D-VHS recording with VOOM?

[Mountaineer]

I've spoken with the VOOM CSRs repeatedly and can't get an answer that satisfies me, so here goes...

My VOOM system uses a Motorola DSR550. It has component outputs (I use DVI to my JVC AV-34WP84 720p looks great). If I go component into a D-VHS deck, can I record in HD? Do I need IEEE 1394 (Firewire) to record HD? Is there some encoding in the signal that prevents HD recording?

Sorry if these are dumb questions. TIA.

 

[trugel]

There doesn't seem to be a way to record from the Voom box. But I have been able to record the over the air HD programming. Follow the link below to get the details, but in essence you need a free program that works with macintosh computers and a firewire connection to your tv (I have a Mitsubishi set). Let me know if you have questions and I may be able to help since I'm recording all of the HD programs on my local channels this week and can't wait to record the football games this weekend.

Feel free to send me an email to trugel@optonline.net if you need help with this.

Good luck,

Here's the link: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20040426151111599&query=hdtv+recording

Tom

 

[madpoet]

There is no DVHS deck that takes and records component in. There is no Firewire capacity on the Voom box. The only reasonably affordable (under $1,000 or so) way to record off the component is to get one of the old JVC WVHS VCRs. Good luck finding one. There are many, many ways to record OTA content and I would not advise using a Macintosh . See the Home Theater PC Forum over at AVS.

 

[trugel]

There is no DVHS deck that takes and records component in. There is no Firewire capacity on the Voom box. The only reasonably affordable (under $1,000 or so) way to record off the component is to get one of the old JVC WVHS VCRs. Good luck finding one. There are many, many ways to record OTA content and I would not advise using a Macintosh . See the Home Theater PC Forum over at AVS.

I have to respectfully disagree. I have had great success with my setup and have not found any reference on the AVS forum stating that Macintosh is not a valid solution. Can you give me the specific link in the AVS forum where I can find this discusssion? I am always looking for information to better understand this evolving subject. By the way, are the HTPC solutions you are recommending allow you to play the recorded HD program on your HDTV or only on the computer monitor? My setup allows me to play it on my HDTV and it looks exactly the same as the original program. I do agree that you need a very powerful computer to play the recorded HD program on the computer and my Powerbook G4 cannot keep up with the amount of data it needs to process. This is not a problem since I playback the HD program on my TV via the firewire connection.

Thanks,

 

[madpoet]

I'm not saying it's not a valid solution. Your method however relies on the internal tuner of your television (relatively expensive) and yoru Macintosh (also relatively expensive). It can be done on a Windows platform PC for a lot less money. And yes, it can be viewed on either my PC monitor, my HDTV, or my HD Projector. There are a number of capture cards for OTA HD that run on the windows platform, and I've tried most of them.

-MP

 

[DarrellP]

If you can find one, there was a Panasonic deck on the market that had component inputs but they are as valuable as gold today, last I heard, they were running in the neighborhood of $1600.

I use my JVC 30K via S-Video and get good results with it, but since I got a Panny E85H, I've relegated the ol' JVC to just DTheater tapes. Like you, I am really itching to get some firewire from Voom so I can record stuff.

 

[rudolpht]

It was a JVC W-VHS series of decks that make the D-VHS seem to very high quality in comparison . Retailed 4500-6K, used 500-1500. Intended for medical and other vertical markets. High cost tapes. Nearly guarantted to to break whenever shipped.

 

[madpoet]

Not at all.. my WVHS deck was great. Yes, the firewire decks are better. But they should be . For the technology involved, the WVHS deck was just fine.

 

[rudolpht]

Do you still have it? I think the DVHS decks aren't the highest quality & think W-VHS was even worse. What do you disagree with. I had mine for over a year and had 20+ tapes. I now have a couple hundred DVHS tapes with a slightly better sustainment strategy until recordable Blu-Ray.

Are you recommending people invest in W-VHS now?

 

[madpoet]

Nope, ditched it a while back when I needed the cash. I wouldn't recommend it honestly because of the cost, not because of the technology. It worked just fine. Was it a digital quality recorder like a firewire deck? Nope. But it is the only thing that could capture the component outputs, and it looked better than SD. I was mainly disagreeing that it broke every time you shipped it .

 

[T2k]

Nope, ditched it a while back when I needed the cash. I wouldn't recommend it honestly because of the cost, not because of the technology. It worked just fine. Was it a digital quality recorder like a firewire deck? Nope. But it is the only thing that could capture the component outputs, and it looked better than SD. I was mainly disagreeing that it broke every time you shipped it .

Me too: I got mine (SR-W7U) recently without a hitch.

By the way I don't see that D-VHS would be better - that's already a compressed digital recording whereas this one is fully uncompressed, built on HQ analog stuff.
I've compared them and I failed to see why JVC 30k should be better. It carries multichannel sound vs my stereo but that's it.

In terms of input-ouput JVC W-VHS' is far superior, I think.

 

[madpoet]

Yowsers... you'd be just about the only one . The compressed digital stream of the firewire is almost always going to be better. Now that I've got a 40k and a bunch of stuff taped (plus some DTheater titles) the quality difference is clear. The W7U is outstanding (if expensive), but is slightly less clear than the firewire decks in my opinion. Plus it only has stereo sound.

T2k, where did you get yours from? The W7U is hard to find!

 

[T2k]

Yowsers... you'd be just about the only one . The compressed digital stream of the firewire is almost always going to be better. Now that I've got a 40k and a bunch of stuff taped (plus some DTheater titles) the quality difference is clear. The W7U is outstanding (if expensive), but is slightly less clear than the firewire decks in my opinion. Plus it only has stereo sound.

T2k, where did you get yours from? The W7U is hard to find!

I know.

AVS... Actually I bought it for time shifting Voom only - until its DVR will come out but I started thinking about keeping it.

BTW why a compressed digital always going to be better?

 

[Tvlman]

The best quality recording of VOOM (other than an HD recorder) would be on Tivo. Tivo as you know connects to VOOM programming and records on a hard drive. I'm speaking of the "stand alone" Tivo, not the DVR you get with cable or DirecTV. Works great! Tivo has a page devoted to VOOM & recording.

 

[T2k]

The best quality recording of VOOM (other than an HD recorder) would be on Tivo. Tivo as you know connects to VOOM programming and records on a hard drive. I'm speaking of the "stand alone" Tivo, not the DVR you get with cable or DirecTV. Works great! Tivo has a page devoted to VOOM & recording.

Interesting.
I do have Tivo since 2001, I still have some basic DirecTV package, though I'll cancel within days...
First: I don't know about any standalone HD Tivo - do you?
Second: If there's one, how did you connect it to the Voom STB to record HD programming in HD?

 

[T2k]

There doesn't seem to be a way to record from the Voom box. But I have been able to record the over the air HD programming. Follow the link below to get the details, but in essence you need a free program that works with macintosh computers and a firewire connection to your tv (I have a Mitsubishi set). Let me know if you have questions and I may be able to help since I'm recording all of the HD programs on my local channels this week and can't wait to record the football games this weekend.

Feel free to send me an email to trugel@optonline.net if you need help with this.

Good luck,

Here's the link: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20040426151111599&query=hdtv+recording

Tom

You can record OTA with any PC and you don't even need Firewire on your TV - get an average Radeon plus the HDTV RGB output ($25) and that's it.

 

[madpoet]

Sorry, but ANY MPEG recording device is going to give you pretty much the same SD quality. You feed it the SVideo signal from the Voom receiver. Replay works, Tivo works, even those settop DVD recorders work.

-MP