My dream is to (a) capture classical music TV programmes - analogue or HD; (b) select favourite movements (call it "editing"); (c) download selections to portable hard disk and, finally, (d) enjoy selections on TV screen through a streamer with a minimum or no loss of quality (that is, compared to the original transmissions). In other words, creating a personal calssical music library (i.e., no film production, special editing or effects) without losing the quality of the original transmissions. I have tried a well known PVR tv card, but got nowhere near the original transmission. My questions: 1. Is tv card the only solution? 2. What are the minimum technical requirements/specifications of any capture device for solving my problem? 3. Recommendations re specific products will be most helpful. Presently, I am recording such programmes with DVD recorder, download the DVDs to PC and select favourites with VideoReDo software. Evidently, there is a loss of quality, even compared to the standard tuners/recorders supplied by the cable companies. Thanks, Zshiv
If you are capturing from broadcast, then a typical card like the HVR 1600 should be fine for the capture. However, if you are capturing from cable or satellite, this will not capture in anything but crummy SD (probably a bit better than your current method, but not by enough). For cable/sat, you will need a cablecard tuner and windows 7. The only two devices I have found in the aftermarket world that will work are both made by ATI. They are both USB, but one is designed to be housed inside the case, while the other is setup as an external box. I know that recordings done by cablecard boxes have built-in DRM, but I do not know much of anything about the limitations, or about removing it...as I don't have any of these recordings to test with. This might be a problem for what you are describing, as it sounds like you want to just have a folder full of MPG files that you can play like they are MP3s...and I honestly don't know if VideoReDo plus will cut these files (I don't even know if VideoReDo TV Suite will do this). I know that isn't a complete answer, but at least you have a starting point now.
