I used to run my cable and antenna through my VCR and record my programs and then watch them on my old TV. Well now since the recent digital transition I can no longer do that, so I was wondering if anyone knows if it's possible or has ever managed to get a composite video signal out of a flat screen TV? It seems as though I recall that this was available on some of the older tube sets but I've never seen it on a flat screen. Obviously I really don't give a damn about HD. I would just like to record my programs on my VCR. I realize that building ground, and live chassis issues would have to be dealt with but aside from that can it be done? I just fixed up a Visio VP322 that a customer left here and I plan on using this set in our living room.
Even on TV's that had video output, it usually only worked for ANALOG signals. Digital signals were always locked to the TV so as not to piss off the media companies.
--
If there is a no_junk in my address, please REMOVE it before replying!
All junk mail senders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the
law!!
http://home.comcast.net/~andyross
If you are repairng TVs it's time to move into the 21st century. Look into the various DVRs available. TiVo is the premier brand, but there are others.
Why? Get a tuner card for your PC and use IT in place of the VCR. I started that 7 years ago and can't imagine putting up with a VCR, its limited record time and less than std def video. It doesn't take much of a PC to record HD video but if you're planning to surf the web while it's recording you should consider a dual or quad core processor or else you'll get some stutters. I haven't seen a one since switching to the first AMD Phenom tri-core. You can play files across the network all in HD while the source PC is recording something else. BTW the picture is indistinguishable from 'live'.
Because Bill is right. The PC is barely bigger than the crappy VCR (and ALL VCRs are crappy compared to the PC) you want to use. I have remote controls for the PC that do the same function as the VCR, just better. I promise that if you try it you'll wonder why you didn't change sooner.
Sounds a great idea (would like to try it). However it does mean having a pc + keyboard etc and when pushed for space that could be a problem. Could make custom "slimline" PC I suppose - I mean no need for it to be a tower or whatever. Do you by any chance (he asks optimistically) have any more detail info/tips etc on setting this up?
I'm not in the US, so I can't give you model names and numbers that would be of any help. However ALL of the set top boxes sold here have USB ports on them.
The early ones would let you plug in a USB disk or memory stick and use it as a PVR (personal video recorder). They get information on what to record based on program guide data sent in the data stream.
The early ones simply recorded the programs as a raw MPEG transport stream and only played back things they recorded. The newer ones record it as a more common file type (playable on a PC) and play most formats of downloadable videos.
Compared to a PC, they are small, cheap ($50 on up), produce no heat or noise, and so on. If you use a memory stick instead of a hard drive, they are quiet and cool.
Geoff.
--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, N3OWJ/4X1GM
My high blood pressure medicine reduces my midichlorian count. :-(
That is very interesting. May i ask where you found this out? Is this documented in any manual?'
The reason I ask is that here in the US, all set top boxes have similarly had USB ports for quite a long time as well. However I was under the impression that they didnt do anything or were inoperative. The reason I was under the impression that they were inoperative has been because i have repeatedly been told that in specific terms by every cable company technician I have ever spoken to about this!
As the OP I have been mystified by certain arguments in this thread: Namely that everyone should stop using VCRs and go over to some form of DVR, usually touted as being contained in a cable box which you have to rent from someone. I should add that VCRs are comparatively new in the US, and americans uniformly think that they invented them, possibly around the mid 1980s (I even saw a TV program supporting this view from no less august a source than Popular Mechanics as recently as yesterday!!). In England things have always been more advanced, with the original Phillips 1500s being introduced and gaining reasonably widespread acceptance in the mid 1970s. Even in those days, VCRs had relatively advanced features which let users time shift and arrange to turn the recorder on and off and tune channels in advance of the program being recorded. As time went on, throughout the 80s,
90s and naughties, these features became more and more advanced until they really were quite sophisticated.
