Recording shows on TIVO or Desktop PC???

zacdl

zacdl

AC Members
Aug 14, 2005
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Oklahoma
www.zactrades.com
I have a question...

We got rid of cable, because it was really a waste of money, so we got an antenna. I dont miss cable a bit! But, I cannot live without the Simpsons so I have to keep the local channels at least, thats why I still have an antenna though.

Now then... I am being given a Tivo-like thing (Because it is harder to work than the real tivo).

I am thinking you have to have it hooked up to cable TV or something to where it can pull a TV Guide off the cable providers server or something, so it knows what to record. Since I have an antenna, is this information availible to me?

If not, is there anyway I can still use the Tivo-thing, even if I dont have the auto-matic features (Basically just have a manual digital recorder then).


Also, I have seen that you can hook your desktop PC up to the TV and save programs onto your hard disc on the computer. How hard is this to set up? The reason why I ask, is I have a 80 GB HDD on the desktop, and only use about 10 GB of it. That is enough to fit quite a few shows onto (although just one or two per week is all I need recorded). What equipment/software do I need to do this?
 
zacdl said:
I have a question...

We got rid of cable, because it was really a waste of money, so we got an antenna. I dont miss cable a bit! But, I cannot live without the Simpsons so I have to keep the local channels at least, thats why I still have an antenna though.
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Can't really answer your question but I can make a suggestion. The cable company, by law, has to provide you with bare-bones-basic cable for very low cost. I believe this is somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 a month (I'm pretty sure its under 10). The kicker is, while they only have to provide you with the basic VHF and UHF channels for that price, there's likely to be some overflow of basic cable channels that will still make it through. It might be a good compromise. You get cable clarity and ease of connection for things like Tivo but for very low cost. Call your cable company to find out about it. I know they don't like volunteering the information so you'll have to inquire.

T
 
Yea, i'm not 100% sure, but when we got our tivo (and this has been years ago now) but we had to tell the tivo what cable package we had so that it could go out and configure itself... I don't know if tivo works without at least a basic cable package. I would imagine it would have to, but I just don't remember seeing that option we when set ours up.
 
The cable company, by law, has to provide you with bare-bones-basic cable for very low cost.
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Really? What law is that? I dont know if they provide something like that or not, but it would be great to stick the law in their face to make them offer me one :)
 
zacdl said:
Really? What law is that? I dont know if they provide something like that or not, but it would be great to stick the law in their face to make them offer me one :)
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Sorry, you may have to go through and Google that one yourself. I just looked quick and couldn't see any sort of title for the program. I don't believe this is a local thing but I guess it could be. I've known a few people who have taken advantage of it. Again, it only entitles you to cable service for the public channels.

Edit: Here's what I could find. I guess you need to talk to you Local Franchise Authority about basic cable. What they call basic is different from what the cable company advertises as its "Basic" package.

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/cablerates.html

T
 
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I dont know about TIVO, since I use windows media center to watch/record TV. It downloads the TV show lists from the internet, through my internet connection.
 
And how do you have it hooked up to your TV? I bet there is some cheaper or free software that will do the same thing Media Center does.
 
zacdl said:
And how do you have it hooked up to your TV? I bet there is some cheaper or free software that will do the same thing Media Center does.
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Its not hooked up to my TV. I watch TV on my computer monitor (i have no TV) I split the cable line so it goes into the TV tuner card, and the other end goes into the cable modem. I could hook up a TV to my computer though, either with the S-video, or DVI outputs on my vid card.

There is free software, myth TV, and a bunch of front ends for media player and stuff. I havent found any of them to have as nice of an interface as media center though.
 
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There are Cable TV only versions of TIVO or similar machines from what I understand (sold bundled with cable TV subscription) then there are ones that do over the air or cable. Where does the TV Guide info come from?....

Cable TV has a special channel pumping the information to the device usually. Over the air occurs either through a dial up to the "subscription" service provider such as TIVO or other company's phone number over night through a dial up link... OR there are some cases where the guide info is broadcast through a "back channel" usually overlayed on PBS stations.

For computer based recording see here:

http://www.mythtv.org/

the tuner card they mention PVR 350 or something like that works in windows too but not with the mythtv in windows. The myth tv is a better system but requires geek skills to get it going most of the time.

most tuner cards come with basic software to do recording.
 
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