Use PC as VCR?

[Uncle Bully]

Anyone got the scoop on using a dedicated PC as a VCR/DVD player etc?
What software is available nowadays?
I'm sure there's more than enough info on the web, but I'm thought you could
point me somewhere useful that also works outside the US.

[gronk221]

I dont see the point.

PVR's are now on the market. I read in a newsgroup somewhere that the hard
drives can be upgraded to a larger capacity if 40 or 80gb is not enough. The
samsung (DVD + 40gb HDD) can be sourced under $700 these days.

The strong terrestrial digital STB comes highly regarded with 80gb on board.
That with a $250 DVD would function very well.

The Panasonic DVD burner with 80GB is not cheap but will come down no doubt.

http://www.peter.com.au/pvrs.html

---------------------------------------------------
"Uncle Bully" <wakeupcall@optushome.com.au.REMOVE> wrote in message
news:40148cfd$0$29132$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.a u...
> Anyone got the scoop on using a dedicated PC as a VCR/DVD player etc?
> What software is available nowadays?
> I'm sure there's more than enough info on the web, but I'm thought you
could
> point me somewhere useful that also works outside the US.
>
>
>

[Miro]

"Uncle Bully" <wakeupcall@optushome.com.au.REMOVE> wrote in message
news:40148cfd$0$29132$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.a u...
> Anyone got the scoop on using a dedicated PC as a VCR/DVD player etc?
> What software is available nowadays?
> I'm sure there's more than enough info on the web, but I'm thought you
could
> point me somewhere useful that also works outside the US.

The fundamental issue appears to be the quality of the input interface. Most
of the TV cards with record facility are not adequate in signal capture.

Possibly there are two points.

1/ CVBS or S-video PC input are important to overcome UHF noise problems.
You may need some brand of low end digital set-top box or direct VCR
connection

2/ The card itself has to have MPEG encoding. Consider www.pinnaclesys.com
as one source. You may have seen Pinnacle around the place.

[Gadgets]

You can get some good AGP video cards with S-Vid in/out and handy included
software for $200 up. I can recommend the Leadtek VIVO cards/utils...
record direct to any format/spec pal/ntsc - avi, mpg1, mpg2. Schedule
recording etc etc

Cheers, Jason - remove macrovision to reply : )

PC IR Remotes:
http://gadgets.shorturl.com