Vhs 2 Dvd, Or How Can I Record Live Tv ???

[jamieuk23]

my main aim is to be able to record the ultimate fighting championship which is live on sky box office on the 22 november (paper veiw) on to a dvd-r disk with out having a dvd player that recordes directly, like the philipps 1.

I have used the search function here over the last hour and after reading some other peoles posts of the similar concern, the only option i can seem to understand is that i need to record the event using a VHS player, after that i need to some how hook my PC up to my VHS player and convert it to divx etc, ovoulsey with a tv capture card. ( i have the kiss dvd player which plays divx to watch it on)

IS THERE ANY WAY!!! i could plug my tv (sky) areial in to my computer and record the event LIVE!!! threw my PC ???. It just seems like i will loose alot of qaulity from recording it with a VHS tape fiirst off all, as you never get the same qaulity as what you are orinaly watching.

What are my options here ???? if you can point me in a direction of a good guide, or even writing a litttle guide for me would be most apreciated........ PLease dont give me short answers which leave me confused!.

Will thank you in advance to any 1 who has took the time out to help me!!!!!! cheers !

[sfheath]

As you say, many people with a similar problem!
Are we talking Cable or Satellite?
You've already pointed out the way to do it with your present hardware .. that is unless you have a capture card you've not told us about?
That means new hardware, a card depending on which tv service your Sky is on, or an external unit to save opening the PC.
Oh, and loads of hard drive space to hold it all while you convert, compress, burn etc.

On second thoughts, I don't think you're going to be able to do this with pay-per-view, only freeview

Does your provider decoder box have and support a LAN output?

[jamieuk23]

I have Satellite mate, i dont have a tv capture card at the min, going to buy 1 thou, do i need to buy a realy exspensice 1 ??? what card do you recomend..

(On second thoughts, I don't think you're going to be able to do this with pay-per-view, only freeview?????????)

why only free view ??????? i am paying for the event so i will be able to view it


(Does your provider decoder box have and support a LAN output.............. ???)

Not 2 shaw mate, but obviously i have a out put from my sky box to my tv..... so couldnt i use my computer as the tv to view the channel and record it using some kind of softwear while its playing on my pc ???

If you can plug your tv in 2 a VHS player and record, is there no way of plugging the main aerial that you put in the back of your tv in 2 my pc ?????.


There must be soem kind of adapter or something around ?? any more advice you can give me ???

[sfheath]

Right, a bit clearer

Yes, a TV capture card with an svideo input should accept your decoder/tv interlink. You may have to buy an svideo/SCART adapter.

Price? Horses for Courses! If you don't mind the time/disk space taken in capturing to AVI, converting to MPEG2 and then burning to DVD a card with a software encoder will do. However, a card with a hardware encoder will be quicker and knock out the AVI stage.

[jamieuk23]

(Yes, a TV capture card with an svideo input should accept your decoder/tv interlink. You may have to buy an svideo/SCART adapter.)

Do you no of any softwear that will record it after i have the sky channel playing on my pc ?????.

Any idea of any guides to do this >????.

realy apreciate your help mate. YOU THE MAN!!!!! lol

[sfheath]

Glad to be of help
The software that comes with a tv capture card should at least include AVI recording. However, if you went up a stage and go for a card with a hardware encoder (Hauppauge PVR250 among others) you'll get MPEG2 encoding on-the-fly saving conversion and disk space.
The Hauppauge software includes Timer Recording etc, but so, I believe, do others, Adaptec, Pinnacle etc. There area few to choose from.

[jamieuk23]

I have up to 60.00 pound to spend can you recomend 1 to me mate

[sfheath]

You might get the PVR250 for around that online. Try Dabs or Simply Computers.
There are threads elsewhere comparing capture cards. I really don't know enough about them. Some folk slag off Hauppauge but I've had little trouble.

[videopnut]

You want the simple solution?

Save yourself time, money, and aggravation by getting a SVHS (Super-VHS) recorder. The quality is almost as good as DV (480 lines compared to 240 for VHS); it can play and record both VHS and Super-VHS; and some can record near-SVHS on ordinary VHS tapes using a process called SVHS-ET (all JVC models).

For highest quality, use SVHS tapes in SVHS mode. For highest display quality on your TV, connect the recorder output to the TV with the included S-Video cable (not the composite yellow terminal cable) and switch to that input for viewing. If your TV doesn't have an S-Video input, it's obsolete. Junk it and get a new one.

Later, when you've sorted out exactly what you want to do with your PC, you can capture the SVHS videos and transfer them to whatever.

SVHS tapes also make excellent masters for dubbing to VHS.

[GeneralLeoFF]

To late. The UFC is over as of the 22nd

Anyway none of this is realy all this complex is it seems in this thread. I capture digital satalite on a $30 TV Wonder VE from ATI using VirtualDUB (Including PPV) with little problem. I also sometimes use InterVideo WinDVD Recorder if I want to skip the AVI step. Thats only if what i'm capturing is just so I can watch it and delete it. If i'm keeping it I will capture to AVI.

Even with a hardware MPEG2 encoder it's always best to capture in raw AVI simply becose you have more controll over the final product as it is best to edit uncompressed media then it is to edit already compressed stuff.

I'm going to replace my TV Wonder VE with a PVR250 or a FlyVideo 3000 (4000 if LifeView ever gets off there butts and relese it) pretty soon though.