...That I pimped my Windows Media Center.

Tagged: Computer

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

Following on from my previous blogs about recording HD television on my PC (optimism and disappointment), I had noticed that my PC hadn't crashed for quite a while.

So maybe it was time to give the Nanostick another go.

At last a success! My first complete HD recording is from BBC HD and a repeat of Doctor Who Confidential: When Time Froze. A nice result as this also contains the mini-episode "Death Is The Only Answer" and River Song's chronological appearances.

With Christmas coming up I hope that I can rely on my PC to carry-out a few more HD recordings for me.

Tagged: Doctor Who / Computer / Hardware

I took a chance with a PCTV NanoStick T290e for my PC and initially thought I had, at last, found a way to record HDTV.

However, in practice it hasn't been such a success.

There are two main issues with my set-up. The native software, PCTV Center, is poor but, thankfully, Windows Media Center works very well with it. Sadly, the biggest letdown is my PC and/or Windows 7. Every time I have tried to record any High Definition, my PC crashes after about ten to fifteen minutes.

So I installed Windows XP on a separate partition. This only leaves me PCTV Center to use and, although the PC doesn't crash, it can't handle dispalying or recording HD under XP.

I'm glad I tried the Nanostick but this will be something that I will have to come back to at my next computer upgrade.

Tagged: Computer / Hardware

This week I took a chance with a PCTV NanoStick T290e for my PC - the first to receive free-to-air HDTV - even though my Video PC's specifications weren't quite up to the minimum specs for HDTV.

The specs stated that, for HDTV, a 2.6 GHz multi-core processor was required. My PC is a 2.5 GHz quad-core; potentially, not quite there. However, I'm glad to say, the playback and recording is hardly troubling my PC.

Also, I have got this working with both the NanoSick's TV Center software and Windows Media Center, although they both record in different formats. TV Center records in .TS (H.264) but WMC still records HD in .wtv but this is a .TS file that has been wrapped up in a .wtv to add the programme's details.

What's also a nice touch is that VideoReDo TV Suite can edit the .TS files.

Tagged: Computer / Hardware

I once complained that my Dell Laptop couldn't cope with playing iPlayer videos at full screen (BBC iPlayer And Stuttering Full-Screen Playback). But after doubling the RAM to 4GB and upgrading the operating system to Windows 7, I thought I had solved the problem (Revisiting And Clearing-Up Old Blogs).

So, for the last few months, I have been using my 2007 Dell Inspiron 6500 Dual Core as my main source of watching catch-up television on iPlayer or ITV-Player. This is connected to my Sony 32" LCD where I have been watching the streaming versions of shows, quite happily, in full screen.

However, last weekend I tried to watch this week's Holby City. The playback got interupted frequently with an error message saying I didn't have enough bandwith. I have a 30meg broadband service, so that wasn't the issue. This was a Saturday night so I was encountering very busy net traffic or the iPlayer servers were very busy.

Not to be beaten, I installed the iPlayer Desktop and downloaded the episode; something I have not done since that first blog in 2008.

The episode was watched but, at full screen, the playback was still choppy. So my laptop can cope with streaming iPlayer video but not play a downloaded one. Pretty much back to square one.

So together with this and its complete inability to play anything HD, my Dell was never really up to the video task in the first place.

Tagged: Computer

My most often used video software, VideoReDo TV Suite, recently updated to a better version and I have, at last, updated to this version.

It now features support for more video types and most importantly is able to load up .wtv files that have been recorded from Windows Media Center. No more having to convert to a different file type first, like I used to.

There is also an ability to save video to different file types, most noteably to H.264, although there are some playback issues with certain video players. VLC player is a good one to cope with most if not all.

However, I don't suppose I'll be using the h.264 aspect very much but it's nice to know it's there. VideoReDo TV Suite H.264 has been added to the Video Software page.

Tagged: Computer

Way back in February 2010, I posed the question as to why I couldn't see a difference between a capture from my DVD recorder or a capture from Windows Media Center (sic) even though the bitrate for WMC was lower.

I then went in the opposite direction, in January this year, where I said that I could see a difference after all.

At last I have found out why there is a difference; it's about DVD compliance. The DVD recorder will 'beef-up' its recordings to make it a DVD compliant file; WMC, via the TV dongle, is merely recording the Mpeg stream that it receives.

Apparently, converting the WMC captures into a DVD may not be able to be played in all DVD players (but probably most these days).

