Need help choosing a device

[sethm1]

Windows 7 Home Premium

I can connect any of the following by actual ethernet cable or wireless.

Wonder what research 'you' did that may help me decide between:

Silcon HomeRun Prime
Belkin @TV Plus
Happaugue (?) Broadway

Thanks

[richard1980]

That's like trying to pick between an apple, left, and blue.

[bmblank]

Honest to God quote, from a guy I worked with to a waitress at an ice cream stand... "What's the difference between a small and a chocolate?"

[erkotz]

As others have mentioned, you are not comparing like devices. You need explain what you are trying to use and how you receive TV.

[makryger]

That's like trying to pick between an apple, left, and blue.

Blue!

[richard1980]

Honest to God quote, from a guy I worked with to a waitress at an ice cream stand... "What's the difference between a small and a chocolate?"

That's pretty stupid. Everybody knows the difference between small and chocolate is chair.

[sethm1]

Erkotz - thanks for your reply.
My main goal is to be able to record/move(copy) my shows (non premium channels) onto my iFlashDrive (from Hypershop) - as my iPad will not have enough room for too large a file.
I did not include any of the SlingBox models as (as least the new ones I am told make it close to impossible to transfer/move recordings) and requires access to the internet.

I want to be able to watch my recordings when & where I want without access to a Wi-Fi or a 3G/4G network.

I posted this post as it seems the products that I mentioned each have pluses and minuses and maybe someone out there as done similar research. I have done about as much research as I could with the forums connected to the above products and at the point where outside feedback helpful. None of the above products seem to be the cherry on the top - for those of you that seem to have food on your mind.

Thanks in advance.

[barnabas1969]

I never heard of the iFlashDrive before, but it's a pretty cool product. So... what you really want to do is to save your un-protected WTV files in a format that can be played by the iPhone/iPad/iPod, right?

Well, the iPhone 4S supports the following audio/video formats:

Video formats supported:
H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format.

Audio formats supported:
AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), HE-AAC, MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV.

What this all means:

You want to convert your WTV files from your USA cable provider (which are usually in MPEG-2 video and AC3 audio) into a format that your iPhone can play. So....

You need a program that can take the video/audio from a WTV file, and put it into an MP4 file with H.264 video and AAC audio.

I'm sure many other people can help you do this. Maybe you should post a new thread with a topic title that reflects what you really want to do. I guarantee that you'll find LOTS of help.

[foxwood]

Another helpful question/answer might be who your TV provider is. Some cable companies encrypt even non-premium channels, except those that actually broadcast over the air in your area - and even those might soon be encrypted in some cases.

[barnabas1969]

Good point, foxwood. I read "non-premium" as not copy-protected... but some cable companies even copy-protect the local channels. So... sethm1... are you CERTAIN that the shows that you want on your iPhone are not copy-protected?

You can tell by selecting them in Media Center (on your PC), and then press the "Info" button on your remote (without actually playing them). If they are copy-protected, the Info screen will say "copy protected" at the bottom.

[sethm1]

Thanks for last few posts.
I have a program that will convert WTV to H.264 - so that is not the issue.

I have no recordings on my PC (please see mine from earlier - Wed May 01, 2013 5:56 pm).

With respect to my cable co - its Cox, so would not put it past them that everything protected.
I spoke to 2 different Cox folks, both seemed to think only the premium channels protected. Guess time for a third go around.
I will also look into an M card.

By the way the (HyperShop) iFlash Drive or even CloudFTP - great products. Works even with the lighting adapter.

[barnabas1969]

Thanks for last few posts.
I have a program that will convert WTV to H.264 - so that is not the issue.

I have no recordings on my PC (please see mine from earlier - Wed May 01, 2013 5:56 pm).

With respect to my cable co - its Cox, so would not put it past them that everything protected.
I spoke to 2 different Cox folks, both seemed to think only the premium channels protected. Guess time for a third go around.
I will also look into an M card.

By the way the (HyperShop) iFlash Drive or even CloudFTP - great products. Works even with the lighting adapter.

