Technology Advice Wanted! - New England Patriots Forums

***Mike the Brit*** · 08-06-2008, 10:26 AM

As many of you know, despite my screen name, I’ve been living in the U.S. during the winter months for the last couple of years. I’m now more or less settled in an apartment in Cambridge. Now I need to think about sound and vision, etc.

There isn’t any choice about television viewing: the apartment is wired for Comcast and that's it. I have an HD cable package that includes ESPN and the NFL network. Honestly, I’m not that interested in any other TV except sports, although I occasionally think that I’d like HBO.

Last year I bought a Samsung 30 inch HDTV, which was as big as I could fit on the TV shelf, and it worked fine in my small living room (I would have bought a Sony, but Best Buy were out of stock the day I went).

But now I need (1) something to record games on (2) something to play back DVDs (I am a Netflix user) and (3) something to play music. In the U.K., I’ve connected my TV to a DVD player/video recorder combo, a Denon all-in-one Tuner/Amp/CD and a pair of B&W speakers. Apart from needing to fiddle with a lot of remotes, the whole thing is great.

So what I’m asking myself is how to get a similar effect in the U.S. If I didn’t want to play DVDs perhaps I could get a TIVO, but I do want to play DVDs and I’d also like some way of making copies of Patriots games (for private pleasure!) Also, I have some DVDs and (more important) some VHSs from the U.K. What I’m thinking is that I should try to get a zone-free DVD recorder and get the VHSs transferred to DVD (there are only about a dozen, but they include some important family tapes). And perhaps then I should add some kind of “all in one” hi-fi.

What I haven’t thought about is integrating any of this with computing. The apartment is attached to (free) Ethernet and I’ve just been plugging my (Windows XP) laptop into a cable. But I assume I should start thinking about a wireless network. In which case, might I also think about moving my music collection onto a HDD? Or recording from the TV onto a HDD?

From the above, you can probably tell that I’m not a techie, so I need to think about ways of doing this that don’t involve trying to make sense of huge amounts of copper spaghetti or fiddling with complicated interfaces and protocols. I haven't got a fixed budget, but I'm not planning to spend the price of a new car!

Any and all suggestions and advice very welcome -- thanks in advance.

Richter · 08-09-2008, 10:30 PM

I'd honestly consider buying or building an HTPC, aka the home theater PC. Since you aren't very tech savvy, building one may seem intimidating, but it's actually fairly easy, and will save you quite a bit of coin. A decent, cheap dual core processor, a video card that will speed up your video decoding, a nice chuck of memory, a bunch of storage and a tv tuner card will enable you to record and stream video and music fairly easily. The one thing to keep in mind, is that it is basically impossible to get a tv card that can handle encrypted signals, so if you're going from your source directly into the tuner card, you'll only be able to tune and record unencrypted channels. That said, it's very easy to go from a cable/satellite box to the tuner card, and even tune the box via a remote to the computer using what's called an IR blaster (basically, a little device that sends channel changing signals to your cable box). There's a wealth of information out there on DIY HTPCs, which I can point you to if you're interested. Otherwise, I'd go with a pre-built HTPC, or just a standard PC for music and a DVR for TV recording. Toss in a Slingbox if you're interested in streaming video to your portable devices (so you can watch TV away from home), and you have a nice setup. Let me know if you're interested in any of the builders resources for the HTPC.

***Mike the Brit*** · 08-10-2008, 12:13 PM

Thanks a lot -- I'll do some research and get back if I've got questions.

Ciara's Dad · 08-10-2008, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike the Brit

So what I’m asking myself is how to get a similar effect in the U.S. If I didn’t want to play DVDs perhaps I could get a TIVO, but I do want to play DVDs and I’d also like some way of making copies of Patriots games (for private pleasure!) Also, I have some DVDs and (more important) some VHSs from the U.K. What I’m thinking is that I should try to get a zone-free DVD recorder and get the VHSs transferred to DVD (there are only about a dozen, but they include some important family tapes).

I bought a Toshiba, zone free, DVD recorder with a 160GB Hard Disc Drive. I copied all my old videos by playing them on the TV and at the same time recording them onto my HDD. After some editing, I then copied what was on the HDD onto DVD's. I then slung the VHS recorder into the bin.
With 70 hours recording capacity at a decent quality, I can 'tape' all Sundays Sky sports NFL coverage and Ch5's on a Sun and Mon with plenty room to spare. If I am nightshift, I copy games onto RW discs and watch them at work.
You can also use the timeslip function, which is terrific. When you start 'taping' you can pause or go back to the start of what you are 'taping' and play catch up. It is great to fast forward every advert or studio talk!! By the time I get in from Mass on Sun night, Sky is already 90mins into it's programme. Using timeslip, I go back to the start of the recording and start to watch. I usually catch up at the end of the first game.

