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Trav said:

Thanks for the responses. Just a few clarifications, please:

So even I decide NOT to get the DVR option, I can still program the receiver to turn on with a certain channel at a certain time? Can I also program it to switch to another channel at a later time (for example, the same night)?

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Trav said:

The ATI software with my video card has a Personal Video Recorder option that will allow me to set a recording from the analog inputs (S-Video and RCA audio) instead of the tuner, so that shouldn't be a program. I don't need to use the Gemstar guide for that.... I'll just manually set the start/end time and tell it to record from the inputs instead of the tuner (so I don't have to select a channel).

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Trav said:

Sounds like this might work out and I'll probably go with the DVR for the convenience of using it when I don't really need to keep an archive on my PC or when I don't wish to edit the video.

Here might be an example of my workflow (please make any corrections if I have been mistaken). I normally record Survivor every Thursday right now with my ATI card and basic cable. I then edit the MPG video that was created during capture and take out the commercials. I am keeping each episode on my hard drive so I can make personal DVD's of all the episodes. Then I can watch them any time I want on my home DVD player.

So here's what I think I'd need to do. I will have the receiver/DVR hooked up to my PC via S-Video and RCA.

OPTION 1 (with DVR) -

1) Record Survivor onto the DVR that comes with the Dish Network. Obviously, I simply set it to record and let it do its thing.

2) When I come home, I play the recorded episode from the DVR and record it onto my PC with the ATI capture software (capturing from the inputs, not the tuner).

OPTION 1 - (without DVR)

1) Leave the receiver powered on and on the right channel.
OR
1) Program the receiver to turn on at the right time and channel (do all dish receivers have this ability? And do they allow you to program multiple instances or just one? For example, let's say I wanted to record Survivor and Jay Leno on the same night... can I program the receiver to turn on channel 3 from 7-8pm and channel 5 from 10:30-11:30pm or does it only let you turn on and set channel once)? (Important distinction)

2) Set the ATI software to record from the inputs and the right time.

3) Edit out the commercials and archive the MPG file for later DVD burning

OPTION 2 - (with DVR)

1) Set the DVR to record the show(s).

2) When I come home, I simply play back the show from the DVR and set my PC to record from the S-Video and RCA inputs to create an MPG file.

3) Same as above.

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Now I'm wondering if option 2 would actually produce inferior video quality since it is being recorded once to the DVR, and then recorded again onto my PC. I assume the DVR uses MPG compression when recording, and my capture card would again be compressing it... so would this significantly degrade the video quality? Or is the DVR video quality excellent enough that I wouldn't notice?

Ideally, I'd like the ability to record multiple programs in one night without my intervention. Sounds like the DVR option would definitely work, but the non-DVR option would only work if I can program the receiver to change channels at different times in a night... and that I don't know anything about???

Thanks again!



Thanks,
Travis

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MikeF said:

I would definately suggest the PVR route. It will change the way you watch TV. I have done what you want and there are two ways to go about it.
1. Record with the PVR and then capture off the S-vid just like you said. Works OK with minor artifacts at times. That could be remedied maybe with a high-end capture device vs. the "cheap" capture chips on a vid card. There will be some video degredation, it cannot be avoided as you are re-processing the stream in this method. It will be the same as what you are getting with your captures, now. The played back signal is the same as if it were live.
2.If you don't mind a little "hacking" which will most certainly void your warranty, you can just move the PVR's harddrive to your computer, extract the files to another drive with a little program that changes some header indo in the video and audio streams, then author to DVD with your favorite authoring program, and taadaa, you have tyour MPEG2 with NO LOSS of PQ. This is not for the faint at heart but does work like a charm. My 510 has a standard Maxtor 80gig drive running Linux OS.

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