HD OTA recording only

[Anole]

About three months ago, I asked these questions in a Diamond 9000 thread.
At the time, I was considering that FTA receiver, just to use for recording off-the-air Hi Def.
These three months later, I have no more faith in any of the boxes as FTA satellite receivers, but I will ask the questions again, just to use one for OTA work.

Will any FTA receivers do the following with HD OTA?

Some questions for anyone who has the PVR functions going, and hi def Off The Air, too.

- can you have 1080i feeding out the HDMI or Component connectors and regular video on the S-video or RCA composite connector at the same time?
Or, does the mode of the receiver dictate which outputs are live?

- if the STB is playing a channel, and you decide to record it, can you backup the documented 30 minutes and begin the recording from there?
In my Dish PVR, you can. In the Visionsat FTA PVR, you cannot.

- since the manual was published, has there been a change to the 30 minute buffer?
In another PVR I have, that length defaults to 2 hrs, and is user-settable.

- for OTA, the ATSC stations broadcast an EPG.
It's at least a week long, and may be two weeks (I'm not sure).
Does any receiver display the EPG?

- if the EPG is displayed, can you scroll through it and mark a show to record?
Can you set weekly timers? (capture all my episodes of NCIS, for instance?)

- how does that OTA EPG update? Overnight while the unit is turned off?
Or, do you have to do something special to get it to populate?

- when recording OTA ATSC, is just the selected sub-channel recorded?
Or the entire transport stream?.

Obviously, the recordings on such a receiver, should be easily transferable to a computer for making into DVDs.
I have the DVD part of the technology, as long as I can get to the files.

Experience with the recent rash of digital TV converter boxes has opened my eyes as to what a proper receiver CAN do !

 

[voomvoom]

For the Pansat 9200 HD:
- can you have 1080i feeding out the HDMI or Component connectors and regular video on the S-video or RCA composite connector at the same time?
Or, does the mode of the receiver dictate which outputs are live?

I don't know if it will do HDMI and Component together, and I don't use S-Video, but it does do Component and RCA Composite outputs together.
The mode of the receiver that effects the picture is, 16:9 or 4:3 and that will decide how it will format/look on the HDTV and/or the Analog TV.


- if the STB is playing a channel, and you decide to record it, can you backup the documented 30 minutes and begin the recording from there?
In my Dish PVR, you can. In the Visionsat FTA PVR, you cannot.

No, well I haven't really tried it, but I'm sure it won't.

- for OTA, the ATSC stations broadcast an EPG.
It's at least a week long, and may be two weeks (I'm not sure).
Does any receiver display the EPG?

EPG is not working on any ATSC channels in my area. At least not for the Pansat?

- if the EPG is displayed, can you scroll through it and mark a show to record?
Can you set weekly timers? (capture all my episodes of NCIS, for instance?)

In the EPG, it looks like this would happen, if there was any event listed, but there's not. It shows a minus 12 or a plus 12 on either side of the EPG, that I think would mean hours, if there was any info available?
The Timer in the Pansat can be set manually as it currently is, but it doesn't record the channel you set it for? And the Timer Mode is either "Once" or "Daily". And you can set it for up to 8 events.

- when recording OTA ATSC, is just the selected sub-channel recorded?
Or the entire transport stream?.

The Pansat records only the Channel you are on.

 

[Anole]

Thanks for your help, Voomvoom
That effectively removes the Pansat 9200 from consideration.
Sad, isn't it?

All these boxes have the world by the tail.

 

[empiretc]

subscribing...

I am really after one for the same reasons and it seemed like the diamond was the one to get.

I'd hate to have to get a t-ee-vo just for OTA.

 

[Anole]

two down . . .

You can see my comments in the Diamond review thread.
I was all pumped up 'till Lak7 burst my bubble on the following page.

Of course, if the Diamond has improved since then, it would be worth reconsidering.

 

[Mr Tony]

for the Coolsat 8000

- can you have 1080i feeding out the HDMI or Component connectors and regular video on the S-video or RCA composite connector at the same time?
Or, does the mode of the receiver dictate which outputs are live?

do it right now...HDMI to the HDTV and composite (a/v cables) to the DVD recorder...works just fine in 1080

- for OTA, the ATSC stations broadcast an EPG.
It's at least a week long, and may be two weeks (I'm not sure).
Does any receiver display the EPG?

- if the EPG is displayed, can you scroll through it and mark a show to record?
Can you set weekly timers? (capture all my episodes of NCIS, for instance?)

- how does that OTA EPG update? Overnight while the unit is turned off?
Or, do you have to do something special to get it to populate?

nope...no EPG

- when recording OTA ATSC, is just the selected sub-channel recorded?
Or the entire transport stream?.

no PVR built in so cant comment

 

[Anole]

Three down

for the Coolsat 8000

nope...no EPG

no PVR built in so cant comment

That's a shame.

Say, maybe you're familiar enough with the Coolsat 8100 ... ?
What are some of the differences between the two?
As far as I'm concerned, it's perfectly on-topic for this thread, and maybe it'll entice one of the 8100 owners to comment.

 

[empiretc]

Of course, if the Diamond has improved since then, it would be worth reconsidering.

I thought it was worth considering because of features vs. price.

