Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)
Build a Flag-Free HD Personal Video Recorder
Now's the right time to build your own digital TV recorder. We show
you how.
Richard Baguley
Monday, May 09, 2005
There are many reasons why you might want to record a TV program on
your PC. You might be building a media server that stores all of your
digital audio and video, or maybe you just want to save a favorite
program to DVD to watch it later. Whatever the reason, you have a
right to record and keep the TV you watch, and the PC is a perfect
tool to do this.
Such recording becomes even more compelling when you add digital TV to
the mix. TV stations are moving over to a digital format, where shows
are transmitted digitally at HDTV resolutions. Forget snowy, grainy,
analog TV: Digital TV provides crisp pictures and clear, digital sound
that your PC can record and play back. But the new ability of viewers
to record and duplicate exact digital copies of TV shows and of movies
shown on TV is a nightmare scenario for the TV and movie companies,
since it's also an opportunity for unlimited copying, or piracy. By
now, you've probably heard about the FCC's response to this
issue--mandating that devices recognize a so-called "broadcast flag"
to limit copying. We covered the broadcast flag issue in "TV Limits
Copies" from our June 2005 issue. On May 6, however, an appeals court
struck down the FCC's broadcast flag mandate. That ruling might be
appealed to the Supreme Court, or Congress could step in, so the
broadcast flag may only be delayed, not dead.
Either way, until the broadcast flag is in force, it's perfectly legal
to buy a non-broadcast flag receiver, install it, and use it to record
digital TV programs. What you do with the programs after that is up to
you, but remember that copyright laws still apply: If you illegally
distribute a TV program, you may still be prosecuted.
Several PC tuner cards can receive the digital TV signal and save it
to disc--the ATI HDTV Wonder and the PCTV HD-3000, for example. In
this article we'll show you how to build a digital TV PVR using a
digital TV tuner and a PC.
(NOTE: PVRs are also called digital video recorders (DVRs)--PC World's
preferred expression. But in this case, the DVR we're going to build
records digital TV. Devices like TiVo and Replay TV are also DVRs,
because they record analog video in a digital format, but they don't
capture and record digital TV signals. For that reason, and to avoid
duplication with the "digital" in digital TV, we'll refer to our
device as a PVR.)
Next Page: Digital TV PVR Questions & Answers
« Previous Page 1 2 3 4 5 Next »
http
/www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,120761,00.asp
===
"A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty."
-- Author Unknown
Build a Flag-Free HD Personal Video Recorder
Now's the right time to build your own digital TV recorder. We show
you how.
Richard Baguley
Monday, May 09, 2005
There are many reasons why you might want to record a TV program on
your PC. You might be building a media server that stores all of your
digital audio and video, or maybe you just want to save a favorite
program to DVD to watch it later. Whatever the reason, you have a
right to record and keep the TV you watch, and the PC is a perfect
tool to do this.
Such recording becomes even more compelling when you add digital TV to
the mix. TV stations are moving over to a digital format, where shows
are transmitted digitally at HDTV resolutions. Forget snowy, grainy,
analog TV: Digital TV provides crisp pictures and clear, digital sound
that your PC can record and play back. But the new ability of viewers
to record and duplicate exact digital copies of TV shows and of movies
shown on TV is a nightmare scenario for the TV and movie companies,
since it's also an opportunity for unlimited copying, or piracy. By
now, you've probably heard about the FCC's response to this
issue--mandating that devices recognize a so-called "broadcast flag"
to limit copying. We covered the broadcast flag issue in "TV Limits
Copies" from our June 2005 issue. On May 6, however, an appeals court
struck down the FCC's broadcast flag mandate. That ruling might be
appealed to the Supreme Court, or Congress could step in, so the
broadcast flag may only be delayed, not dead.
Either way, until the broadcast flag is in force, it's perfectly legal
to buy a non-broadcast flag receiver, install it, and use it to record
digital TV programs. What you do with the programs after that is up to
you, but remember that copyright laws still apply: If you illegally
distribute a TV program, you may still be prosecuted.
Several PC tuner cards can receive the digital TV signal and save it
to disc--the ATI HDTV Wonder and the PCTV HD-3000, for example. In
this article we'll show you how to build a digital TV PVR using a
digital TV tuner and a PC.
(NOTE: PVRs are also called digital video recorders (DVRs)--PC World's
preferred expression. But in this case, the DVR we're going to build
records digital TV. Devices like TiVo and Replay TV are also DVRs,
because they record analog video in a digital format, but they don't
capture and record digital TV signals. For that reason, and to avoid
duplication with the "digital" in digital TV, we'll refer to our
device as a PVR.)
Next Page: Digital TV PVR Questions & Answers
« Previous Page 1 2 3 4 5 Next »
http
/www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,120761,00.asp===
"A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty."
-- Author Unknown
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/www.nabs.net/Cartoons/OverTheHedge/TreeChainsaw.gif
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