I'm looking for a LCD/Plasma TV and note that a few of them are equipped with firewire (I'm looking primarily at Mitsubishi and JVC). I assume I'd be able to record the QAM tuner output with my JVC 40k DVHS via firewire, but I'm wondering if anyone has been able to make PC firewire captures from any firewire-equipped TVs?
Are there any firewire equipped TVs that allow firewire capture?
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I have been able to make the OTA captures - not the QAM tuner captures - as the QAM channels are 38.81 Mbps (OTA is half that) and a DVHS cannot take that much bandwidth - thus on mine it doesn't even attempt it.
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I've got a Toshiba 42HP95 which includes firewire and cablecard. I've got a Mits D-VHS hooked up to it via firewire. I can record to DVHS from the cablecard (including HBO-HD, HDNET Movies, local HD), QAM (when there is no cablecard), the OTA tuner, and even the digital channels (e.g. CSTV). It works a whole lot better than recording from my 1394 cable box (3250HD).
I know the older model Sharp and HP LCDs also include this capability (the Sharp manual even references recording to Blu-Ray from the cablecard). For current availability, there is a high end Samsung, a couple of high level Sharps, and a couple of JVCs that all have firewire and cablecard. Toshiba discountinued it in its current models (except for maybe one DLP).
I know the older model Sharp and HP LCDs also include this capability (the Sharp manual even references recording to Blu-Ray from the cablecard). For current availability, there is a high end Samsung, a couple of high level Sharps, and a couple of JVCs that all have firewire and cablecard. Toshiba discountinued it in its current models (except for maybe one DLP).
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It is a 2 year old Sony.
It is a 2 year old Sony.
I just purchased a Mitsubishi with firewire. When you say you can record unscrambled channels, do you mean channels you subscribe too or ones that are totally in the clear which in my case I think is just the local channels?
It would be very cool if I could get a cablecard and then record all of the programming that I'm subscribed(particularly cable HD channesl) to with my PC. If it's only the locals, I can already do that with a MyHD card.
Also, are you using the Vividlogic software?
I just purchased a Mitsubishi with firewire. When you say you can record unscrambled channels, do you mean channels you subscribe too or ones that are totally in the clear which in my case I think is just the local channels?
It would be very cool if I could get a cablecard and then record all of the programming that I'm subscribed(particularly cable HD channesl) to with my PC. If it's only the locals, I can already do that with a MyHD card.
Also, are you using the Vividlogic software?
Scrambled (via cablecard/etc) channels would be marked as copy-once on TV's firewire out, therefore not recordable (to PC).
If you use vividlogic software, then you can tell your TV to schedule recordings etc as if you had a DVHS, or else you can do the way outlined in the 1394 capture thread and capture using CapDVHS/etc after installing the firestb drivers.
So to answer your question, yes you'd only be recording in-the-clear locals + any other stuff your cableco has non-scrambled. Anything that needs cablecard to decode will most likely be marked copyonce on firewire out.
If you use vividlogic software, then you can tell your TV to schedule recordings etc as if you had a DVHS, or else you can do the way outlined in the 1394 capture thread and capture using CapDVHS/etc after installing the firestb drivers.
So to answer your question, yes you'd only be recording in-the-clear locals + any other stuff your cableco has non-scrambled. Anything that needs cablecard to decode will most likely be marked copyonce on firewire out.
Timecop,
Thanks for the info! Are you sure about not being able to record "copy-once" programs? Page 39 of my Mitsubishi manual says "copy-once" programs are recordable.
I haven't decided on whether to get cable yet, but I did some testing with OTA broadcasts last night. The Vividlogic software works, but the recording and playback capability seems pretty poor. It was taking several seconds for it to respond to remote commands during playback. I guess the recording capability worked okay, but the ability to set timer's was very basic.
Mike
Thanks for the info! Are you sure about not being able to record "copy-once" programs? Page 39 of my Mitsubishi manual says "copy-once" programs are recordable.
I haven't decided on whether to get cable yet, but I did some testing with OTA broadcasts last night. The Vividlogic software works, but the recording and playback capability seems pretty poor. It was taking several seconds for it to respond to remote commands during playback. I guess the recording capability worked okay, but the ability to set timer's was very basic.
Mike
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You can record copy once flagged programs to devices that enforce the copy once. Thus you can record copy once programming to DVHS. However you can not record copy once programs to a PC because the PC does not enforce the copy once protocols and can not read the programming's encription.
