Capture TV Program into DVD

[Yalgaar]

I have always wanted to record tons of stuff that I see on TV. I never relied on the VHS's.

Now in the the DVD world, what would be my options?

What do I need to be alble to record lots of stuff from the TV? I do not even mind to spend some monet to invest on some device or something.

I would appreciate somebody how is already being doing this to give me options ranging from free solutions to spending money solutition and advantages and limitations of each solution.

Thank You very much.

[Yalgaar]

Anybody???

[blutach]

Please read #10 and #14 here. #10 will especially help you in getting answers from people in the know.

Regards

[Yalgaar]

Please read #10 and #14 here. #10 will especially help you in getting answers from people in the know.

Regards

Apologies if this post was not meant to be here. I am still getting to know about this forums. But will make sure will post in the right forum as far as #10 is concerned.

I am not sure why I was pointed to #14 though. Never bumped any post.

[LT. Columbo]

i'm quite proud to say that i am one of the cheapest bastards here. what i did is buy a tv tuner/capture card for about 60$. i put anything on tv on dvd now. it's much cheaper than buying a dvd recorder---which i will do when they are cheap by MY standards

just one option for you

[Yalgaar]

i'm quite proud to say that i am one of the cheapest bastards here. what i did is buy a tv tuner/capture card for about 60$. i put anything on tv on dvd now. it's much cheaper than buying a dvd recorder---which i will do when they are cheap by MYtandards

just one option for you

LT.Comlumbus,

I appreciate your response. BTW. Did not intend cross-posting. I was told this was not the right forum for the question. So decided to post it in general forum becuase did not actually find anything suitable for my basic question.

Anyways, I guess I may be more cheap then you. I may not even want to spend that 60$ unless really really no other way.

Tell me more about your capture card. How does it work? Is it a PCI card? I am using a laptop. Do those cards come in PCMCIA/USB types?

Once you get a capture card? What is the process. What kind of format of files you get on the computer when you capture? Is the capture smart? I mean do you have to stop and start and stuff, OR is there a way to program it by which it can start by itself and also capture multiple channels at a time.

Now when you get the files on the computer. What is the size of them per hour of video? What is the process to finally get on the DVD? How much time and money do we end up spending for each hour of video?

Are these too many question?

I would really appreciate response. My aplogogies again to the site owner/moderator for posting this here. Not sure where this question would go. Did not intend cross posting either.

Thanks again for all the response.

[Yalgaar]

DVD Recorder

i'm quite proud to say that i am one of the cheapest bastards here. what i did is buy a tv tuner/capture card for about 60$. i put anything on tv on dvd now. it's much cheaper than buying a dvd recorder---which i will do when they are cheap by MYtandards

just one option for you

I did purchase a DVD Recorder for the same purpose. I am not sure if you were aware of some nobrand DVD recoder in Walmard which costs only 99$ plus taxes.

I had to finally return it back since it did not do what I wanted. It would not be smart to record what I want to and let me program it. Most importantly I will mess up all the subtitles. I cannot miss subtitles. I did have time at that time to research on that, so finally returned it. Looking for an alternate solution now.

[blutach]

This thread, will, I am sure be merged with your thread in General Discussions which you started after reading my response above.

No problemos.

Regards

[anonymez]

if you have 'digital tv' in your country/area, i suggest you buy a digital tv card. very cheap, can get one for around $100 AU.

all brands/makes of digital tv cards are very very much the same thing. the hardware is almost identical, and one is not better than the other. what you should be concerned about is the software the cards support. the functionality of your card is limited only by the software/drivers. i very highly recommend you get a card with 'BDA drivers'. they are a standard that allows your card to work with a large selection of software, many of the best programs support BDA. you can get digital tv in pci cards and also usb, so you should have not troubles with a laptop. there is no difference in performance.

when recording a program, depending on the software, the most common formats are 'ts (transport stream)' and just regular mpeg files. mpeg files are the best format, and are easiest to convert to other formats, and can be authored to dvd easily. the size in mb per hour depends on your countrie's broadcast bitrate, and also depends whether you're watching SD(standard definition) or HD(high definition). SD in australia is generally around 3 gigabytes/hour, but its different for each channel. HD is around 1.3 megabytes per second.

depending on the software, you could also 'schedule' recordings to occur, so it will record all your favourite programs automatically, your laptop just has to be on at the time.

dvd's can be made in a matter of minutes (around 20 min for me, for a full dvd ). just use a program such as 'tmpgenc dvd author' turn the mpeg file into vobs, and burn with any program.

its impossible to capture multiple channels at the same time, unless you have 2 capture cards, 2 aerial cables/outlets and the cards must support multiple instances of their program (AFAIK only one card can do this for now). i think there are dual tuners, but they are very overpriced i believe. you CAN, however, record multiple channels on the same transponder. for example, you can record a the SD of channel 7, and the HD of channel 7, and the video guide of channel 7. they must be essentially the same channel, or channel frequency.

sorry if my reply isn't well structured , but feel free to ask more questions

methinks this should be moved to hdtv/dvb forum...