***Mike the Brit*** · 08-10-2008, 03:33 PM

That sounds like the solution I was thinking of -- though, of course, I can't play my U.K. VHS tapes on a U.S. DVD recorder.

Scouse Patriot · 08-10-2008, 03:54 PM

I recently found a box full of VHS tapes in the loft. I hadn't seen them in what must be 10 years...

*Sorry, I have nothing usefull to add here, just reminiscing the days of VHS and the noise of some of the first players.

***Michael*** · 08-10-2008, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scouse Patriot

I recently found a box full of VHS tapes in the loft. I hadn't seen them in what must be 10 years...

*Sorry, I have nothing usefull to add here, just reminiscing the days of VHS and the noise of some of the first players.

I'd be willing to bet that those old tapes have degraded quite a bit.

Scouse Patriot · 08-10-2008, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael

I'd be willing to bet that those old tapes have degraded quite a bit.

In terms of playabilty more than likely, which is a shame because there was porn on one of them. Then again they're in their sleeves, the films in their plastic cases so I don't know.

I used to like putting the tapes nobody had marked in and seeing what was on them. Found allsorts from old films to tv series to sports games.

Ciara's Dad · 08-10-2008, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike the Brit

That sounds like the solution I was thinking of -- though, of course, I can't play my U.K. VHS tapes on a U.S. DVD recorder.

You don't have to. All you need to do is play your tapes on your TV through your VHS recorder. You then set your DVD recorder to record from whichever channel your tapes are being played on. I started playing my tapes on the TV and then searched through the possible recordable channels on the DVD recorder until I found the one showing my tapes.
If it is a UK VHS machine, you will need a 110v to 240v step up transformer to do this. Something like this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=280253491305. You can get them cheaper than this depending on the power needed for the machine.
The newer models of DVD recorder with HDD, my own is 2yo now, are a lot cheaper than they were at first, and can do a lot more stuff, like tape from 2 differnt channels at a time whilst you watch something else you have recorded.
I bought a new camcorder the other week for going on holiday which is also has a HDD. http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/7558...rder-blue.html It is a great toy. You can download your film to your computer in double quick time. Or do what I did and record it onto the HDD recorder and do my editing there.
Holiday in Mallorca was great, btw!!

***Mike the Brit*** · 08-11-2008, 05:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ciara's Dad

You don't have to. All you need to do is play your tapes on your TV through your VHS recorder. You then set your DVD recorder to record from whichever channel your tapes are being played on. I started playing my tapes on the TV and then searched through the possible recordable channels on the DVD recorder until I found the one showing my tapes.
If it is a UK VHS machine, you will need a 110v to 240v step up transformer to do this. Something like this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=280253491305. You can get them cheaper than this depending on the power needed for the machine.
The newer models of DVD recorder with HDD, my own is 2yo now, are a lot cheaper than they were at first, and can do a lot more stuff, like tape from 2 differnt channels at a time whilst you watch something else you have recorded.
I bought a new camcorder the other week for going on holiday which is also has a HDD. http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/7558...rder-blue.html It is a great toy. You can download your film to your computer in double quick time. Or do what I did and record it onto the HDD recorder and do my editing there.
Holiday in Mallorca was great, btw!!

Sorry, I should have said that (I'm pretty sure) I can't play UK VHS tapes on a US VHS player/TV.

