Having now achieved several successes with recording Hi-Def television, it seems that my choice of TV recorder has become Windows Media Center.

This has the added bonus of being able to have all recorded programmes on my PC rather than having to transfer them from my DVD recorder.

What is also useful is the ability to edit channel lists as the picture above shows my BBC list. Channel logos added using My Channel Logos.

The only drawback is that I have to leave my PC on for timed recordings as I have the bug that won't let the PC wake-up after being in sleep-mode.

I had bemoaned the picture quality recorded from WMC before but it seems that my new Sony television doesn't have a problem with these recordings. I can, therefore, start to use the useful features of a program I had ignored for quite a long time.

I'm now toying with using two old TV Dongles to create a dual tuner recorder on my old Dell laptop.

Tagged: Video Collection / Computer

Having now been able to record several different programmes from various HD channels (well, BBC One HD and BBC HD to be exact) I hadn't taken any notice of the file sizes until I wanted to store them.

When I looked into it, what I discovered came as a big surprise: I can fit two hours of off-air HD video onto a DVD-R! As a data disc, of course, but my Blu-ray player doesn't have any problem with this.

I suppose I shouldn't be shocked, after all they are sources from a broadcasted signal, but to have a HD picture for the aproximate file size of a MPEG-DVD is quite amazing to someone who started out with the humble VCD!

Here's to loads more captures...

Tagged: Video Collection / Computer

I don't usually say much about individual programmes but I have to make an exception here...

I was very much looking forward to the second series of Sherlock over the New Year but nothing prepared me for how magnificent the first episode, "A Scandal in Belgravia", was.

Something is going to have to be extra extra special to top that for 2012. Having said that, I haven't seen the last episode "Reichenbach Fall" yet.

It's just a pity that there are only three episodes.

Tagged: Broadcast TV

I am a bit of a Sony fan when it comes to black-goods and have had many of their items since my first 14" portable television in 1986.

So, having recently updated all of my television set-up, I was curious as to what DVD recorders Sony currently do. However, the DVD recorder that I have (RDR-HXD870, above), which I bought in 2008, doesn't appear to have had many successors; the HXD890 being the last before the range came to an end.

Sony's current TV recorders are PVRs (personal video recorders) - a box with a 500GB or 1TB hard-drive - that have no DVD recording/transferring capability.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that this has occured as most people don't record programmes to keep, just a few collectors like me. A PVR offers ease of use; just watch and delete.

However, other manufacturers are still keeping the DVD recorder on - LG and Panasonic - but I can see a time when, like the VCR, the DVD recorder will be no more and record-to-keep will be back with the PC, where my digital recording started in the first place.

Tagged: Hardware

Over the Christmas period, I visited some family friends who were still using a Sony VCR (aproximate representation above). It was linked to a LCD television and appeared to also have a Freeview set-top box hooked up to it, to record from. A cheap DVD player was not too far away either.

But rather than roll my eyes at people clinging onto out-dated technology, I thought it rather quaint that they had inexpensively adapted what hardware that they had to suit their needs, by adding a cheap digi-box. Good for them and all those others out there adapting what faithfully serves them.

Tagged: VHS / Hardware

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