Having said that, surely the DVD authoring software makes all files compliant anyway?

But why the Doctor Who screen cap? Here's why, the first dongle...

Tagged: Computer / Hardware / Doctor Who

Of late, my DVD Recorder has had a bit of a holiday. Apart from recording episodes of Outcasts, for the keep pile, it has hardly been used recently. The reason is, since connecting my laptop to my television, I have been using the online catch-up services such as BBC iPlayer and ITV Player. If I know I am going to miss a programme I don't have any need to set up a recording, on the DVD recorder, before its transmission.

I've had this facility for a while with Virgin Media (well, BBC iPlayer anyway), but Virgin's catch-up service didn't replace my DVD recorder for the following reasons:

• When selecting the catch-up service there is a lengthy delay before the required menus appear.
• With the nature of Virgin's software, I feel bounced around several uncessesary screens before I find the one I want.
• After the wait and effort there is always the danger that the service isn't available anyway. It's really annoying when that happens!

However, on my laptop, finding the required programme takes seconds as mouse clicks are far easier than a remote control's arrow buttons. Also, the on-line availability has yet to let me down.

I will say, however, that Virgin is still the place I have to go for Hi-Def catch-up as my laptop isn't powerful enough to play on-line Hi-Def programmes from the iPlayer. Something that I will remedy soon.

The DVD recorder is still used when I want to keep a programme for my archive. However, apart from Outcasts, there hasn't been much since Christmas.

Tagged: Computer / Hardware

I recently did a review of my old blogs and found some articles that were left a little open ended. Now that we are in a new year, I thought I'd take this opportunity to do a review and update some of them:

BBC iPlayer And Stuttering Full-Screen Playback

(November 2008) When I first linked my Dell Inspiron 6500 to my LCD television, I was unable to play any video from the BBC's iPlayer in full screen as the playback was very stop-start.

Since then I have upgraded the RAM to 4gb from 2gb and the operating system from Windows Vista to Windows 7; the full screen playback is now perfect.

In fact, combined with Virgin's fibre optic broadband, my laptop has become the preferred hardware for playing on-lne video. One issue to overcome is that the laptop is not powerful enough to play HD content from the iPlayer but that is an issue for later.

BBC DVDs That You Can't Get Here But Can Over There

(October 2010) When I uploaded that original blog only series one and two of Silent Witness had been released in the UK. Now the UK releases have reached series eight. However, the Netherland releases are far in advance of this.

The newer UK releases have all been double-series box sets (three/four, five/six and seven/eight) but appear to have stalled again at the last release. Also, very annoyingly, series three was released with the picture at the wrong aspect but so was the Netherlands issue.

There is no sign of Daziel And Pascoe further than series two, in the UK, yet but, more interestingly, the rumour of a Netherlands release of series one of Shoestring has reared its head again. I'll believe that one when I hold a copy in my hand.

Television And Windows 7 Part Three (A Bit [rate] Of A Contradiction)

(Feburary 2010) Back then I was quite impressed with the recording capability of Windows Media Center (sic) and quite taken in by the quality of the recordings. A year later and I have hardly used this program for any capturing, only to watch a programme from time to time.

From the handfull of programmes I had recorded, I did notice a difference to the quality of the picture after all. It wasn't a large difference than from my normal recordings but it was enough to notice. This can still be a useful back-up.

So no contradiction after all!

I'd Like A Bigger Telly, Please!

(July 2010) Upon reflection, maybe I don't. My investigations into this has led me to the decision that a 32" screen is the optimum for the distance that I sit from the screen. In every larger televison I investigated, the SD picture looked horrible from two metres.

A full HD 1080p may happen soon but I can't see me getting a larger screen until I can either re-arrange my living room or get the loft converted into a cinema (like that's going to happen)!

Tagged: Commercial Release / Computer / Hardware

Nothing particularly Earth-shattering but this was something that I should have done a long time ago. If I had any recordings on my Desktop PC then I would usually have to wait until I had burned them to DVDR to be able to watch them on my 32" Sony LCD.

However, I have now connected my Dell laptop to the telly (in PC mode) and thanks to my home network/Windows 7 can stream videos and music wirelessly from my Desktop to my living room. Plus dip into a wealth of on-demand video from the likes of SeeSaw and Blinkbox. It may not sound like a big deal, but it is to me.

