Community weekly poll: Do you mix TV with your PC?
- 6/1/06 10:39 AM
No, no, no
by thetomcat - 6/2/06 9:21 AM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
Why would I wish to watch TV on my 21 inch monitor from a chair that is hardly build for lots of comfort. I would MUCH rather watch TV from the easy chair in a living room with my old 36'' RCA console TV. Quality at best can be questionable with many monitors. I prefer to keep things separate.
HDTV & PC - A Match Made in Convergence Technology Heaven
by Philip White - 6/2/06 9:21 AM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
I've built a new machine recently. One of the little "benes" I installed on it is an ATI HDTV Wonder tuner card.
In addition to being able to download and view lots of kinds of great video (over DSL) from the Internet, (especially in DivX HD format,) I can also tune in all of the local analog and digital broadcast stations.)
With the ATI HDTV Wonder software, I can even record programs automatically or scroll back for instant replay of scenes I may want to see again without losing any of the program.
Amazingly, this card has more stable HD signal reception than my costly HD home theatre system with a roof antenna. -- However, by connecting my PC to my home theatre system, I can get an enhanced viewing experience.
As time goes by, cheaper bandwidth and better compression methods will make realtime HD viewing over the internet become commonplace. That day may almost be here...
ATI
by StageRt - 6/3/06 7:17 AM In reply to: HDTV & PC - A Match Made in Convergence Technology Heaven by Philip WhiteI have been using the ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon for years. Works great.
Having read your posting AND thinking along the same lines I've been seriously considering the upgrade.
Thanks for the info on the HDTV card. Sounds like the perfect upgrade I've been looking for.
Yes, use Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 150 TV Tuner card
by jfischer316 - 6/2/06 10:24 AM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
Mostly happy with my Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 150 TV Tuner card. My cable TV coax cable is plugged directly into it.
I purchased it because I wanted an inexpensive alternative to TIVO Video Recorder and so I could edit home movies from my camcorder.
Sometimes I watch live TV while I am working at my PC. The card comes with an infra red receiver and a remote control. However, I usually just change channels using the mouse.
I can schedule to record TV shows weeks in advance. The Hauppauge tuner card and software integrate well with the free TitanTV.com TV listings web site. No monthly fees! Each file is labeled with the name of the program and the date, so it is easy to find them weeks later.
I then watch the show later on my PC monitor, skipping over the commercials. Or, if several people will be watching, I edit out the commercials, burn to DVD and play the show on the TV in the living room.
I have transferred some of my own videos, from my old, analog camcorder. Then I edit them and burn to Video CD or DVD.
The included ULEAD DVD Movie Factory is a capable and easy to use video editing program. It can automatically divide digital video from your camcorder into chapters. It will use the first image of each chapter or individual video clip to create a graphical DVD menu. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be able to automatically detect the commercials in recorded tv. The automatic chapter insertion feature only seems to work on digital video where you change scenes. The software can burn DVDs or Video CDs.
I can also grab a frame of live TV or video tape and save it as a jpeg still picture. TV picture quality isn't that great to start out with, but it is fine for emailing, displaying on a PC screen, or putting on a web site. I find 640 x 480 pixel resolution works fine, although many options are available. There is also a feature to save two frames in one picture. Regular analog tv signals are interlaced. In one frame the even numbered scan lines are transmitted and in the next frame odd numbered scan lines are transmitted. Combining two frames gives you both the even and odd scan lines. This somewhat improves the resolution of the resulting still picture, if there is not much motion.
For the price, I am basically satisfied.
However, there are a few rough edges.
The documentation is lacking. As mentioned below, there are no instructions for the Nanocosmos nanoPEG video editor. The instructions for the infra red transmitter are in a separate pamphlet. The slim manual itself covers three separate models of tuner card, so it can be confusing as to which feature is included.
The infra red receiver is on an external cable the plugs into the tuner card. The plug does not mate well with the socket. I had to shave some plastic from the plug, so it would seat in the socket.
The cable also has an infra red transmitter that you can line up with your cable box, so that the system can change channels when recording programs. However, the infra red receiver was so difficult to use, I never attempted to program the transmitter to control my cable box.
In addition to the capable Ulead DVD Movie factory and the WinTV32 viewing software, confusingly there is another video editing program and another version of the viewing software.
Perhaps they are included so that less powerful PCs can still view, edit and record. However, they are so inferior as to be almost useless and I wasted time trying to figure them out.
The viewing software, WinTV2000, appears to be just an earlier version of the capable WinTV32 software.
The only confusing feature of the otherwise excellent WinTV2000 viewing and recording software, it that you apparently have to click on the record button to bring up the list of pre-recorded shows that you want to view. The non-standard interface does not have a "file open" option.
The poor video editor is the Nanocosmos nanoPEG Editor 2.3. It doesn't come with any instructions. It is not easy to figure out, so instructions would be very helpful. I finally found a more advanced version of the program that is ''try before you buy'' crippled shareware. This version comes with a help file that gave me enough information to figure out how to do basic video edits.
