RE: Tivo, Fair Use, Video-in-the-Cloud, and Vidster

From: Jeffrey Kay (jkay@ENGENIA.COM)
Date: Mon Apr 02 2001 - 11:02:11 PDT


Interesting setup. I like the device -- maybe there's a place for it in my
current jumble of A/V equipment.

The problem I have is that I want to be able to record off of one channel
and watch TV on another -- pretty typical scenario. With the crappy cable
company that I have, the only way I can do that is to record directly off
the inbound cable (before it hits the cable box). I can get all the regular
broadcast channels, but none of the premium channels. Currently I have two
VCRs for this, one for recording directly off the inbound cable (VCR1) and
another for recording off the cable box (VCR2). I do this primarily because
it's easier for the kids to use VCR2 without having to screw around with
switch boxes or changing channels.

The BookPC approach intrigues me for replacing VCR1 with the BookPC. I
would also likely replace my DVD player too. This could become a single
"home" server for basic TV show recording as well as playing DVDs, catching
voice mail, and playing Internet radio and MP3s. At least that's the
thought. I'd probably need to deck the system out with a PIII and at least
256 MB RAM to be able to do two of those things at the same time.

I got the Hauppauge USB and am experimenting with it on one of my other
systems. I'm planning on trying out the snapstream (www.snapstream.com)
personal video servers to see how well it works. The FF/pause capabilities
of Tivo are intriguing, but I'm having a hard time justifying the $10 per
month service fee in my mind. With this setup, I could conceivably web into
my system and tell it to record a program.

Any better ideas out there?

jeffrey kay <jkay@engenia.com>
chief technology officer, engenia software, inc.
"first get your facts, then you can distort them at your leisure" -- mark
twain
"golf is an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle"
-- sports illustrated
"if A equals success, then the formula is A equals X plus Y plus Z. X is
work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut." -- albert einstein
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Philip DesAutels [mailto:philip@ereo.com]
> Sent: Monday, April 02, 2001 12:19 PM
> To: 'Jeffrey Kay '; ''Gavin Thomas Nicol' '; 'fork@xent.com '
> Subject: RE: Tivo, Fair Use, Video-in-the-Cloud, and Vidster
>
>
> I use the Hauppauge USB on my notebook and the hauppauge
> WinTVPCI on my
> desktop. I also have an ATI Radeon on one pc attached to my
> TV, but I don't
> find it as open as the Hauppauge boards (which have nice
> Linux support).
>
> I also have a TiVo, which is nice (with it's added hard
> drive) for generic
> recording and viewing on the TV. I use the PC's for recording
> programs that
> I want to watch on my notebook when I travel, or watching the
> TiVo while I'm
> working (or trying to work). I distribute video across this
> mess using a
> channel plus modulator [1].
>
>
>
> [1] http://www.smarthome.com/7704cm.html
>
> Philip
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeffrey Kay
> To: 'Gavin Thomas Nicol'; fork@xent.com
> Sent: 4/1/2001 6:51 PM
> Subject: RE: Tivo, Fair Use, Video-in-the-Cloud, and Vidster
>
> I just got the Hauppauge one. I'm going to install it and see how it
> does
> for recording shows.
>
> jeffrey kay <jkay@engenia.com>
> chief technology officer, engenia software, inc.
> "first get your facts, then you can distort them at your leisure" --
> mark
> twain
> "golf is an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional
> miracle"
> -- sports illustrated
> "if A equals success, then the formula is A equals X plus Y
> plus Z. X is
> work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut." -- albert einstein
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Gavin Thomas Nicol [mailto:gtn@ebt.com]
> > Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2001 7:22 PM
> > To: fork@xent.com
> > Subject: RE: Tivo, Fair Use, Video-in-the-Cloud, and Vidster
> >
> >
> > > The other question I have is which USB TV tuner do you use?
> >
> > I'm using a hauppauge I picked up. I'm not sure if it's the
> > best... it's a bit flaky in some ways, and I haven't got it
> > to work with DirecTV properly yet.
> >
> > http://www.hauppauge.com/html/usb_data.htm
> >
> > Still, it's lot's of fun playing around with it.
> >
>



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