08-06-2008, 10:26 AM	#1
*Mike the Brit* Minuteman Target Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 5,044	Technology Advice Wanted! As many of you know, despite my screen name, I’ve been living in the U.S. during the winter months for the last couple of years. I’m now more or less settled in an apartment in Cambridge. Now I need to think about sound and vision, etc. There isn’t any choice about television viewing: the apartment is wired for Comcast and that's it. I have an HD cable package that includes ESPN and the NFL network. Honestly, I’m not that interested in any other TV except sports, although I occasionally think that I’d like HBO. Last year I bought a Samsung 30 inch HDTV, which was as big as I could fit on the TV shelf, and it worked fine in my small living room (I would have bought a Sony, but Best Buy were out of stock the day I went). But now I need (1) something to record games on (2) something to play back DVDs (I am a Netflix user) and (3) something to play music. In the U.K., I’ve connected my TV to a DVD player/video recorder combo, a Denon all-in-one Tuner/Amp/CD and a pair of B&W speakers. Apart from needing to fiddle with a lot of remotes, the whole thing is great. So what I’m asking myself is how to get a similar effect in the U.S. If I didn’t want to play DVDs perhaps I could get a TIVO, but I do want to play DVDs and I’d also like some way of making copies of Patriots games (for private pleasure!) Also, I have some DVDs and (more important) some VHSs from the U.K. What I’m thinking is that I should try to get a zone-free DVD recorder and get the VHSs transferred to DVD (there are only about a dozen, but they include some important family tapes). And perhaps then I should add some kind of “all in one” hi-fi. What I haven’t thought about is integrating any of this with computing. The apartment is attached to (free) Ethernet and I’ve just been plugging my (Windows XP) laptop into a cable. But I assume I should start thinking about a wireless network. In which case, might I also think about moving my music collection onto a HDD? Or recording from the TV onto a HDD? From the above, you can probably tell that I’m not a techie, so I need to think about ways of doing this that don’t involve trying to make sense of huge amounts of copper spaghetti or fiddling with complicated interfaces and protocols. I haven't got a fixed budget, but I'm not planning to spend the price of a new car! Any and all suggestions and advice very welcome -- thanks in advance. __________________ My prized possessions: Our family pictures; my dad and me getting doused by Bruschi in Super Bowl XXXIX [Shalize Manza Young Up Close with ... Bill Belichick] To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, Pats fans should be invincible by now. [Fitzy, 16 November 2009] Still here to learn

08-09-2008, 10:30 PM	#2
Richter In the Starting Line-up Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 2,112	Re: Technology Advice Wanted! I'd honestly consider buying or building an HTPC, aka the home theater PC. Since you aren't very tech savvy, building one may seem intimidating, but it's actually fairly easy, and will save you quite a bit of coin. A decent, cheap dual core processor, a video card that will speed up your video decoding, a nice chuck of memory, a bunch of storage and a tv tuner card will enable you to record and stream video and music fairly easily. The one thing to keep in mind, is that it is basically impossible to get a tv card that can handle encrypted signals, so if you're going from your source directly into the tuner card, you'll only be able to tune and record unencrypted channels. That said, it's very easy to go from a cable/satellite box to the tuner card, and even tune the box via a remote to the computer using what's called an IR blaster (basically, a little device that sends channel changing signals to your cable box). There's a wealth of information out there on DIY HTPCs, which I can point you to if you're interested. Otherwise, I'd go with a pre-built HTPC, or just a standard PC for music and a DVR for TV recording. Toss in a Slingbox if you're interested in streaming video to your portable devices (so you can watch TV away from home), and you have a nice setup. Let me know if you're interested in any of the builders resources for the HTPC.

08-10-2008, 12:13 PM	#3
*Mike the Brit* Minuteman Target Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 5,044	Re: Technology Advice Wanted! Thanks a lot -- I'll do some research and get back if I've got questions. __________________ My prized possessions: Our family pictures; my dad and me getting doused by Bruschi in Super Bowl XXXIX [Shalize Manza Young Up Close with ... Bill Belichick] To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, Pats fans should be invincible by now. [Fitzy, 16 November 2009] Still here to learn

08-10-2008, 03:33 PM	#5
*Mike the Brit* Minuteman Target Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 5,044	Re: Technology Advice Wanted! That sounds like the solution I was thinking of -- though, of course, I can't play my U.K. VHS tapes on a U.S. DVD recorder. __________________ My prized possessions: Our family pictures; my dad and me getting doused by Bruschi in Super Bowl XXXIX [Shalize Manza Young Up Close with ... Bill Belichick] To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, Pats fans should be invincible by now. [Fitzy, 16 November 2009] Still here to learn

08-10-2008, 03:54 PM	#6
Scouse Patriot 2nd Team Getting Their First Start Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Liverpool Posts: 1,957 My Mood:	Re: Technology Advice Wanted! I recently found a box full of VHS tapes in the loft. I hadn't seen them in what must be 10 years... *Sorry, I have nothing usefull to add here, just reminiscing the days of VHS and the noise of some of the first players.

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