[Cialug] OT direct tv

[Dan Hockey]

I've been experimenting with xp-mce and my analog/digital tuner, a 30min
show takes up ~1gb space in the msdvr format, which is foreign to movie
maker. Dish network keeps raising their rates is why I've been looking into
direct tv dvr. I could guess I could keep my vhs/dvd burner for now.
-dh   

-----Original Message-----
From: cialug-bounces at cialug.org [mailto:cialug-bounces at cialug.org] On Behalf
Of Zachary Kotlarek
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2008 8:44 PM
To: Central Iowa Linux Users Group
Subject: Re: [Cialug] OT direct tv


On Apr 25, 2008, at 6:14 PM, Dan Hockey wrote:

> Would it be better to stay away from the receiver/dvrs?

I personally don't like the current built-in DVR in the DirecTV  
systems. But I'm really pick, and frankly I don't like any of the  
available hardware DVRs, OEM or otherwise, and I'm not much happier  
with the software options -- I've been looking to get a better video  
system up and going for years, but short of writing it myself  
(something I've started and stopped doing more than once) I just can't  
find anything that does exactly what I want.

If all you want is to record shows and play them back within a few  
weeks of their airing on the same system where they were recorded,  
plus the standard "live" show manipulations, the DirecTV DVRs are  
probably fine. And unlike stand-alone DVRs they will let you capture  
the raw data stream without A-D conversion or transcoding, and they  
actually know what channels you get, as opposed to which channels are  
available in your zip code. But if you want to transfer your media  
between devices, or use the DVR to playback media from another source,  
or store/archive shows for more than a few weeks, you probably won't  
be happy without non-trivial device hacking.

	Zach