ADS Instant DVD as a PVR?

[bigjuggler]

Hi,

I am keen to set up a PVR arrangement. I live in Canada and Tivo and ReplayTV have failed to set up a service offering here (for reasons that escape me). This bites.

So, I am looking at a DIY solution. I know that the new EyeTV 200 will encode mpeg2 on the fly and drop it on the harddrive via firewire. I am not sure if it will work with my terrestrial digital television service. It costs $350.

I am attracted to the much lower price of the ADS Instant DVD for Mac ($180...about HALF). I know it encodes to mpeg2 in hardware and includes some editing/authoring tools. It looks like a good way to encode my old VHS tapes to DVD and clear some shelf space. But, it's lack of a program guide seems limiting.

Finally my question: Can the ADS Instant DVD be set up manually to record shows when I am not at my computer? Would applescript work? Can I use applescript to fetch tv listings from TitanTV as well and set the capture software or am I dreaming.

I guess my real goal is to archive a few of my favourite shows and movies to DVD. Quality is important to me as I own a HDTV set. I could maybe live with scheduling manually, but I think I would really like to be able to set the recording time like the old VCR.

Any advice is welcome.

[Frobozz]

I have this ADS USB Instand DVD for Mac and have used it to record television programs. There is no way that I know of to automate its recording. It can't change channels or be set to start or stop recordings at a certain time. And it definitely doesn't allow you to watch a program while you're recording. What it does, it does very nicely though.

There are settop PVRs other than Tivo and ReplayTV. For instance, Panasonic has a nice combo DVD recorder/hard drive unit.

[snafu099]

I have this ADS USB Instand DVD for Mac and have used it to record television programs. There is no way that I know of to automate its recording. It can't change channels or be set to start or stop recordings at a certain time. And it definitely doesn't allow you to watch a program while you're recording. What it does, it does very nicely though.

There are settop PVRs other than Tivo and ReplayTV. For instance, Panasonic has a nice combo DVD recorder/hard drive unit.

Havd IDVD-2 and watch what I am caping all the time. Just a matter of proper physical setup/cableing.

capwiz has a delayed cap setting, but it is a onetime shot and is not based on clock time, just a delay from when you set it.

ADS has "news" report on site about new device with tv-tuner & pvr but I got no reply when I inquired about it.

AFIK there is not s/w to get pvr (news release by chipmaker says chip has pvr capability, so ads just has not utilized it).

Exellent cap device, but if you are looking for tv-turner/pvr, current products so not do this. AFIK

[promoter]

I guess my real goal is to archive a few of my favourite shows and movies to DVD. Quality is important to me as I own a HDTV set. I could maybe live with scheduling manually, but I think I would really like to be able to set the recording time like the old VCR.

Here's a manual approach that I use to capture TV shows to DVD. It requires an analog-to-digital converter, a VCR, and a Firewire cable. I use the Canopus ADVC-100 as the A-D converter. The Mac is a G4 533MHz running OS X 10.3.2 & iMovie 2.x, though I've also done this under Jaguar. I haven't tried iMovie 3.x for video capture yet.

I split my VCR's A/V outputs between the TV & the Canopus. The Canopus sits next to the VCR & connects to the Mac via a long Firewire cable. To record a show to iMovie, I first program the VCR to record the show, then do the following:

• Power up the Canopus box first. iMovie sometimes won't recognize the box if I power it up after the Mac.
  Power up the Mac & log in.
  Start iMovie. You'll see a blue screen with the "Camera Connected" message.
  Turn on the VCR. The VCR's output should appear in iMovie's left pane.
  Click on iMovie's "Import" button. iMovie will begin capturing from the VCR.
  After a second or two, turn off the VCR. iMovie will remain paused in Import mode and display a blue screen.

At this point you can turn off your monitor and walk away. When the VCR turns on to record your program, iMovie will resume capture. When the VCR turns off, iMovie pauses capture. If you've got enough disk space you can record multiple shows in this fashion, with the VCR switching channels & controlling iMovie's capture. Edit your video in iMovie, export, then author & burn your DVD.

It's not as slick as a PVR, but you'll gain a high-quality A-D converter as well as the ability to capture from TV. No PVR subscription costs, either, and it's as easy to program as your existing VCR. The only tricky part was figuring out the sequence of events and finding a Firewire cable long enough to reach from the VCR to the computer. I could have placed the Canopus near the Mac & used long A/V cables, but I though a long Firewire cable would give me a cleaner signal. I haven't tried this with any other A-D boxes except the Canopus, which impresses me with its rock-solid performance and quality captures.

[Frobozz]

I made a mistake in my earlier description. What I meant to say is you can't watch a different channel while you are recording with the ADS box. Another thing that PVRs do is allow you to watch the beginning of a show while you're still recording the middle and end of it. That is not possible with the ADS.

You say you don't know if the EyeTV 200 will work with your television source. Since it uses TitanTV for its programming you can sign up at titantv.com for free and try setting up your channel guide.

