Question

Does this thing really record straight from tv to my computer. My computer only has 512 MB ram and a pentium 3 912 MB. Would my computer be able to handle recording straight from the tv. If this thing works, then why do people even buy tivos?
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=171736&sku=P67-1086

 

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It does say, and looks like it could be setup to record straight from a TV to a
computer, but I’m guessing it was designed to allow people to edit there home
movies on there PC.
Video editing takes a huge amount of resources, you could probably manage it with
your setup (PIII 912mhz?) but I’m guessing your HD would quickly fill unless it is
something special.

TiVo is something completely different from a PC with a box attached that has
video in, try not to confuse the two (damn, how ever I say that I sound condescending).

 

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What is the difference from my pc with a box attached that has video in and tivo? Besides the fact that with my pc I don't have to pay a monthly fee.

 

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Some video cards come with integrated TV tuners. All you have to do is connect an aerial cable and tune in the software.

It is true that you need a lot of disk space for uncompressed files (about 200 MB/minute) but with compression you can get 60 minutes on a CD (MPEG-1) or30 minutes on a CD (MPEG-2) or 60 minutes on a DVD (MPEG-2). But MPEG- 1 and -2 are both lossy compression formats which means you lose some quality.

 

It is possible to directly record from TV to PC, if you have a TV card or a graphics card with TV tuner. And it does not need so much space, of course it depends on the quality and resolution with which you record, but TVs don't have a high resolution and quality compared to a normal computer.

I think I can get about 600 hours of video material (low-medium quality) on a 100 GB hard drive, meaning that you need about 1GB for 6 hours. Really good quality needs about 2-3 GB for an hour. But of course you can compress it with programms later on.

 

Here you can watch TV online from countries around the world.

http://mediahopper.com/portal.htm

 

From my understanding you can teach TiVo to record all your favourite programs
from any of your channels while you're working/sleeping or off enjoying life away
from a TV, but if you had a pc and a box with video in setup, then you would
have to start it and stop it recording, change the channels blah blah blah...
TiVo is meant to be a convenience and with most things in life that are
convenient it has its price.

 

But there is software that enables you too do the same thing that tivo does. So what is the difference?

 

The difference is that TIVO costs more and has a larger storage area for programs.

 

Why are most video capture PC hardware seperate boxes? Isn't it infinetly more convenient to have a PCi or AGP card? (same goes for external modems)