If you have a low powered PC or you just want to do a quick edit to remove commercials, it might have some use if you plan to view the edited file on you PC. Since the program directly edits the mpeg video file, you don't have to wait for the file to be rendered in DVD format.
It is nice to have the free TitanTV.com tv program listing service. However, it does not seem like you can do advanced TIVO like tricks, such as recording every time your favorite actor is on. You can program the system to record a program at the same time every week. However, it can't match the TIVO feature of recording the program if the network changes the time or day it is aired. I also haven't been able to find a ReplayTV like feature to automatically skip over commercials, or even to skip ahead 30 seconds. The only options are to skip ahead 10 seconds, or to fast forward.
Windows Xp Media Center Edition 2005 VGC-RA710G
by lakephillip - 6/2/06 11:14 AM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
My machine was MCE 2004, and Sony upgraded it to 2005 for $9.95, and ever since the upgrade I have disconnected all VHS machines..and use Media Center to watch and record TV...Very satisfied.
lakephillip
business with pleasure
by Guywhowearsclothes - 6/2/06 12:27 PM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
both of my desktops have TV tuner hardware cards, with TVR capabilities (although I don't use the TVR - I like my Tivo). The ATI All-in-wonder card I use places the TV in a translucent window so I can watch TV and work on the computer at the same time. Really like it.
TV on a MAC
by ianmorris - 6/2/06 1:07 PM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
My conclusion after trying the various Widget TV's is that TV is for TV's and not for a MAC. So I will not be investing in EYE TV although if you are keen on recording it could be useful to produce DVD's for watching on your TV.
Laptop as VCR
by national.torquetools - 6/2/06 1:09 PM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
I have a PC card TV tuner, which enables me to watch broadcast TV on my laptop in my motorhome. I also have a satellite decoder that connects to this setup.
At home I use this instead of a VCR since it died some time ago. I mostly record movies then cut out the adds and turn them into Real movies which I store on an external hard drive for use in my motorhome.
Bit Torrent
by jer2eydevil88 - 6/2/06 3:37 PM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
I use my PC as a TV, I download all the shows I want to watch with Bit Torrent and watch them whenever I want. I am not killing babies or sticking it to the man. I am just fed up with being labeled a criminal because the MPAA and RIAA deem this new technology as bad for business. I would gladly use a system they devised with commercials if they could match or beat the 1.2mbit down I get on shows with Bit Torrent.
Bit Torrent
by mel1959 - 6/2/06 4:58 PM In reply to: Bit Torrent by jer2eydevil88I download all the shows which I watch, so I can watch them when I want and without advertising. TV has become too draining mentally to watch on a set from cable/sattelite. Advertising has become a worlwide virus, and it's only getting worse. I do have cable in my house for other members ofd the family, but I'm rarely home when my shows are on. It's still getting paid for, but now I can watch whenever I want and am not subject to the advertising/consumerism virus.
Call it piracy, but I feel the bigger theives are the companies raping the consumers with connection fees, while also making tons of money from advertisers. Just my opinion though, too bad it doesn't count for anything...
Yes, torrent!
by Brianstech - 6/2/06 5:39 PM In reply to: Bit Torrent by mel1959You two hit the nail on the head. I have much less desire to spend the money on a HDTV card, when I can torrent shows that are already edited and cut to Xvid. Each 1 hour show is 350mb, and I can fit 12 to a DVD. They look and sound great.
I dare anyone to claim I'm hurting the industry. These shows are broadcast in high-def through the airwaves (an antenna would suffice), but yet I still pay a monthly cable bill.
No TV
by Trailhop - 6/3/06 4:58 AM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
I don't watch TV on my PC and probably never will. I don't watch much TV at all. There's nothing on worth watching, most of the time.
I use my PC mainly as a digital darkroom...and to surf CNet for good info.
pc-tv
by grant grider - 6/3/06 1:39 PM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
I have a tv -pci tuner card in three machines.,I have the hometech card in two machines and it works well.The real question for me was space.Do I need to use more space in a room. By having two devices.....tv and computer,or one computer that is tv able.Since I, and both the children, have pc's---tv tuner card it is.Further more one can capture images from tv,sounds ...etc.
No way.......
by Leberknodel - 6/4/06 5:54 AM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
The TV and computer are in separate rooms. The room with the computer has a desk, bookcase and desk chair. However, the room with the TV has the couch and comfy chairs! 'Nuf said!
I have my computer hooked up to DVI port on a 30" LCD HDTV
by dennisond - 6/4/06 9:37 PM In reply to: Do you mix TV with your PC? by Marc Bennett
This is not a pure high tech setup. but it sure is nice
Dish Network HDTV goes through Component Video Input.
Sound Blaster hooks up PC audio to Digital Coax input on Pioneer HTIB, Dish receiver sends toslink audio signal to Optical input of aforementioned HTIB and PIP lets you perform pc operations and watch tv. Your DVD's are astonishingly good. This may not be everybody's cup of tea but it sure works for me. D
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