Richard Reynolds wrote:
On Fri, 28 Dec 2007, Ralph Shumaker wrote:
Richard Reynolds wrote:
and this doesnt even touch on the fact that if your really recording
over the air broadcasts in any area near the san diego county line
your just doing it wrong....
Then I guess I've been doing it wrong for years. What free
alternative do you suggest?
Ive given this post a significant amount of time, not because I dont
have answers to the technical questions, not because I dont have
experience using a PVR or many PVR's but because of one part "What
free alternative do you suggest?" no matter how much we might want to
push the bottom line nothing is free. IF you have already bought this
card, then you spent money on it, if you havent then you will have to
spend some money on the alternative. its not free. even if you got
this card free by some means like a gift, the electricity is not free
to run it. For the technical portions please see below, but for the
other response. If you bought this card for over the air recording you
bought the wrong one plane and simple, your money would have better
been spent buying one of a zillion others, many that already decode
the digital signal. most out there now even come with there own
antenna not the FM radio antenna that comes with several of these
designed for audio only, but a real antenna It would be nice in the
san diego area if these antenna's rotated either automatically or
programatically none that I know of do. But you can purchase antenna
rotators that do. This line of cards does not predate the digital
airways push, purchasing these cards means you should have understood
there limits as they were boxed.
So I take it that your comment about "if your really recording over the
air broadcasts in any area near the san diego county line your just
doing it wrong" was specifically excluding other recording devices.
That's fine. But even assuming that I was using a PVR, your arguments
about what all is truly *not* _free_ about recording is completely askew
of the scope of *my* usage of the word "free". My usage of the word
free *can* refer to one part of the equation. I'm not sure how you
missed that part (especially since it was the only part of your message
that I quoted which even *could* be free), but I was referring
specifically to the "over the air broadcasts in any area near the san
diego county line" that you mentioned. Aside from the subject line
still being intact, I isolated that specific part of what you said. I'm
sorry, I didn't mean to bust up your party. I wasn't even very serious
with my response. My VCRs are only capable of over-the-air analog
broadcasts. But even if they were capable of digital broadcast
recordings, why do I have to get those signals from cable or satellite?
Why am I "just doing it wrong" if I choose not to pay for the signals
that are broadcast in my area for free? Some of the local stations are
simulcasting some of the programs in digital as well as analog. But you
made no such distinction in your statement. What if I had a PVR that is
capable of recording digital "over the air broadcasts in any area near
the san diego county line"? Why then would I be "just doing it wrong"?
Then I feel I have to clairify somethings, this was a thread
specifically about the Hauppauge PVR-x50 lines and over the air
broadcasts, this specifically *excludes* any other cards by Hauppauge
or any other manufacturer. And excludes any source other than over the
air, have cable from the cable company and your exempt from this.
Even in this statement, you make *zero* mention as to whether or not the
over-the-air broadcasts you speak of are digital or only analog. It
seems like you assume that they are *all* analog.
Now as for the fun stuff.
While not free, the best picture, channel selection and use of these
specific cards is to get the cheapest cable TV if you can get it doing
so allows you to use cheaper cards(like the PVR-x50) to capture TV and
provides a more reliable higher quality signal.
Your assuming I care about channel selection and best picture. My
objection to your statement was solely from the vantage point of someone
not paying for cable or satellite because he is content with what he is
able to get freely from the air (the over-the-air broadcasts I'm
recording that you said I'm "just doing it wrong"). Even if I had the
PVR card, don't assume that I want to pay for cable or satellite
service. You don't think the local broadcasts are enough channel
selection nor best picture, fine. But don't impose your standards on me
and assume that I'm doing it wrong just because I think they are good
enough.
The next step if you have not bought the cards yet is to buy a
different capture card one that does better at uhf/vhf decoding, the
chosen line here is not really that great at it, look for ones with
there own antenna (but not perminently fixed on) most are not
omni-directional so depending on where in the county you live you may
need to pick which card records off which channel
Now wait. In your previous paragraph, you are still pushing to get
cheap cable, yet here you are pushing cards that have an antenna. If
you're using a cable signal, why would you care if the card comes with
an antenna? Are those just better at decoding weak signals? That
doesn't make much sense to me since even the weakest cable is usually a
better quality signal than over-the-air, so much so that I don't
understand why you would need stronger uhf/vhf decoding. I get the
impression that you are undulating back and forth between cable signals
and broadcast signals in your explanations, unless I'm just not
following right.
I almost bought a Haup card but while reading what they were capable of,
the ones that could decode digital signals only mentioned cable signals
and satellite signals (which are *not* the same). None mentioned
digital broadcast *at all*. If they were capable of it, they didn't
mention it. And that was the main reason why I didn't go ahead and buy one.
My amplified rabbit ears spit out a signal through coax presently to my
VCR, tho I don't see why it being a VCR should make a distinction. Are
these cards capable of receiving an over-the-air signal picked up by
rabbit ears and pumped out via coax? To put it simply, do these cards
have a coax input? I've adjusted the antenna to give me a good enough
quality signal for most of the shows I like. (And even with the limited
channel selection, I feel like I probably spend too much time watching
my recordings, so why pay for even more channels!)
If you have bought the cards and either cheap cable is unavalible or
still unwanted the other alternative is to buy one of the many digital
converter boxes. If you get a digital decoder box that has an antenna
(again avoid the fixed antennas) you may use that. otherwise buy or
build an antenna for each tuner you have, again depending on where in
the county you live pick one tunner for each station or set of
stations to match the antenna direction. Or alternatively buy or build
an antenna tunner yourself, a Hint if you think you might be able to
build one yourself a simple servo will do just fine and are
controllable for chaep thru the usb or LPT ports thru linux see the
LDP HAM guides. these digital antennas are not as large as the older
style TV antennas and so the weight is very low a hitec HS-422 will do
just fine.
I have an outdoor antenna that claims to be omnidirectional while good
for analog *and* digital. I need to place it higher since at its
current low perch does *almost* as well as the rabbit ears I have inside.
conspiricy fans you will of course be able to record on the currently
fox channel 6 for a LONG time as they will not be converting to digital.
One of the stations I don't pick up that well, but don't miss much
either. I like some of the programs it has, but not enough to record,
or adjust the ears for.
(And why does it seem that you loathe punctuation?)
Sure but that doesn't mean my answers are wrong.
perhapsnotbutitdoesmakethemmuchhardertofollowandinsomeplacestheyjustleavemedrawingahugeblankastowhatyoumayhavemeantsimplybecauseofyoubactrackingonethoughttoreplaceitwithanotheronlytohavemissedaortwoanditreallycantakesomethrowconfusesthehelloutofme
If you can follow that, congrats!
--
Ralph
--------------------
The most arduous task a reformer has to execute, is to make people think; to
rouse them from that lethargy, which, like the mantle of sleep, covers them in
repose and contentment.
--Noah Webster, 1789
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