Suddenly about five years ago the world went over to a new (?) system, and one in which you could only turn a DVR such as an Archos ON (and sometimes even OFF), - and then only if you are there to do it in real time. And then sometimes only to view some tiny recorded picture in a small box in the middle of a huge TV screen!
Why are Americans so unsophisticated and is there really some way of using this USB port in conjunction with a computer to obviate all this lack of sophistication? Someone please tell me that I am wrong about Americans being so unsophisticated and why, when Klem commented on how easy recording programs (yes, even multiple programs and even when you arent there to turn it on) on VCRs used to be, everyone jumped down his throat and told him to move into the 21st Century!
I got my first VCR in 1977, a Sony Betamax personal purchase half off for only $650. When I tell you VCRs are crap, its because they are crap They were ALWAYS crap but it was all we had so it was "good". Picture is poor, media wears out, machine wears out, tapes get damaged, recording time is finite. Why would anyone want such a thing when you don't have to use it? Yes the recording time is finite on my computer too but there is about 150 hours currently on the machine and room for several hundred more. It's all in HD and identical to 'live'. Then there are 2 more machines with similar stories. USB drives are fine for archiving but gigabit LAN is even better.
BTW while the VCR was 'invented' in Japan, practical videotape recording was in fact invented in the USA by the Ampex Corporation. The first use of a VTR on air commercially was from CBS Television City on November 30, 1956 to run 15 minutes of Douglas Edwards news for the west coast network feed.
Also, those Japanese VCR manufacturers all paid licensing fees to Ampex. They shrunk and repackaged the concept. Does that qualify as an invention?
The video cassette recording system Cartrivision was introduced at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in 1970. Sold at first exclusively by Sears retail stores, the system was noteworthy for being the first to rent prerecorded movies -- by mail, making it a predecessor of Netflix.
How were the copyright infringement issues resolved in the UK?
The unnecessary conversion from digital to analog in order to record using 40 year old technology offends engineers. It would be like renting a Super-8 version of a Cinemascope film.
Here we go aga Unlike VHS, the Betamax represented an excellent compromise between price and quality. The first time I saw a Betamax recording (playing on Sony's original 19" console TV/VCR combo), I didn't know whether it was live or recorded. I used a Betamax for years for time-shifting, and I assure you, the machine was not "crap", and the picture was in no way "poor".
Yes, because the Japanese helical-scan system (invented by Hitachi, I think) was quite different from the Ampex quadruplex [sic] system.
And there are too many people in the U.S. who think the European way is better.
The grass is often greener on the other side of the fence, unless perhaps you are invested in your status quo.
The generic, sweeping, reflexive name-calling is unappreciated, by me at least, even if by being so generalized, there are necessarily elements of truth contained within.
Because all you really need is food, shelter, and clothing:
How far you climb out of your cave largely depends on how far above the subsistence level you feel comfortable. If glorified technical poverty is your maximum level of achievement, then you probably do not need a DVR.
If you obtain your entertainment in ways other than TV, then a DVR is again wasted on your lifestyle[1]. If your philosophical or religious convictions proscribe watching TV, then a DVR is not required.
However, if you do watch TV, and find that convenience, time shifting, and fast forward through commercials, are useful additions to your lifestyle, then a DVR is required.
DVR Penetration Grows to 39.7% of Households, 42.2% of Viewers
[1] I spent about 10 years without owning a TV and survived.
--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
It's my country, too. I have a right to complain. I'm not an idiot, just a semi-detached observer.
Find an "average" American who reads non-fiction books, * who knows anything about anything that hasn't been presented to him or her via mass communication or mass "culture". Find one who'd willing to consider points of view other than his or her own.
You won't find many.
By the way, I don't believe in "one-world government". By the time human beings progress to the point where it would workable without Fascist coercion, there would be no need for it.
The problem with the world is people. And I'm not the first to say it. Tarzan even said it in a movie.
I think this is what Howard Beale means when he says "Only 3% of you read books".
ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.