A new way of watching TV

[VaBeachGuy 12]

I've predicted for a couple years now that the below article would come true and it looks like it's getting close. This would be great for people that don't have Star Trek (or other shows) in their area.

 

 

Interesting article

[A l t e r E g o 9]

Our cable company has this; it is called Video On Demand. We have a digital cable box (Dolby Digital) installed with 3 channels of different VOD programming available 24 hrs a day with the promise of more VOD channels to come.

 

We choose the channel, chose the program we wish to view, push 1 button and viola! We can pause fast forward and rewind and restart a purchased program for 24 hrs after the time of purchases. We also have, for a flat rate of 10 bucks a month 40 channels of CD DD quality commercial free music stations, the screen shows info about the artist currently playing but the cable box also connects to the home theater.

 

I thought our cable company was just tooting their own horn when they say they are on the cutting edge of TV entertainment, but I guess maybe they weren't kidding.

[Celtic_Swimmer 0]

My cable system allows me to get Star Trek like ALL day so its not a big thing for me.. *as long as the networks don't cancel is or anything*

[mrskirk 0]

Alterego, you must have Time Warner Cable. How do I know? I work there!! I agree that the VOD is terrific! Only problem is, I haven't found ANY Star Trek yet-even on the Premium on Demand or the Movies on Demand!!

 

Time Warner has another new feature coming soon. We will be offering new cable boxes with a digital video recorder built in! (A digital video recorder is what a TiVo is). That way, you will never miss an episode of any Star Trek series or movie because you can set your cable box to record it! Pretty cool, hey?

[A l t e r E g o 9]

I dont know if it is Time Warner or not, does the name Cox Communications ring any bells? They are who we make the checks out to.

I am really satisfied with the service, we get cable TV on three sets (only one of the connections is Digital) Digital telephone service, and one DSL connection all on one bill for about $139 a month.

Combining a cable box with Tivo is a great idea, I look foward to the day (someday) at least one of our VOD channels would be a 24hr Star Trek channel, that would rock my ST world :lol:

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

Cable costs too much.

 

I got cable internet though! :)

 

Any chance I could do this on my computer? :)

[Guest Ktrek]

I just recently bought a satellite TV dish and also a PVR(Personal Video Recorder). The PVR is a neat device. It's much like a Tivo in that it allows you to record shows. It's simple to use as the sat has a directory and all I have to do is find the show in the listings and select record. You can have it start a minute early if you want to make sure you don't miss anything. Once I have a show recorded I can watch it and be recording something else at the same time. All in digital quality. Another neat feature is if you are watching a show and decide that you want to record it, you can select "rewind" and rewind back to the beginning of the show and select "record". The downside is that you cannot record a show and watch something else at the same time. I purchased the PVR mainly so I could archive some of my favorite shows. I have it hooked up to a TV capture card on my PC. I use some software apps that capture and then create an mpg. Then I burn the show onto a cheap 25 cent cdr disc and voila! An archived copy that will last me for years without tying up alot of storage space.

 

Ktrek

[Guest Ktrek]

Oh...another neat feature is being able to fast forward through those lousy commercials. It has a feature where you can fast forward at 30 second intervals. 3 or 4 clicks and you are at the beginning of the next scene and didn't have to endure all the obnoxious commercials.

 

Ktrek

[A l t e r E g o 9]

PVR is a digital VCR meaning no tape involved, correct?

 

Is the difference between Tivo and a PVR you don't have to subscribe to a service or is the sat service mandatory?

 

How many hours of record time do you have on the highest picture quality record time? How many with the least quality?

 

Can you connect it to a VCR for archiving on tape if you want to?

[Guest Ktrek]

Alterego,

Yes PVR is a digital recorder with no tape involved. There are several on the market but the one I own I bought from Dish Network and it has the satellite receiver built in. I don't know if I could use it without the satellite, never tried. I'm also not sure if it has differing grades of quality settings but I don't think so. Mine will record up to 60 hours of programming. I think they make some now that will record 80 to 100 hours. Yes you can hook it up to a VCR and archive shows. I've just chosen to hook mine up to my PC capture card and archive to CDR instead. 100 CDRs take up ALOT less storage space than VHS tapes do. I'm pretty sure they make PVRs that are stand alone units that will work with cable systems. Tivo I think is a subscription service. With the satellite I get as good of quality on the playback as the original broadcast because the sat is all digital signal encoded in mpg2. I understand that some newer units are coming out that will have USB ports on the back which would be great to have to download the data direct to the PC rather than capture in real time. However, I have yet to see an mpg cutter, to edit the commercials, that is as good and accurate as AVI cutters. I can capture two hours of shows on my hard drive, edit and then encode to mpg. It takes about 8 hours for two hours of shows BUT my time at the PC is about 10 to 15 minutes max.

 

Ktrek