TiVo versus PC-based solutions: PC Mag.

In article , Stephen Harris
wrote:

He may evaluate that differently. He may _enjoy_ searching for the
cheapest bargain. I could be earning $100/hr at work, but at home on my
own time? That's not worth anywhere near that amount. That's downtime,
relax time, do my own thing time. That's when I could happily build a
PC, hunting around to save $20 (hey, that's 4 pints of beer on Friday!).

I just keep thinking of the "statistic" about how Bill Gates should not
bother picking up a $20 bill on the sidewalk because he earns more in
the time it takes to pick it up than it's worth.

"Quiet Desperation" wrote in message
...
In article , Stephen Harris
wrote:

He may evaluate that differently. He may _enjoy_ searching for the
cheapest bargain. I could be earning $100/hr at work, but at home on my
own time? That's not worth anywhere near that amount. That's downtime,
relax time, do my own thing time. That's when I could happily build a
PC, hunting around to save $20 (hey, that's 4 pints of beer on Friday!).

I just keep thinking of the "statistic" about how Bill Gates should not
bother picking up a $20 bill on the sidewalk because he earns more in
the time it takes to pick it up than it's worth.

He may or may not _want_ to pick it up, but that decision has nothing to do
with the fact that he will continue to earn whatever he earns during that
time frame, regardless if he picks it up or not. The bottom line is he will
be $20 richer by picking it up. the only question, really, is whether or
not this is sufficient motivation for him (or anyone else, to include the
bum right behind him) to extend the effort to pick it up.

Nitpicking over whether someone should spend the time or other resources
necessary to save money (even if only a couple of bucks) is pointless. It
is an individual decision based on individual circumstances and values, and
does not necessarily follow lines of income. Some of the richest people I
know are also some of the tightest, and some of the less-than-well doers I
know are some of the most irresponsible spenders, often buying thing on
impulse. If someone thinks it is worth their while to shop around for the
best price, no one else really has any business questioning that. What
anyone else would do in similar circumstances has relevance --0 of what
someone else would do.

On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 at 17:27 GMT, wrote:

"TV image quality varied. None of the three solutions here can match the
video output of a dedicated set-top DVR." The paragraph goes on to describe
relative picture quality of the Hauppauge TV Tuner / SnapStream package,
ATI's All-In-Wonder 9600 Pro and Pinnacle PCTV Deluxe.

I'm not a stickler for picture quality, unless it's so pixelated as to
make it hard to watch (football on Basic PQ, for example).

I know this makes me a philistine.

The article continues by stating that
"All shared one weakness: the inability to control an external cable- or
satellite-TV tuner box."

I think this will change.

"As with a Microsoft Windows XP Media Center edition PC the solutions we
tested provide free channel-guide listings -- a plus compared to set-top
recorders, which require a service fee."

I wouldn't trust a windoze "free" service.

"...all three PC-based solutions do well at pausing live TV and recording
shows. Also a plus: All the packages can output VCD-compliant MPEG-1 video
as well as SVCD- or DVD compliant MPEG-2."

Nice!

Also, why tie up the resources of a 1000 dollar-plus PC to do something a 99
dollar (okay, $99 - $400) box can do better on a 24/7 schedule?

I wonder if the box could also function as a file server or something,
or if the PVR functions nail the resources.

That'd make the pricetag a bit easier to bear.



Having said that, I put a $5 salvage FM tuner card in a 400mHz
workstation that I use for timeshifting BBC/NPR programming:
http://www.mousetrap.net/~mouse/radio/


--
L.V.X., brother mouse
http://www.mousetrap.net/otr/ Old Time Radio trades
http://makeashorterlink.com/?K16312E06 CBS Radio Mystery Theater database
http://greyhound.mousetrap.net/altus/ retired racing dog

On Sun, 11 Apr 2004 at 03:37 GMT, wrote:

Another guy with a similar income spent weeks picking parts to build a
PC, and would spend hours at a time trying to save an extra $20 on a
hard drive or video card. Despite being a bright guy, he seems to have
no grasp that his *time* has value.

Where's the line between practically frugal and fanatically scroogish?

Maybe it's entertainment for him. It's hard to put a pricetag on a
hobby.

fm,
who enjoys cherry-picking for good prices

--
L.V.X., brother mouse
http://www.mousetrap.net/otr/ Old Time Radio trades
http://makeashorterlink.com/?K16312E06 CBS Radio Mystery Theater database
http://greyhound.mousetrap.net/altus/ retired racing dog

Regarding your comment:

" Having said that, I put a $5 salvage FM tuner card in a 400mHz
workstation that I use for timeshifting BBC/NPR programming:
http://www.mousetrap.net/~mouse/radio/
"

Does a reasonably priced card exist that would record AM stations, as well
as FM stations??? Thanks RichG

Also, why tie up the resources of a 1000 dollar-plus PC to do something
a 99
dollar (okay, $99 - $400) box can do better on a 24/7 schedule?

I wonder if the box could also function as a file server or something,
or if the PVR functions nail the resources.

That'd make the pricetag a bit easier to bear.

Indeed, if you get a Tuner Card with Hardware Compression, you can pretty
much do anything with your computer while it is recording. I have two
computers setup as Snapstream PVRs and I also use them as redundant file
servers and I haven't experienced any major problems with the PVR Capture
process. But to be fair, I am usually not doing much with the computers
while they are recording. One of them is even setup to capture HDTV OTA and
in some cases, the same computer was recording HDTV and also an analog
recording without any degradation in recording quality.

On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 at 00:12 GMT, wrote:
Regarding your comment:

" Having said that, I put a $5 salvage FM tuner card in a 400mHz
workstation that I use for timeshifting BBC/NPR programming:
http://www.mousetrap.net/~mouse/radio/
"

Does a reasonably priced card exist that would record AM stations, as well
as FM stations??? Thanks RichG

Gemtek Radioman is the only one I've heard of. I've never seen one in the
wild and they're no longer made.



--
L.V.X., brother mouse
http://www.mousetrap.net/otr/ Old Time Radio trades
http://makeashorterlink.com/?K16312E06 CBS Radio Mystery Theater database
http://greyhound.mousetrap.net/altus/ retired racing dog

On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 at 01:05 GMT, wrote:

Indeed, if you get a Tuner Card with Hardware Compression, you can pretty
much do anything with your computer while it is recording. I have two

Excellent info. Thanks for sharing.

fm,
off to look for TV tuner cards...



--
L.V.X., brother mouse
http://www.mousetrap.net/otr/ Old Time Radio trades
http://makeashorterlink.com/?K16312E06 CBS Radio Mystery Theater database
http://greyhound.mousetrap.net/altus/ retired racing dog

Brilliant idea! I never thought about doing that for my NPR and other
non-archived shows.
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Having said that, I put a $5 salvage FM tuner card in a 400mHz
workstation that I use for timeshifting BBC/NPR programming:
http://www.mousetrap.net/~mouse/radio/

On 4/11/04 8:12 PM, in article
, "RichG"
wrote:

Regarding your comment:

" Having said that, I put a $5 salvage FM tuner card in a 400mHz
workstation that I use for timeshifting BBC/NPR programming:
http://www.mousetrap.net/~mouse/radio/
"

Does a reasonably priced card exist that would record AM stations, as well
as FM stations??? Thanks RichG



Try using a portable AM radio near the computer you want to have a tuner
card. AM radios are susceptible to RF interference from computers and CRTs.
AM radio tuner cards are likely not available for this reason.