Tivo vs. capture card

[johnnyblaze690]

i recently went to afternoons and am looking for a way to record some prime time tv can i get some opinions on witch to go with tivo or video capture card? i have direct tv and nocited that some capture cards only have channel 1-125 are these all the channels i would be able to capture from also will i get the same qaulity i get from the satelite. i dont have a house phone and really dont want the bill just for tivo but if i cant get the qaulity and channels i want then i will. also can i use tivo manullay without having phone line? all help is very appreciated

[thecoalman]

The channel limit is because they are for basic cable. You can't plug a digital cable into a capture card. You have to use it just like you dofor your TV. You set the capture card to channel 3/4 and switch the channels from your direct TV box.

A cheap alternative for about $50 U.S. is the winfast 2000xp. Has a FM tuner , remote control, some video editing software in icluded.Quality is good enough for shows your only going to watch once. I would provide a screenshot but since I get such terribble reception it wouldn't do it justice.

[ebenton]

I don't have satellite and TIVO, but I do have digital cable and a PVR (Personal Video Recorder) provided by the cable company.

*In my opinion*, the quality of the video and the convenience is better using my PVR than it is when I use my capture card (ATI AIW Radeon 7500).
Viewing the video captured with my capture card on my computer looks OK when viewed on my 15" computer monitor, but since I do not have my TV connected to my PC, I must burn the captured video to DVD in order watch it on the 32" TV in my living room. The quality of the captured video when burned to DVD is not as good as the qualtiy when viewed directly from the PVR.
Different hardware and different setups may get different results, but like I said, *in my opinion* the quality is better using the PVR (similar to TIVO). Also, *in my opinion*, the convenience of the TIVO/PVR alone is worth any extra cost.

[mracer]

johnnyblaze690,

Get a DirecTV DVR! It will be the best $99 you ever spend on a piece of consumer electronics. This is a complete no brainer. It's not even questionable. It's so much better than a TV card/Media Center PC that it's like comparing the cheapest Kia to a top of the line Mercedes.

The DirecTV DVR (aka DirecTivo) is $99 at Circuit city for a 35 hour model. The quality is exactly the same as a non-DVR DirecTV reciever. They have dual sat tuners so they can record 2 different programs and playback a third program that is already recorded all at the same time. Or you can use the two tuners to have a 30 minute buffer of live TV on 2 different channels.

Additionally, they are easily upgradedable to over 250 hours of recording time with standard IDE hard drives.

[upshot]

If you don't mind paying TIVO to monitor your viewing/recording history and having no ability to output the digital recordings... Go for it!

[thecoalman]

They monitor your viewing..... That's a crock. Big brother is everywhere. What's next upc codes tattooed on newborns.

[DVDDave]

you go coleman!!!!!!!!

[mracer]

Uhh, you can opt out if you wish from Tivo collecting anonymous viewing data. You can also fairly easily hack them to extract the bitstream recordings.

Look, just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you

[thecoalman]

OK everyone keep it quiet but I thionk mracer is with the F.B.Eyeeeeeeeee

[mracer]

You are correct sir. I am on a super secret special detail in Pennsylvania right now.

Our mission is to look for a person:
in the coal region of Pennsylvania
who suffers from extreme paranoia
has been seen wearing a tinfoil hat
runs around calling Rupert Murdoch "the Great Satan"
mumbles all the time about "black helicopters"

We are closing in on him now, so I won't be on this detail much longer. Wish me luck!

[thecoalman]

My tinfoil hat has a special coal iffused paint that makes me invisible to the black helicopters. HAHAHA catch me if you can.

But seriously with cookies on your comp, those "club cards" they give you at the store, software that phones home ,tivos that collect data on what you watch...the list goes on. If all that data is put together it can paint a pretty good picture of who you are. Doesn't that make you feel like your privacy is being invaded? Sure does to me.

[mracer]

I do understand how you feel. I sometimes pay for things with cash just to trip things up, use programs like adaware & spybot search and destroy, run a true hardware firewall, and opt out of TIVO's anonymous viewing data collection system.

[lordsmurf]

Get DirectDVR.

[johnnyblaze690]

alright think im gonna break down and buy the tivo thanx for all the help

[Matt D]

You won't be disappointed. The DirecTiVo DVR is great, and if you love TV you will love having a Tivo. Really, get the Tivo it's worth every penny.