Down & Dirty Recording TV

[cornemuse]

At one point I had VCR, DVD recorder, & a Magnavox hdd recorder for 'time-shifting' tv shows. I havent recorded anything off the tv in 3-4-5 years. (Last recorded: 'Good Eat's on food network, its a wasteland out there!) I got rid of all the rec stuff & now am/was interested in recording, 'the occaisional' tv show. (the new X-Files, its opposite Antiques RoadShow here).

What would I need to start over on a budget? (cant see too much $$ for something I might use a few times a year) A recorder? A card in the computer?

I would watch it on a 27" monitor if a computer is the way to go, suggestions???

-c-

[usually_quiet]

At one point I had VCR, DVD recorder, & a Magnavox hdd recorder for 'time-shifting' tv shows. I havent recorded anything off the tv in 3-4-5 years. (Last recorded: 'Good Eat's on food network, its a wasteland out there!) I got rid of all the rec stuff & now am/was interested in recording, 'the occaisional' tv show. (the new X-Files, its opposite Antiques RoadShow here).

What would I need to start over on a budget? (cant see too much $$ for something I might use a few times a year) A recorder? A card in the computer?

I would watch it on a 27" monitor if a computer is the way to go, suggestions???

-c-

Do you have good over-the-air reception via a TV antenna and interest in recording from that source? ...or are you intending to record cable TV?

[october262]

you'll need something that can record/bypass the copy protection. especially if you have cable or satellite.

[cornemuse]

Do you have good over-the-air reception via a TV antenna and interest in recording from that source? ...or are you intending to record cable TV?

I got tired of 'aiming' antenna towards either L.A. or San Diego depending on the weather/time of year, so I got basic cable (+ i-net + phone). I get (cox cable) for instance, Fox ch 5, & ch 1005. 5 is 480i res, 1005 is 720 or 1080, , , I used to record the 480 channels.

-c-

[theewizard]

Too record from HDMI out of cable box
You need to remove hdcp (high deff copy protection)

Just so you know the X-Files only has one more episode to air, it's a six episode special
Not a new full-time series

Something like the HDMI cloner box, should work, requires an external USB drive to record the file onto

[usually_quiet]

Do you have good over-the-air reception via a TV antenna and interest in recording from that source? ...or are you intending to record cable TV?

I got tired of 'aiming' antenna towards either L.A. or San Diego depending on the weather/time of year, so I got basic cable (+ i-net + phone). I get (cox cable) for instance, Fox ch 5, & ch 1005. 5 is 480i res, 1005 is 720 or 1080, , , I used to record the 480 channels.

-c-

I am sorry to say this, but using Windows XP as your OS greatly limits your options for recording cable TV and even if you had a newer OS, the cost of HD recording exceeds your budget.

The best solution I can come up with for your situation is a no-PC HDMI capture capture device, the AVerMedia ER130 EzRecorder 130, but it is too expensive. The AVerMedia ER130 costs $116. It uses an external hard drive for recording, which you must supply yourself. You will also need a $24 HDMI splitter that removes HDCP as a side effect, and 3 HDMI cables. The AVerMedia ER130 EzRecorder 130 has one programmable VCR-like event timer, but you must make sure to tune your cable box to the correct channel, and you cannot watch a different channel than the one being recorded.

The HDML Cloner Box is only a good solution if you have set up your cable box to output 720p or 480p. It won't record 480i or 1080i output correctly

[cornemuse]

I dont have a cable box, cable goes direct to tv, (splitter sends signal to i-net/phone box). I dont watch much tv, kinda pointless to get 1,000 channels just to mainly watch the news most days. The low rez is 480, I donno i or p. some channels are either 720 or 1080, (I leave tv set to 720), premium is (?) digital hi def (?), I do not get premium. Occaisionally, rarely, there are two shows on at the same time I want to see, , ,

-c-

[mail2tom]

If you have no cable box you might be able to use one of the inexpensive boxes that "act" as a cable box and are able to record to a USB drive. Some examples are here:
http://www.walmart.com/search/?query=digital%20converter%20box%20for%20analog%20tv

[84lion]

You could get a used Tivo HD with lifetime for under $200, get a cablecard from your local cable co., you can then download unprotected content (which is most non-premium channels and local TV) for archiving as desired. Don't know if that fits your budget but it's the best option I can think of.