I, too, have HDTV and get some HDTV channels from Comcast. I've used the ADS box to record Alias and some other HDTV programs to my Mac and burned them to DVD. Naturally the recorded content is not HDTV and the sound is 2-channel mpeg stereo rather than the Dolby Digital 5.1 of the original cablecast. Still, it looks and sounds mighty nice when played back. Plus I get the widescreen aspect ratio (not anamorphic of course).

[sickdimension]

i know this post is a little old, but i'm resurrecting it. promoter, your method sounds pretty cool. i'm using ads instant dvd though. it's usb, and imovie only recognizes firewire, right?

can't someone write an applescript or something to open capty at a certain time and start capture?

[AntnyMD]

I, too, have HDTV and get some HDTV channels from Comcast. I've used the ADS box to record Alias and some other HDTV programs to my Mac and burned them to DVD. Naturally the recorded content is not HDTV and the sound is 2-channel mpeg stereo rather than the Dolby Digital 5.1 of the original cablecast. Still, it looks and sounds mighty nice when played back. Plus I get the widescreen aspect ratio (not anamorphic of course).

If your cable converter is outputting 16:9 video to your widescreen HDTV, it should also be putting out 16:9 video to the ADS box, the kind that looks squished ito the 720x480 aspect of DVD. If, when you reauthor, you use DVD Studio Pro, you can tell DVDSP the video is 16:9 Letterbox, it will make your DVDs anamorphic. I don't know if CaptyDVD does this. I've done this several times with anamorphic DVDs so it should work for you with HDTV on cable.

[Frobozz]

AntnyMD, the problem is the HDTV cable box does not ouput an HDTV signal through its standard video or S-VHS connections, so I have no way to connect the HDTV output to the ADS unit.

[AntnyMD]

I knew I didn't explain that correctly.

I was trying to focus on the 16:9 aspect of the HD content, not HD bitrates or anything like that. When you connect the settop box to your HD monitor, does the picture fill the screen, or is it letterboxed with black bars on all sides?

[promoter]

i know this post is a little old, but i'm resurrecting it. promoter, your method sounds pretty cool. i'm using ads instant dvd though. it's usb, and imovie only recognizes firewire, right?

can't someone write an applescript or something to open capty at a certain time and start capture?

sickdimension,

You might check out the application BTV X http://www.versiontracker.com/php/search.php?mode=basic&action=search&str=btv&plt%5B%5D=macosx

I haven't tried it, but it supposedly captures from USB, too. Seems it's got mixed reviews, but it couldn't hurt to try.

[Frobozz]

AntnyMD, isn't it fun having two different subjects being discussed in the same thread? Oh well.

I think I understand what you're getting at. The picture image when captured by the ADS box is 16:9 with black bands on top and bottom (letterboxed). I'm presuming the signal, however, is 4:3 and includes the black bands as part of the overall image so the picture area doesn't get all the lines as it does with anamorphic video.

So you're saying that with DVDSP I can encode an anamorphic DVD using just the picture image area even though I have a letterboxed rather than anamorphic source. Is that correct?

[AntnyMD]

So you're saying that with DVDSP I can encode an anamorphic DVD using just the picture image area even though I have a letterboxed rather than anamorphic source. Is that correct?

Almost ...

What I'm saying is, I take an anamorphic DVD, one that fills up the entire 16:9 screen on a widescreen tv (and, the same disc on a regular tv, would be letterboxed with black bars at the top and bottom). Playing this disc for display on a 16:9 tv but capturing instead with the ADS would capture an image that looks squished, but fill the entire 720x480 frame.

In DVDSP, you can choose a drop-down for 16:9 letterbox and pan&scan, without re-encoding. When you make a DVD of this captured footage, it too would be anamorphic widescreen (it would fill the entire 16:9 screen on a widescreen tv).

[Frobozz]

That makes sense. However, when I capture the 16:9 video from my HDTV channels through the ADS box I get a letterboxed picture rather than the squished full-frame image. You say you can capture the squished 16:9 picture from an anamorphic DVD using the ADS. I don't know how to get this result from my HDTV cable tuner.

[AntnyMD]

Is there a setting in your digital settop box that allows you to tell the box you're viewing content on a 4:3 or 16:9 display? My DVD player has such a setting ... I assumed high-def cable boxes did as well ... Its disappointing if it doesnt!

Right now it seems like its "automatically detecting" the ADS box as a 4:3 display, which would give you the results you're seeing.

I think I can tie this tangent back into the original topic by saying ... Someone was eventually gonna ask how can they use the ADS as a PVR for high def tv content.

[Frobozz]

Is there a setting in your digital settop box that allows you to tell the box you're viewing content on a 4:3 or 16:9 display?

Yes, I can set the TV type as 16:9, 4:3 letterbox and 4:3 pan and scan. It is set to 16:9.

I also can set the output to 1080I, 480p or 480i. It is 1080I.

Lastly it has a 4:3 overide of 480i, 480p and off. I have it on 480i because my HDTV is the Sony XBR that has a 16:9 mode within a 4:3 box. Maybe if I turn this to off I'll get the squished image. On my TV having this off creates the bars around 4:3 programs rather than filling the 4:3 screen.

Oh, and imagine how this might work with timed recording (trying to stay on topic).