother making it
produce a crisp image of something you can only see from a few feet away?
I was just wondering what it takes to connect a normal PC to a TV. It's
not something I've ever tried to do, or wanted to do, but I figured
somebody here would surely know the answer.
I know 20 years ago it required an expensive scanrate conversion box. I
haven't really looked at it since then.
(My dad claims his TV has a VGA input socket. But then, I suppose it is
an LCD, so multiple scanrates probably isn't an issue...)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> I know my laptop has S-Video out on it. (While not really knowing what
> S-Video is.) I was really astonished when I hooked my laptop up to the
> TV; all the text was unreadably blurry.
Well, that's the problem with TVs (and PAL/NTSC). There's little that
can be done about it (although the quality if the video out chip in the
graphics card can help some).
> I was just wondering what it takes to connect a normal PC to a TV.
A device which converts VGA to video signal.
--
- Warp
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On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 09:21:14 +0000, Invisible wrote:
> While we're on the subject... If you wanted to, how hard is it to
> connect a PC to a normal TV? (Obviously, PCs normally run at vastly
> different scanrates and lack the propper connectors...)
Depends on your videocard. My laptop has an S=Video out, so usually I
just have to plug it in.
Jim
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