[ozymango]

Are you familiar with Silicon Dust's HDHomeRun products? An HDHomeRun plugs into your home network (I'm assuming you have a router connecting your computer to your ISP, just run another ethernet cable from the router to the HDHomeRun), connect your TV cable to the HomeRun, and you can watch/record HD TV on your computer. It has a dual tuner, so you can watch one channel while recording another, or record two channels simultaneously.

I picked mine up for $70 on sale, I think current versions run around $100, so dunno if that's in your budget or not. And configuring the recording part can be a (fun?) challenge -- basically you use the HDHomeRun as the source and some other software (MythTV, Kodi, MediaPortal, old versions of Windows Media Center) for the "recorder" according to your own preferences. I've got my HTPC set up running MediaPortal as the front end to my HDHomeRun and I love it, the hardware is rock solid and support is excellent.

If you can currently watch your cable direct to TV without needing a converter, then you *should* be able to watch/record all the same channels with the HDHomeRun, it has ATSC/QAM tuners. I use mine only to record OTA broadcasts currently, but it worked fine for QAM channels with Comcast when I had that service, but that has been a few years.

[usually_quiet]

I dont have a cable box, cable goes direct to tv, (splitter sends signal to i-net/phone box). I dont watch much tv, kinda pointless to get 1,000 channels just to mainly watch the news most days. The low rez is 480, I donno i or p. some channels are either 720 or 1080, (I leave tv set to 720), premium is (?) digital hi def (?), I do not get premium. Occaisionally, rarely, there are two shows on at the same time I want to see, , ,

-c-

Your days of using a coax connection straight from the wall are drawing to a close. Cox began phasing out analog TV and clear QAM channels in 2015. They will ultimately require all customers to get a cable box of some sort. https://www.cox.com/aboutus/policies/all-digital-plans.html

The PC alternative to TiVo for Cox subscribers is a CableCARD tuner, plus a rented CableCARD (and possibly a tuning adapter if your area uses switched digital video). The least expensive CableCARD tuners are the Hauppauge WinTV DCR-2650, at $105, and the SiliconDust HD Homerun Prime, which costs $116, but neither has Windows XP drivers available. In fact, as far as I can remember, there were no CableCARD tuners past or present which had Windows XP drivers available.

Yep, you'll need an actual TiVO to use a third-party CableCARD solution for recording TV instead of Cox's equipment.

[cornemuse]

I'm running the coax direct to the tv, I (for 3 yrs +-) have been only watching local (network-fox-abc-pbs-etc.) programming, mostly pbs, (& not a lotta that). I was getting like at least one email a day telling me that after (Whatever date), I could no longer view without their 'free for 2 years' mini-boxes, so I got them. Never hooked 'em up, figured I wait till I had to. Well, the date came & passed, , , , the boxes are still in the shipping box they came in, dont/didnt need them, , , so far. For local stuff. Actually, I get quite a few channels I'm not supposed to get, most of them still come through, a few dont. Dont watch 'em, I just thought I'd check & see what did work.

I will look into the various suggestions made here, the inexpensive boxes at wALMART sound ok, & cheap!

Thanks for the info,

-corne-

[usually_quiet]

I'm running the coax direct to the tv, I (for 3 yrs +-) have been only watching local (network-fox-abc-pbs-etc.) programming, mostly pbs, (& not a lotta that). I was getting like at least one email a day telling me that after (Whatever date), I could no longer view without their 'free for 2 years' mini-boxes, so I got them. Never hooked 'em up, figured I wait till I had to. Well, the date came & passed, , , , the boxes are still in the shipping box they came in, dont/didnt need them, , , so far. For local stuff. Actually, I get quite a few channels I'm not supposed to get, most of them still come through, a few dont. Dont watch 'em, I just thought I'd check & see what did work.

I will look into the various suggestions made here, the inexpensive boxes at wALMART sound ok, & cheap!

Thanks for the info,

-corne-

Before you decide on a converter box, make sure that it can tune clear QAM as well as ATSC. Some of them can only tune ATSC.