On the other hand, I wanted to repair an old Tiny A360+ laptop that I had in the loft which didn't have a hard drive. I got a cheap 10GB hard drive from ebay and set it all up. This was so that I could have internet radio in my bedroom. Sadly, when everything was loaded on, I discovered that the keys 5, T and G don't work anymore. It hasn't all been sucesses this month...

Tagged: Computer / Hardware

BBC1 HD launches on November 3rd; now all I have to do is find an inexpensive and easy way of recording HD content in HD quality.

I do have the capability to record HD with Virgin+ but don't have the capability of keeping anything outside of the Virgin box in HD. Each programme I wish to keep would either fill up the Virgin box's hard drive or have to be downscaled to SD by my DVD recorder, via a Scart lead, which completely defeats the object.

This is prooving to be a bit awkward as, with recent experience, one can be misled quite easily as to what can and can not record in HD...

It appears that the way to go is to record from Satellite via a PC Card but this isn't as easy either because of the logisitics: my Satellite cable doesn't enter the house anywhere near my desktop PC and the reviews for most Satellite cards don't give them a glowing report.

Tagged: Broadcast TV / Computer

It is ten years since buying my first PC which subsequently led me into capturing and converting my VHS tapes into digital video. For most of that time there were only a few options of what digital video I could convert to. In the early days it was VideoCDs (VCDs) only; I only had the ability to convert to VCD because the assorted paraphanalia to convert to DVD was just too expensive. There was Super VideoCD (SVCD) but situations dictated that... well, see further on.

As with all new technology, the prices for DVD burners and discs became affordable and upgrades to my PCs occured and DVD recorders were added to the mix. From this point onwards, DVD-R has been the archiving choice for my VHS conversions and off-air captures and continues to be so.

What has also been happening, alongside the development of the home computer, is that more and more video types are being released to the public (the ones I have dabbled with are listed here) and it is a concern that I have stayed with the right one. Thankfully I believe that I have.

One regret, from the early days, is that I didn't persue the SVCD route. Any convertions to DVD-R from SVCD would have been much better quality than converting from VCD (e.g. my copies of the TV series Strange suffers because I converted VCD copies to DVD-R). There were two reasons that I didn't persue the better format:

Firstly, SVCD, although giving a superior picture quality to VCDs, could only hold about forty-five minutes of video which wouldn't be enough for an average of one hour for an episode of a programme.

Secondly, My then DVD player, a Toshiba SD-220E, didn't like SVCDs and wouldn't play the soundtrack in sync. with the video. I did find a fix for this but I had already made the decision not to use SVCDs.

However, most decisions are made to cater for the equipment one has. As my Video Types page shows, I have tried various types but I haven't really adopted any of them to any great extent because I haven't needed to. I view the vast majority of my DVDs on a television. I may occasionally use my PC or laptop but generally I haven't adopted any other video-playing medium (a short-lived affair with an old PDA came the closest) to warrant any large scale conversion to a different video type.

Until now: I've got an iPhone.

I am now dabbling into the realms of converting videos from DVD to mp4 h.264 so that I can load any videos onto my iPhone. It is early days but the iPhone is such a good video player. I have converted the series Cambridge Spies to take on holiday this month to give the iPhone its first proper try out.

Ultimately, DVD+/-R is still my format of choice as any other conversions will use my DVDs as their source.

Tagged: Video Collection / Computer

Windows Media Center, in Windows 7, doesn't allow the quality of the capture to be changed. For example, if the capture is set at SQ (standard Quality), on a DVD recorder, then two hours of video will fit on a standard DVD+/-R; HQ (High Quality) usually means one hour but a better picture etc. This facility isn't available for a digital signal tuners in WMC.

Recently, when I burned a DVD from a WMC capture, I found that one hour of video was about 1.3GB whereas the same capture on a DVD recorder is around 2GB.

Another search on the net told me that the reason for this is that Windows Media Center records the digital signal directly without making any changes to the quality; rather like a VCR does with an analogue signal.

For the amateur like me, there is a conflict of logic as one of the rules of a video encode is that the higher the bitrate the better the picture quality. However, if the base digital signal is at a lower bitrate then the picture quality must be fixed and throwing more bitrate at it can't create a better picture as the guts of the frame isn't there. Or can it? How then does a DVD recorder manage to create a High Quality recording?