[Yalgaar]

if you have 'digital tv' in your country/area, i suggest you buy a digital tv card. very cheap, can get one for around $100 AU.

all brands/makes of digital tv cards are very very much the same thing. the hardware is almost identical, and one is not better than the other. what you should be concerned about is the software the cards support. the functionality of your card is limited only by the software/drivers. i very highly recommend you get a card with 'BDA drivers'. they are a standard that allows your card to work with a large selection of software, many of the best programs support BDA. you can get digital tv in pci cards and also usb, so you should have not troubles with a laptop. there is no difference in performance.

when recording a program, depending on the software, the most common formats are 'ts (transport stream)' and just regular mpeg files. mpeg files are the best format, and are easiest to convert to other formats, and can be authored to dvd easily. the size in mb per hour depends on your countrie's broadcast bitrate, and also depends whether you're watching SD(standard definition) or HD(high definition). SD in australia is generally around 3 gigabytes/hour, but its different for each channel. HD is around 1.3 megabytes per second.

depending on the software, you could also 'schedule' recordings to occur, so it will record all your favourite programs automatically, your laptop just has to be on at the time.

sorry if my reply isn't well structured , but feel free to ask more questions

methinks this should be moved to hdtv/dvb forum...

Thanks for all the very helpful information you have provided. But yes, I do have lots of questions about your post.

1) How do I know for sure if my TV is analog or digital. Please do not mind is this sounds stupid, but I really don't know. I know you may not be knowing either. But can somebody from NJ,USA clarify this for me. I am a Cablevision subscriber.

FYI, I have the 3 connections from my cable box go into the TV, the white,red,orange thingy.

2) Does these cards have capabilities to record mutiple channels/programs at the same time?

3) If I go to one of electonice components store and ask for digital TV card wih USB and support BDA Drivers, would they know what I am talking about or is there more common terms to ask for the same?

Thanks again for all the information.

[Yalgaar]

OH, You edited your post with more details thanks anyways.


Also, can you send me a link where I could see pictures of a TV capture card? I would like to see all kinds of connectors on it to get more idea,

Thanks

[anonymez]

1) the card is for a COMPUTER, not for a tv. if you wish to watch it on a tv, get a PVR box, which is much more expensive.

2) answered in my previous post

3) a knowledgable salesman would understand. i suggest you do some internet searching for which one you want, or at least look at the box the capture card comes in for signs of 'BDA'

you don't need any connectors, all you will need (if you plan on using it on your laptop) is a usb port, and a regular aerial/antennae, which is like the one that plugs into the back of the tv so you can get reception. which i am sure you have....

[Yalgaar]

Questions:

1) Assuming everything is fine getting the MPEG files of my fav. programs and burning it on the DVD. Now while watching the DVD, will I feel the quality of the video or audio to be any less then what I orginitally watched on the TV?

2) Little confused about the card and my cable box connectivity. I understand that the card is for the laptop and not for the TV. But what is connected between the card and the TV/cable box? There must be some wire/connecttors/wireless meida between them to get the program to the card?

Thanks

[Yalgaar]

One more Question:

When the MPEG is build, would it capture the subtitles? If you want to capture the subtitles, do you need to keep subtitles ON while watching? I have had some problem in the past recording TV programs subtitles directly on a DVD recorder.

[anonymez]

1) the quality will be the same, as long as you haven't done any transcoding. you will only need to do so if you want to fit more than 90 minutes on a dvd. this can be done easily with dvdshrink

2)i am talking about tv tuner card. it needs the aerial, like the one plugged into your tv. like an antannae. THAT is how the video gets to the card (i believe USB ones don't need one though). most cable boxes are encrypted (have protection) so your burning/encoding choices may be limited. FTA (free to air) tv is unprotected.

3. yes, i think you need to have the subtitles ON to be recorded, but maybe there is a program out there that doesn't need them on. subtitles are usually captured to a separate file...