I'm guessing by the date/time you mentioned, that you are referring to post #7 in this thread. The posts are numbered so you can refer to them. Referring to them by time/date won't work, because we are all in different time zones around the world, and each user can choose what time zone should be used for displaying dates/times on this site.

It sounds like you don't have a tuner yet, and you want to record from Cox cable in the USA. So, your options are:

A "clear" QAM tuner like the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950Q (external USB), the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 (Internal PCIe), or the SiliconDust HD HomeRun "Dual" HDHR3-US (Ethernet). All of these can receive un-protected digital cable TV in the USA. All can also be used with an antenna to receive ATSC TV signals. The 950Q is a single tuner. The other two are both dual.

A "clear" QAM tuner will not allow you to receive protected content. Since you want to re-encode your shows for use on your iOS devices, you will only be able to do this with non-protected content anyway, so you may want to just buy a clear QAM tuner instead of a CableCARD tuner. However, a word of warning: Some cable companies are transitioning to protect ALL channels, and Cox is one of them. So, if you buy a clear QAM tuner, it may be useless in the future.

Another option is to use a CableCARD tuner. It will allow you to receive both the protected and non-protected content. However, you will not be able to transport the protected content to your iOS devices. There are five CableCARD tuners available today. They are:

SiliconDust HD HomeRun PRIME (3 tuners, external, Ethernet)
Ceton InfiniTV4 PCIe (4 tuners, internal, PCIe)
Ceton InfiniTV4 USB (4 tuners, external, USB)
Hauppauge WinTV-DCR-2650 (2 tuners, external, USB)
Hauppauge WinTV-DCR-3250 (3 tuners, external, USB)

And, finally, there is a way to capture the audio/video signals that come out of your cable box. This can be done with one of two products, both made by Hauppauge. They are designed to be connected to the analog component video output from your cable/satellite box. They convert the analog video signal into digital H.264, and send the signal to Media Center. It is possible that this will allow you to copy even the copy-protected shows to your iOS devices, but not guaranteed. It depends on whether or not your cable provider sets an analog copy-protection flag on the analog outputs of your cable box. If they don't set the analog copy-protection flag, then these products might be ideal for your purpose. The product models are:

HD-PVR (external, USB)
Colossus (internal, PCIe)

[foxwood]

To see whether a ClearQAM tuner will work for you, check if any of your existing TVs has a ClearQAM tuner (look up the model on the manufacturers websites, and check the list of features). If you have such a TV, connect it directly to the cable, without a set-top box, and see whether the TV can pick up the channels that you are interested in. Alternatively, if you're only interested in the main broadcast channels, and are in an area with decent coverage, then an ordinary ATSC tuner may do the job.

If a ClearQAM or ATSC tuner will work for you, you can decide whether to use a standalone product such as the Broadway that you mentioned in your first post, or go with a WMC based solution. It sounds like the Broadway is actually designed for the kind of thing that you're talking about, but, as it's got nothing to do with Windows Media Center, you won't get much direct feedback about it here. It's not obvious how you schedule it to record a particular show, though it presumably has that functionality. At least one model of the Broadway has a builtin ATSC/ClearQAM tuner, and it will record directly to a USB device.

The Belkin TVPlus seems to require a set-top box from your cable company, which means that it can probably be used to get an analog capture of even protected contentm and can probably be made work with Satellite TV, as well as cable, but again, nothing to do with WMC, so you probably won't find anyone here who knows anything more about it than you do.

Going with a WMC setup, assuming the content that you are interested in is available in an unprotected source (ATSC or ClearQAM) will give you more control, (WMC scheduling, including remote scheduling with the MyMC app, cutting out commercials, your choice of compression levels, scheduled uploads/transfers, etc), but you're getting into roll-your-own territory - there is no one-size-fits-all way to do what you want to do, no client on the tablet/phone that's desgned to work hand in hand with the recorder, etc.

[sethm1]

Good info thanks.

Tonite will test whether a direct connection to the tv works.

Looking at the hauppauge hd-pvr (1212).
Seems though no connection psble via ethernet to my router. I also don't see an actual USB connector - so how do I get my content off the box to my PC (which is no in the same room).