The answer must lay in the computer capture itself. A program like WMC will only record the digital signal (thus saving on computer resources) but the program that came with my TV Tuner, Arcsoft Total Media 3, will use the computer's processing power to capture to the standards of a DVD recorder.

Below are two screen captures; the first from a video captured via Windows Media Center and the second from a Sony DVD recorder. Can you tell the difference?

View the full version here

View the full version here

For a static image there isn't much difference; so how about a faster moving scene:

View the full version here

View the full version here

Amazingly, here there isn't a lot of difference to this picture either. I would have expected the WMC picture, because of the lower bitrate, to be much more blocky.

Further investigation required...

Tagged: Computer

As I stated in my blog last November I upgraded my laptop to Windows 7 and was rather impressed. I was also impressed with the Windows Media Center (sic) that came with it which incorporated a useful television application.

Writing about this, I said that when recording television programmes they are saved to a proprietry file type (.wtv) and at that time there didn't seem to be any cheap or free programs to convert these to .mpeg for archiving

I found that .wts and .dvr-ms files are .mpeg files wrapped up within something else. An example of that something else is within recorded .wts and .dvr-ms files there is a synopsis (loaded from the EPG's programme description) included within the file. This then appears when selecting the television programme, within WMC, to watch (as below):

So, how do I convert television programmes recorded in WMC, as .wtv files, into .mpeg files? Firstly, I have to find where my WMC television recordings are saved: open Libraries and select Recorded TV (as highlighted below):

The list of recorded television programmes will appear. I then right click on the recording that I want to convert to MPEG2 and select 'Convert to .dvr-ms Format'.

The next stage is to open the .dvr-ms file in one of two programs that I already have:

1. VideoReDo/VideoReDo TV Suite (listed here under my favourite software). This program, which I now use on nearly every DVD+/-R I make, allows me to edit the .dvr-ms file and save as a .mpeg file as I would normally do when creating the DVD+/-Rs to go into my archive collection.

2. SVCD2DVD (also listed here under my favourite software). With this program I can load the .dvr-ms file (but un-edited) and this will convert the file straight to DVD compliant files ready to be burned to DVD+/-R.

So I now have Windows Media Centre as a further recording resource and a portable one at that.

Tagged: Computer

I updgraded my laptop's operating system from Vista to Windows 7 this week and am instantly impressed with it. I did actually like the visual style of Vista but it was a rather slow system; even after doubling the Ram. However, as the advertising says, Windows 7 is faster and easier to use; and still uses the nice Areo visuals.

But why is this blog titled Television and Windows 7? Well, remember the TV dongle that I received last year? There is a program on Windows 7 called Windows Media Center (sic) which has a very nice television application included; I opened this application up, plugged in the dongle and WMC installed all of the drivers itself. Once a scan was carried out, for the Freeview stations, it was up and running. Vista did have an ealier version of WMC but with Vista being such a memory hungry operating system it wouldn't work as well (not on my laptop anyway) so I tended to ignore it, along with Windows DVD Maker which just crashed my laptop.

WMC behaves similarly to Sky plus; It records the television programme that is currently being watched allowing the watcher to replay a missed sequence. When the next program starts the recording begins afresh. WMC doesn't keep these recordings; recording to keep can be done by clicking on the red record button and timer recordings using the EPG:

However, there is one little issue for recordings: if I want to record a programme to keep, the format is proprietary to WMC: .wtv. At this time there aren't many (cheap) applications that can convert .wtv to .mpeg or DVD compliant files. As a result I can't see me using this application to record from, unless I hold onto recordings and wait until .wtv conversion programs become available.

Tagged: Computer

Having, at long last, realised that my old internet provider's broadband speed was a bit rubbish (an "up to 8mb" service where I was averaging 750k; this due to the distance from the telephone exchange) I looked into whether I would be able to have the fibre-optic broadband service from Virgin Media. Happily, I could. The cables had been installed on my street when the area was built (around 2000).

It took me a while to get around to taking the plunge but during May I had the Virgin Media 10mb broadband installed in my house. But in addition; I also went for the bundle which included the telephone and cable television (size L).

Regarding the television part of the package: what Virgin was offering was access to not just the former UKTV stations: Gold, Alibi and Watch etc (that Freeview and Freesat can't offer), but the catch-up service from the BBC's iPlayer.

And here's the rub: only a matter of months ago I was bemoaning the fact that I couldn't play any BBC iPlayer downloads at full screen.