 

[Anole]

ya gotta have standards

When I finally woke up and realized what it might do, the price seemed reasonable.
See my comments in the Diamond review thread.

But, even at $200 (plus my own hard drive), if it won't record HD OTA from a guide, permit multiple weekly timers, and record in a format that I can use for DVDs, then it's $200 too much.
Same goes if it were $0. That's $0 plus a $100 hard drive, and still it doesn't do what I wanted.


From what I've recently read about the Pansat, it records in some format that Windows won't read.
While I assume there is a simple work-around, I haven't seen one posted yet.

 

[Mr Tony]

the 8100 has a PVR option

 

[empiretc]

When I finally woke up and realized what it might do, the price seemed reasonable.
See my comments in the Diamond review thread.

But, even at $200 (plus my own hard drive), if it won't record HD OTA from a guide, permit multiple weekly timers, and record in a format that I can use for DVDs, then it's $200 too much.
Same goes if it were $0. That's $0 plus a $100 hard drive, and still it doesn't do what I wanted.


From what I've recently read about the Pansat, it records in some format that Windows won't read.
While I assume there is a simple work-around, I haven't seen one posted yet.

looks like a tee-vo might be in both our futures. (i hate the idea of paying $12/month for a guide, but the transfer of recordings via the home LAN is a big plus making it easy to burn to DVD. the timer features are pretty darn good too.)

i still might get a diamond just for the hell of + the ac3 out through the composites. while i like the visionsat, I do not like the sonic voom setup very much.

 

[Larry1]

looks like a tee-vo might be in both our futures. (i hate the idea of paying $12/month for a guide, but the transfer of recordings via the home LAN is a big plus making it easy to burn to DVD.

The TiVo can transfer recordings over your network, but the transfers are very slow. Now I am only judging by my Dual Tuner series 2 TiVos, but I have not heard anyone with a series 3 comment on how they fixed that.
I record my OTA with a Fusion card using MyTheatre. No EPG this way, but for the little I record OTA it works great. Also since I use MyTheatre for my satellite recordings, it just comes naturally to set the timers. It not ideal, but it works for me. The software with the FUSION card does have an EPG and record features, but it did not do the job that I wanted. The software was buggy, and not reliable for my recordings. With MyTheatre, I leave my computer in sleep mode, and have it automatically wakeup for the recording timers. Also, I like the recordings made by MyTheatre as there is no re-encoding done to the stream. (read i.e. small files and no loss of picture quality) Also, as you already know by previous posts, I use VideoReDo to cleanup the streams from the glitches and to edit the start and end of the shows. (I have all but given up on editing out the comercials due to time unless it is a special recording that I want)
Now transfers from my computer card tuner (either satellite or OTA) to an external hard drive for archiving are a LOT faster than from my TiVo to my computer. The transfers are now limited to my USB hard drive speeds.
If I had more reliable OTA reception, then I might use my OTA recording more. Now I only record an OTA show approx. once every 3-4 months. My satellite and TiVo just fill almost all of my TV recording needs.

Now one thing that I do not know the answer to is.... does TiVo re-encode OTA recordings or just capture the stream?
Also OTA recordings are HUGE in size.... another reason I like my satellite recordings.... (almost all of my satellite recording are only SD though and not HD)

 

[empiretc]

The TiVo can transfer recordings over your network, but the transfers are very slow.

there are so many factors that can be the cause of that.....


while i do have tv running on 1 pc, i would never consider setting up an HTPC for mainstream tv viewing. the wife factors means it has to be something simple that works at the push of a button.

i am still ok for now, but need to have something done before the ABC, NBC and FOX shows start their seasons. i have about a month.

i guess i am just cheap. I have 2 FTA satellites on the roof, and a homemade (coat hangers) OTA antenna in the attic.

 

[Larry1]

there are so many factors that can be the cause of that.....

It's just the design of the TiVo, not a networking or computer problem. For OTA at my apartment, I use a Philips DVDR PVR. It downconverts all the recordings to 480, but is a cheap option to record and transfer to DVD. It however does not have an EPG.

 

[osu1991]

It is no longer made but still available. if you can find one used. I use the Sony DHG HDD 250 for OTA hd recording. It uses the free TV Guide OnScreen Guide and is compatible with new digital OnScreen versions. Mine has been rock solid for 2 years now.

 

[empiretc]

those are MEGA bucks used with no warranty.

 

[Anole]

more Pansat 9200 B/S

... one thing that I did notice is that the pansat does not record OTA. Only Satellite. ...

OMG ! -
You know the hardware is capable.
What's with these companies??

 

[cracklincrotch]

That's what's making my decision so difficult about which one to get myself.

It's gotta do "everything" at the prices, and at the push of a button for the wife, in order to make it worth while dropping money on something.

Think I've got my mind made up and the wife's still on board. I'll tell everybody after I get it and find out i made the right/wrong decision, and why.

 

[empiretc]

It's gotta do "everything" at the prices, and at the push of a button for the wife, in order to make it worth while dropping money on something.

you and I are in the same boat.

 

[goaliebob99]

Well, I just tested out my S2 board that I got back from pansat, and everything seems stable now. Im doing some recordings on PBS over at AMC3 to do some testing on how much space is taken up on the hard drive.