Recording TV?

[bpinning]

Hi All,

Can you give me some advise,

Basically want to do is record TV from my Digital Set Top
Box, without a TV Video card.

I need to be able to connect the RF out on my Digital set top box to my computer to record it.

I was wondering what Hardware I need, what software I will need and the best practice in doing so, ie file formats and other possible ways.

Thanks in advance,

Brett.

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Intel 3.2Ghz Prescott 800FSB (OC 3.8Ghz)
Fujitsu MAS3 SCSI 15000rpm HDD 73GB
4Gig Ram
DL-DVD Burner
2 x 21in LCD DELL
All Black.., oh, good old FDD to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[felixc]

without a TV video card" ?

You will need a TV tuner card in your PC to do that. See

http://www.hauppage.com

 

[felixc]

Are you able to record the Set-top box RF out from your VCR? I ahve no set-top box and I don't know if these boxes have a copy-protection circuit at its output. It it does not, then you can record with the VCR and shall be able to record with a Tuner/PVR card.

 

[bpinning]

Hi,

Yeah you can copy to a vcr. I have heard about a device that connects via RF to your pc via usb i think and you can record whatever is at the other end.

Any of you seen anything like that?

thanks,

Brett.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Intel 3.2Ghz Prescott 800FSB (OC 3.8Ghz)
Fujitsu MAS3 SCSI 15000rpm HDD 73GB
4Gig Ram
DL-DVD Burner
2 x 21in LCD DELL
All Black.., oh, good old FDD to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[felixc]

Yep, Hauppage also makes the USB2.0 device. Maybe not the best deal in town, but supported and documented. Check if it does have the tuner though.

If you can to record from the video and audio rca jacks instead, or even the svideo conenctor if there's one on your set-top, you would get a much better quality. The RF adds another layer of distorsion and noise to the contents of the tape.

 

[Jeranamo]

In order to get the quality you want, and have the audio and video be synched along with getting the correct video encoding, you might just be better off purchasing a video tuner card. You need to make sure that you purchase one that is not just analog, but accepts digital as well. Usually upon ordering these cards they will come with PVR software which allows you to do exactly what you are asking here, record TV to your PC.

 

[bpinning]

Thanks Jeranamo,

Does a TV Tuner card allow me to record the TV direct from the Digital Set Top box, and not by connecting an arial to it.??

I want to do it from the 3 RCA out plugs on the back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Intel 3.2Ghz Prescott 800FSB (OC 3.8Ghz)
Fujitsu MAS3 SCSI 15000rpm HDD 73GB
4Gig Ram
DL-DVD Burner
2 x 21in LCD DELL
All Black.., oh, good old FDD to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Frank4d]

An ATI Padeon 9800 Pro All-in-Wonder card will do it if the three RCA connectors are analog video and left and right audio. $250-300 street price. It comes with recording software. If you plan to record video that won't fit on a DVD you will need some video compression software.

 

[felixc]

If you already have a decent graphics card, it may not be worth going to the AllInWonder. I have an AllInWonder 9600XT in my system, it works nicely.

A separate TV-tuner card, or a USB 2.0 one (most of them have separate RCA and S-Video inputs) will provide a good recording performance too. They MUST be the models with an integrated MPEG2 hardware encoder. The plus with these separate tuners is that they will still be there if you upgrade your graphics card to another one.