Result!

Tagged: Computer / Hardware

For my Birthday I was given a Seal USB Digital TV Adapter Dongle, to watch television on my computer, which was purchased on one of those shopping channels (owned by Virgin). I had seen these being sold on the channel myself and was balking at the total lack of knowledge of the presenter trying to sell it: "download the tv programme to your dongle". What! Most of us watching who know at least a bit about computers were yelling at the telly.

It doesn't really strike much confidence in the item if the presenter doesn't know what they are talking about. You sort of expect it in Dixons (or Currys Digital as it is now) as the staff get paid the minimum wage; but I digress...

I have had tv cards/tv usb plug-ins before and they have been poor to fair at the most. Admitedly the first ones I owned were at a time I had a lower spec PC but the constant loss of signal and/or poor quality picture put me off: an analogue Pinnacle PCI card (watch only), an analogue Pinnacle USB plug in (watch only) and a Tevion Digital PCI card (dreadful buggy software and no 16:9).

The Seal took me completely by surprise. It's actually quite good and recordings are straight to MPEG2. Excellent as a back-up for my archive recording. The picture quality may not be as sharp (but only slightly) as a proper DVD recorder but this only sells at about £15 to £20. For that price it is superb.

To put it through its paces I recorded 2008's Children In Need and was very happy with the results. Of course there had to be a bit of a tinker with the settings (turning off progressive playback, for PC monitors, to lower the processing required) and there is the odd picture jump here and there (like most of us have watching normal television anyway) but overall quite happy with its potential. I can see this item being very valuable for thoses special themed evenings that occasionally occur on BBC4; it is far easier to edit an MPEG file that is already on the PC. The alternative is spending ages carving up a recording, on the DVD Recorder, to copy them to several DVD-RWs.

I might add that the PC I use with this is a 3ghz Pentium 4 with 3gb of Ram. Not exactly up to date (dual-core/quad-core etc) but powerful enough to cope with this dongle if nothing else is being done at the same time. On the evening I recorded Children In Need I left the PC alone - nothing else was processing at the same time (save for the anti-virus and firewall). The results achieved will undoubtabley depend on how good the PC, it is used on, is.

One thing to watch is that, as it is a USB stick, it is put into a snug fitting USB port. Better still, use the USB extention lead that comes with it. I had a situation where the weight of the aerial lead was pulling the dongle down which wasn't allowing proper connection in the USB port. This caused signal reduction and a loss of most of the stations.

Oh yes, if anyone decides to get one of these (or something similar by Pinnacle etc) just be aware that the telescopic aerial supplied, as pictured on the box, is utterly useless; it has to be connected to a proper aerial.

Below are a few screen captures from the Children In Need Doctor Who Christmas special 2008 preview recorded using the dongle:

Any excuse for some Doctor Who screen caps!

Tagged: Doctor Who / Computer

I like the BBC iPlayer; I have been using the BBC's Radio Player for years (usually to catch-up with the comedy shows of BBC7) so I was pleased when the same catch-up service was applied to television programmes. After all, there are occasions where I have forgotten to set my DVD recorder and have missed a programme. On iPlayer I have a preference for downloading a programme, rather than streaming, as when watching the streaming version it has stalled halfway through and I have had to either start all over again or wait until later (I'm currently stuck with a poor broadband service).

So this was the plan: (take it as read that I have downloaded and installed iPlayer) I would download a programme to my Dell laptop and then attach the this to my Sony KDL-32D3000 LCD television, attached as a PC monitor, and then playback the programme in full screen. So far so good.

Not so: the actual set-up was sound; everything connected and showed on the Sony screen properly but it all fell down when playing back programmes on full screen: the playback stuttered all the way through. The only way to watch something properly was to reduce the picture back down to 100% and even then it would jump every so often. But watching at 100% defeated the object of using the LCD television.

A quick look on the net and it transpires that a lot of people are having the same problem. It appears to be down to one of two things:

It isn't iPlayer's fault but any PC running Vista, as there appears to be an issue with Vista's Media Player, or the processor in my laptop isn't strong enough to play at full screen and read the file's contained Digital Rights Management (DMA: a way of holding onto copyright).

So what do I do? Do I just watch my downloads on my laptop screen in normal size or shall I shall I lash up some spare components into a Media PC? Is it really worth if for one download a month?

Tagged: Computer

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