Rick R
Rick R
Thanks for the info, guys! I had very little hope that a firewire-equipped TV would gain me anything other than copying unencrypted programs to my JVC 40k DVHS. Hearing that CapDVHS will capture from the TV is almost too good to be true.
I've been capturing from my Comcast DVRs without a problem until last October when most local programming suddenly began carrying a CCI of 0x02 (copy once - to DVHS but not to PC - seemingly prompted by a broadcast flag). So despite being able to continue capturing from non-OTA networks such as ESPN-HD, TNT-HD, INHD, etc., all of a sudden I was no longer able to make captures from FOX-HD and CBS-HD, notably NFL Football and the upcoming NCAA Basketball tournament (March Madness). I figured my only option was to get a capture device like the FusionHDTV5 in order to make captures, but now I have hope that I could just capture from a TV's tuner.
I have my sights on a Mitsubishi LT-37131 (or LT-46131 if it will fit), but I saw at least one person on the forum come up empty when trying to capture from it to his PC. Does anybody know if this is a true concern and perhaps I should be looking at another brand? I see firewire is starting to disappear from some of this year's models (as well as CableCARD), but I've seen a couple of last year's JVCs around that still have it.
If anyone knows of a current model decent 37" to 42" flat panel TV that's a slam dunk for capturing to PC from, please let me know!
Thanks,
Tim
I've been capturing from my Comcast DVRs without a problem until last October when most local programming suddenly began carrying a CCI of 0x02 (copy once - to DVHS but not to PC - seemingly prompted by a broadcast flag). So despite being able to continue capturing from non-OTA networks such as ESPN-HD, TNT-HD, INHD, etc., all of a sudden I was no longer able to make captures from FOX-HD and CBS-HD, notably NFL Football and the upcoming NCAA Basketball tournament (March Madness). I figured my only option was to get a capture device like the FusionHDTV5 in order to make captures, but now I have hope that I could just capture from a TV's tuner.
I have my sights on a Mitsubishi LT-37131 (or LT-46131 if it will fit), but I saw at least one person on the forum come up empty when trying to capture from it to his PC. Does anybody know if this is a true concern and perhaps I should be looking at another brand? I see firewire is starting to disappear from some of this year's models (as well as CableCARD), but I've seen a couple of last year's JVCs around that still have it.
If anyone knows of a current model decent 37" to 42" flat panel TV that's a slam dunk for capturing to PC from, please let me know!
Thanks,
Tim
Tim,
I did my testing the other night with my new 46131 and the 30-day trial of the Vividlogic software. The recording capability is very basic but it seems to work. Playback was very poor through the TV's built-in functions, but my MyHD card played back the test recording just fine.
Mike
I did my testing the other night with my new 46131 and the 30-day trial of the Vividlogic software. The recording capability is very basic but it seems to work. Playback was very poor through the TV's built-in functions, but my MyHD card played back the test recording just fine.
Mike
I haven't read or heard a lot of good feedback from Vividlogic software. What does it actually do? Does it re-encode the video on the fly or does it save the original stream like CapDVHS does? Can you simply play the video on your PC - with say, VLC - and hook the display up to the DVI input of your 46131? Why wouldn't that look just as good as it does on your PC's display?
Thanks!
I haven't read or heard a lot of good feedback from Vividlogic software. What does it actually do? Does it re-encode the video on the fly or does it save the original stream like CapDVHS does? Can you simply play the video on your PC - with say, VLC - and hook the display up to the DVI input of your 46131? Why wouldn't that look just as good as it does on your PC's display?
Thanks!
I think it basically emulates a 1394 a/v disc so the TV output can be captured by a PC. I think it's just capturing the transport stream coming into the TV. I tested with my MyHD card going into the component input, but VLC on a PC into the DVI port should work too. I'd hoped playback via the TV's controls would work better so the process would be seamless when watching live TV with a cablecard. Since I can only record OTA channels, the firewire capture ability becomes pretty worthless to me anyway. I can already do that with MyHD.
Mike
I think it basically emulates a 1394 a/v disc so the TV output can be captured by a PC. I think it's just capturing the transport stream coming into the TV. I tested with my MyHD card going into the component input, but VLC on a PC into the DVI port should work too. I'd hoped playback via the TV's controls would work better so the process would be seamless when watching live TV with a cablecard. Since I can only record OTA channels, the firewire capture ability becomes pretty worthless to me anyway. I can already do that with MyHD.
Mike
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can anyone verify that if my TV is properly equiped with a CableCARD i can record encrypted content to a firewire/1394 AVHD, just wanna make sure i can record ESPNHD, HDNet Movies, etc... before shelling out the $$ for the harddrive
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