This HD-PVR box does have a USB port for connecting to a PC. With a USB cable could I instead connect an external USB hard drive or even a thumb drive?

Also, the website says "Both HD PVR and HD PVR Gaming Edition have our "no delay pass through" for recording live TV or video"
So guessing I first record the show, then with the Cox dvr hit play and on the had-pvr hit record?
Would prefer to also record (Since have a dul tuner) while a show is playing.

It does truly seem that there is no one device that will do all that I want.

Additional thought - is it possible to use a power line Ethernet (Zytel? Is one that comes to mind) ?

[foxwood]

The HD-PVR is a video-capture device, rather than a "tuner". It plugs in between a video source (such as a set-top box) and the screen, and passes a copy of what is being displayed on the screen to software running on the PC. You can use it to record what you're watching now, but you can't set it up to record XYZ on channel X at YPM on Monday night.

[foxwood]

Additional thought - is it possible to use a power line Ethernet (Zytel? Is one that comes to mind) ?

Powerline Ethernet is just Ethernet. The devices that you connect (your PC, a HDHomeRun tuner, etc), don't know/care that there's a powerline involved somewhere, rather than cat5 cable all the way. If Powerline Ethernet works in your house (it's not always a viable option), and is cheaper than running Cat5/6 cable, then go for it.

You can get Powerline gear from lots of different vendors, though it's probably best practice to stick with a single vendor, rather than mix & match.

http://www.newegg.com/Powerline-Network ... ory/ID-294

[barnabas1969]

The HD-PVR is a video-capture device, rather than a "tuner". It plugs in between a video source (such as a set-top box) and the screen, and passes a copy of what is being displayed on the screen to software running on the PC. You can use it to record what you're watching now, but you can't set it up to record XYZ on channel X at YPM on Monday night.

That is absolutely wrong. It's true that the HD-PVR is only a capture device, but Windows Media Center detects the HD-PVR as a tuner. The HD-PVR has an IR blaster that changes the channels on the set-top-box (cable box) automatically when a scheduled recording begins in Media Center.

The HD-PVR also has settings that will allow channel changing by other means (USB, Firewire, Ehternet) if your cable box supports those methods of channel changing.

[barnabas1969]

Good info thanks.

Tonite will test whether a direct connection to the tv works.

Looking at the hauppauge hd-pvr (1212).
Seems though no connection psble via ethernet to my router. I also don't see an actual USB connector - so how do I get my content off the box to my PC (which is no in the same room).

This HD-PVR box does have a USB port for connecting to a PC. With a USB cable could I instead connect an external USB hard drive or even a thumb drive?

Also, the website says "Both HD PVR and HD PVR Gaming Edition have our "no delay pass through" for recording live TV or video"
So guessing I first record the show, then with the Cox dvr hit play and on the had-pvr hit record?
Would prefer to also record (Since have a dul tuner) while a show is playing.

It does truly seem that there is no one device that will do all that I want.

Additional thought - is it possible to use a power line Ethernet (Zytel? Is one that comes to mind) ?

The HD-PVR would need to be connected to a USB port on your PC. It will also need to connect to the audio/video outputs of your cable or satellite box.

[foxwood]

That is absolutely wrong. It's true that the HD-PVR is only a capture device, but Windows Media Center detects the HD-PVR as a tuner.

Did they put that function back in? I know that when the Gaming edition came out, the drivers didn't support Windows Media Center.

The HD-PVR really only make sense for WMC, though, if ATSC/ClearQAM isn't an option. You have to pay for a set-top box, and deal with the hassle of Blasters. If you're doing that anyway, then it sounds like the Boradway would be a better option (it supports capture or ATSC/ClearQAM, and can record straight to the USB device), unless you want the flexibility of WMC scheduling, and want to watch the recordings in WMC.

[barnabas1969]

They still have Media Center drivers for the HD-PVR on their website. I don't know if the drivers are compatible with the gaming edition or not.

I agree that the HD-PVR would be more hassle than the other choices I listed. That's why I listed it last. It would only be needed if the OP hopes to be able to make copies of copy-protected shows and then transfer them to his other devices for later viewing.