noydb

Greetings,

I'm thinking about getting a TV card for my computer, and would
appreciate any advice.

What I'd like to do most of all is copy shows onto the computer (from
cable) and then burn dvd's to watch on another computer (a laptop).

What sort of equipment would I need to accomplish this ?
I know I need a TV card...is there much difference between brands ?
What sort of adapters are required to hook up the cable to the
computer while still being able to watch regular TV ? (just a splitter
?)

I know there's some high end technofiles out there who have outrageous
setups...I'd love to hear some descriptions with approximate costs.

Also, I'm looking for a dependable DVD player.
I've purchased some cheapos over the past few years and they always
seem to break down...so I'm ready to shell out some real money for one
if I can be reasonably assured it will last a while.
My local library has DVD's, but they have an anti-theft strip stuck to
them, and that seems to be enough to screw up these cheapo players.
Hopefully, this new DVD player would be able to handle disc
imperfections such as this.
Finally, I've heard that some DVD players can play .avi files straight
up with no further conversion. Is that a pipe dream ? Will that
feature be rendered useless in no time with the continuing advancement
of codecs etc. ?
I'd appreciate any advice on any of these topics.
Thanks in advance

Cheers, --N

spam

Consider getting a DVDR. Then you can put TV programs directly to DVD
disc. ILO DVDR05MU1 at WalMart $99.

That way you can schedule the unit and not have to be preseny to start a recording.

You need a DVD burner and appropriate s/w like DVD Decrypter and DVD
Shrink - both free.

NEC 3550 at Directron or Newegg $40.

Use DVD +R/RW for both the ILO and the NEC.

Taiyo Yuden DVD +R 8x 35 cents supermediastore.com
Verbatim DVD +RW 4x $1 at Sam's Club


The ILO is also a player.


Pioneer has the best, but I would wait a year for the industry to get
the DVD-HDD working properly.

If you like building computer systems, Hauppage offers a kit to make a
barebones unit that functions like a DVD-HDD - remote and all. The
main advantage is you can network it.


DVDs are encrypted.

Each DVDR is different.

--

Merry Christmas!

http://www.illwillpress.com/xmas.html

noydb

Wow. Thanks for all the advice.
I hadn't really looked into DVDR's...
I didn't know the price had come down so much.
It's really looking like this is the way to go.

I already have a burner on the computer...and all the necessary
software. I use it often for data storage discs.

Now I'm confused again...
I checked out Happage a bit and discovered that they have just about
exactly what I was looking for, and then some...
It's going to take a while to digest all the options.

And I noticed they are priced accordingly. Yikes they're expensive.

I'll have to look into that...might be a fun project.


I did a bad job explaining that...
You misunderstood.
The anti-theft strips are to prevent people from stealing the DVD's
out of the library. There's actually a physical strip of tape stuck to
the top of the DVD with little metal bars that set off an alarm if not
deactivated. (like anti-theft devices on clothing and CD's at the
mall...)
These strips screw up every DVD player I've tried so far. I'm sure it
has something to do with the weight or shape of the DVD being altered.
When I ask at the library, they tell me that the vast majority of
people have no problems, so I've concluded that it must be because I
have always been using these bottom of the barrel DVD-players.


Well, if I can find one that will play straight .avi's, or record them
to a format any DVD player can handle, then I think I have a winner.

Thanks once again for all the advice. I've openned up quite a can of
worms here...it's going to be fun figuring all of this out.
Happy New Year to you !

Cheers, --N

spam

What AVI to DVD converter do you recommend.

noydb

I really don't know.
I tried a couple...I have Win-AVI and a few different versions of Nero
but I don't like any of them. Really messy interfaces. Very difficult
to understand. And far too time consuming.
It seems like it takes about as much time to convert as it takes to
watch the .avi's period.
I guess there's no quick and easy way to do this.
But I'll keep searching. Cheers, --N