Looking for a TV recording Guide!

[tential]

I don't know why I can't seem to find this maybe you guys can help.

I'm looking for a guide to do the following.
-Record Live TV
-Strip Commercials
-Encode in a decent file format/size/quality (similar to torrents)

I know I can use a Ceton Quad tuner (I think?) but I'm unsure how to achieve the rest. Any help?

[redwudz]

Your question is too broad. You need to tell us a bit more info.

Record Live TV. Many, many ways. It looks like you want to use a tuner/capture card on your PC. What quality do you want? How fast is your PC? What do you want to spend?
Skip Commercials: Some software will do this, but it may not be perfect (By a long ways )
Encode in a decent file format: What is your intended playback device? MKV is a great format for small files/decent quality, but you may not be able to encode or decode it with your PC or box.

But others may give you better advice.

And welcome to our forums.

[olyteddy]

Not knowing where in the world you live or what your source(s) are I can only give 2 general suggestions. Windows Media Center for a guide, scheduling and recording. As to the commercials, either don't bother (use the skip button on your remote) or I've read some good things about Video ReDo.

[jagabo]

I know I can use a Ceton Quad tuner

Windows Media Center. But almost everything except your local broadcast channels will be encrypted. You will only be able to watch those programs on the same computer that recorded them. You will not be able to compress and archive them.

[tential]

I'd like to user a tuner/capture PC Card. I want the quality to be decent. 720p TV Shows to be about 1 Gig maximum, 420p to be about 350 MB maximum.

My PC Is the new 4770k Haswell, 8 GB of ram, Z-87 mobo. So pretty fast. I haven't overclocked it yet, but I'm guessing with the right cooler I can easily hit at least 4.2 Ghz which is a good OC and on par with IVYbridge or Sandybridge performance if not better (given IPC improvements).

I've heard for the skip commercials. MCEBuddy and VideoRedo, but I wasn't sure how good it is. Was wishing I could see if where the program detected the commercials to make sure it was correct before hitting OK!

MKV is perfectly fine format. Plays on everything I have and a lot of my files are already MKV so that is ok.

I live in the United States and have Verizon FIOS. WMC can be used I've heard, but I also know that the .wtv format can be reencoded.

As for encryption, I have heard from many people that FIOS hasn't started encrypting any channels other than HBO and Showtime (Maybe some sports too?). So anything I have access to should be recordable, compressable, and archivable.

Sorry if this sounds scatter brained, I just answered each concern in a row as I read the thread. Considering how many TV Shows are ripped and easily available on the internet, you'd think that someone would have released a guide by now on how to legally do it yourself since well, most TV isn't content protected and is allowed to be recorded if you are a cable subscriber.

[usually_quiet]

I know I can use a Ceton Quad tuner

Windows Media Center. You will only be able to watch those programs on the same computer that recorded them. You will not be able to compress and archive them.

That's true for some people, but not for others. It depends on what their cable TV provider does and what capture device they use. Some providers use the copy-once flag for almost everything, while others leave most programming marked copy freely. Finding a copy-once flag causes Windows Media Center to encrypt recordings if one is using a CableCARD tuner, a clear QAM tuner, or some analog capture devices. However that can't happen when using the original Hauppauge HD-PVR, from what I have heard about it. Verizon FIOS actually does encrypt almost everything (which means a clear QAM tuner isn't very useful), but marks most programming copy-freely, if what I have read about it is true.

Note that PVR programs other than Windows Media Center that support CableCARD tuners simply fail to record anything when they encounter programming that is not marked copy-freely. The device itself prevents recording if the PVR software used can't encrypt recordings. That is hardly an improvement over WMC.

[tential]

From some more google searches, it seems like VideoRedo + Handbrake would be my best option. Any comments on that?

[jagabo]

Yes, VideoRedo has good support for WTV and DVR-MS files. Handbrake is fine for someone who doesn't want to spend a lot of time learning the intricacies of video encoding.