Newbie with question

[LoneShark]

Good morning,

I am fairly new to FTA, I have a motorized setup which works great. My question is, I have a windows based and even an Apple laptop that I would like to hook up to my satellite/receiver system. What will I need? Or is this even possible. I plan on recording some shows through the computer onto DVDs for better quality. Any help is appreciated.

 

[PSB]

I use my DVB World USB box to watch HD and 4:2:2 on my computer. I then record directly to my hard drive.

Its all done by the DVB World box, its just like an on-screen video recorder, it also has a timer. SWEET!

Its then easy enough to burn to disk from there.

Most important part is your computer is up to the DVB World requirements .......


PC requirements
- 500MHz CPU or above
- 8M Bytes RAM or above
- 128M Bytes RAM or above
- USB2.0 support
- 50M Bytes hard disk free space

 

[dashaund]

I own a Mac. Haven't tried a USB receiver with a Mac, but from what I hear, it's pretty tough to get it going. The Mac platform just isn't as widely supported. I know Twinhan does have drivers for their USB receiver. Off the top of my head, I don't even know of a program to watch it with...I know there is one just don't know it. It'd be pretty cool since the Mac does video processing very efficiently...I'm sure it'd be awesome. As far as the Windows laptop, as long as it meets those requirements it would do pretty good at standard definition 4:2:0 receiving. Once you get into HD and 4:2:2 stuff, you'll need a heftier computer. I've heard of some of the 3.0Ghz computers having a hard time with 4:2:2 HD. It can be done though, and it's worth it (especially when you're watching a feed or game that a lot of people can't!). Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[digiblur]

Good morning,

I am fairly new to FTA, I have a motorized setup which works great. My question is, I have a windows based and even an Apple laptop that I would like to hook up to my satellite/receiver system. What will I need? Or is this even possible. I plan on recording some shows through the computer onto DVDs for better quality. Any help is appreciated.

What type of feeds are you looking to record?

 

[charper1]

I plan on recording some shows through the computer onto DVDs for better quality. Any help is appreciated.

Just because you burn something to DVD doesn't mean it has any improved quality. You would just be copying the same exact quality onto a better type of storage media, as opposed to tape or leaving the program trapped on your hard drive.

So what I am saying is if you have something of so-so quality you are viewing on the PC or from the satellite, burning that to DVD isn't going to improve anything. In fact, in some case if you don't have a perfect encoding and burning setup, you might be losing a bit of video quality, but not always.

I archive tons of material to DVD and DVD-DL, and encourage that, but not in the hopes of improved video quality because that's not going to happen.

 

[LoneShark]

Basically, I am more after the process of getting the show/program onto a DVD, lets forget about the quality at this time. I am interested in IA5 mainly, and needed to know the process of getting a show onto a DVD. I have a few computers to work with, but mainly an IBM thinkpad T42 (Centrino M, 1.8), if that suffices. What equipment will I need to purchase. Thanks,

 

[dashaund]

Equipment wise, the DVB World USB box would be it. Simply slave it to your STB, and you're running. Software is more tricky. Depending on what format you record it in, you might have to convert it to another format to burn it...maybe not...this is a fairly popular thing to do. I suggest Nero to burn your DVDs.