[RPack]

I've been trying to follow the many developments with the HiPix Team, MyHD card, HiPix-LAN, etc. It seems like many people are putting in a lot of effort, which is greatly appreciated, but it is hard for many of us non-engineers to follow and integrate it all into an idea of the current state of things. So, would one or more of you be willing to give the rest of us a synoposis of where things currently stand? My primary questions:


Is it possible to view a previously recorded HDTV broadcast while recording another one, at the same time?


If so, what methods (hardware, software, network) are needed to pull it off? How reliable are the results?


Issues of programming availability and copy protection aside, I think that getting these problems resolved will go a long way in getting some of us fence-sitters to jump off.


Thanks.

 

[PVR]

The current HiPix software can only control one

function at a time, so no - there is no playback

of files at the same time as recording.


The datarate of HD ( ~20Mbit/sec) is much greater

than a digital SD feed like in a TiVo (
so it becomes a problem with I/O throughput to

try to do those things with HD on a mid range

PC right now.


I do what you ask by having two PCs (each with HiPix

card) and removable drive trays. I can watch whatever

I want (from my library) even if the "recording PC"

is busy.


Some of the HiPix developers are working hard to fix

all the issues with "network playback". Part of the

goal there is to have a "recording server" that allows

"playback clients" to play whatever they want (over a

100Mbit ethernet) from the server's drives. They are

also working to make the "save to tape" and "playback

as a tape is loading" features work flawlessly and

more integrated into the application.


I wouldn't expect any major new features as 3.0 final

gets released. It will be much like 3.0beta2 but with

bugs fixed. It may be a while (after 3.0 final is released)

before new features get bundled together into another

round of betas.