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Old June 21st 04, 07:03 PM
David Maynard
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Dave C. wrote:

They don't have an audio input because that goes into the sound card. Even
most TV Tuner cards jumper (by audio cable) the demodulated audio into the
sound card.

Ironically, the least costly solution will probably be a TV Tuner card.
They usually include an S-Video input and you might as well get one with


FM

radio too.


- Good software for time-shifting. When I say "time-shifting", I mean
schedule recordings to run while I'm asleep or not at home so I can


watch TV

programs later.


Anything that is a PVR will do that as that's what PVR means.
"Time-shifting" refers to being able to go back and forward while viewing
the live broadcast (some portion, time wise relative to current, is
continuously stored to disk so you can slide back and forth in the amount
being stored)

I'd suggest you get one that uses the BT8xx chipsets because those are


what

the majority of programs are written for, including a decent amount of
freeware, which means you would not be 'stuck' with the manufacturer's
offering, with the exception of the remote control. I don't know of any
that use a 'generic' remote control which means if you want that to work
you will probably be stuck with what comes with it.



Thanks for the input!!! I somehow didn't think the PVR software would be
flexible enough to draw audio from one of bazillions of different audio
cards.


I can see why you were thinking that way but that's the purpose, and
beauty, of drivers and an O.S.. They bring the various 'implementations' to
a 'standard' API (application interface).

But it makes sense to use the audio card for sound input, as it's
already there (usually). I'll definitely look for that chipset you
mentioned. -Dave



Having pointed out the 'beauty' of drivers and an O.S. it's important to
note there is nothing that prevents a manufacturer from writing drivers
that provide a 'custom' API for specialized things, and that's where the
BT8x chipset comes in because, even if the manufacturer wrote a 'custom'
interface for their whiz bang software, there are 'standard', generic,
drivers for the BT8x chipset which provide the windows standard WDM most
generic applications use. Odds are, however, that their drivers will work
as is and all you'd need to do is simply install whatever other program you
like.

The same, however, cannot be said of other chipsets, which are often
specific to their implementation with no generic alternative.

Here is a link to a source for generic BT8x drivers with this page being a
list of known supported cards (plenty of choices in there, but note the ATI
'wonders' are NOT the ATI "ALL-in-wonder").

http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/supportedcards.html

I use the ATI TV-Wonder VE in one machine but that was because it was half
height and I needed that for the book sized case it was in (so this is only
an example and not a 'recommendation'). My other card is a TView99 because
it was CHEAP, and with remote (also only an example).