Please help get me started

[andywatkin]

Hi - I have a few basic questions.
1) can GBPVR replay to TV?
2) what are minimum characteristics for PC / laptop?
3) What's the best TV tuner for a laptop?
Thanks .. Andy

[herbs]

1) Do you mean output to tv then thats upto your graphics card whether it has tv output.
2) Do a search on the forum but I think sub recommends 1ghz
3) what is your source and where are you from? in souce I mean cable, over the air or sat, s-vid, aerial etc.

[andywatkin]

I guess I should be more specific.
- I have an analog cable which I want to record on a laptop and then play back to a tv, basically using my laptop as a DVR. Any suggestions about equipment and software? Thanks .. Andy

[ubu]

In theory, you should be able to use GBPVR for what you want. I believe the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 is well supported (not the PVR2 model) so would be a good choice as a capture device.

It would be easier to answer your question if you would reveal a few details about your laptop (cpu type/speed, ram, video adapter, disk storage, etc.)

[andywatkin]

Actually I have two laptops:

An older Dell which I could dedicate completely to the task:
Inspiron 3700 with Windows XP Pro, Intel 450GT processor, 20 GB hard drive, 256MB RAM, ATI Rage Mobility video card, ESS Maestro2E PCI AudioDrive (WDM) sound card, Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller, Generic TV display with 32B True Color and 1024x768 resolution.

The second laptop is a:
Inspiron 2200 with Windows XP Pro, Intel Pentium M 1.60GHz processor, 60 GB hard drive, 768MB RAM, Mobile Intel 915GM/GMS, 910GML Express Chipset Video card, Plug and Play 32B true color 1024x768 display, and a SigmaTel C-Major Audio card.

Again I would love to use the older Dell but I understand it may be limited. Thanks again .. Andy

[ubu]

My guess (and this is just a guess) would be that the newer laptop would work just fine for GBPVR and that the older one might work OK for recording and playback but could be a bit iffy for live TV. I'm not sure if the old guy has enough memory. Upgrading it might be a good idea.

I'm assuming that the laptops have S-video out connectors for connecting to the TV and that they have USB 2.0 ports (the old laptop probably has USB 1.1 ports so you'd need to buy a PCMCIA USB 2.0 adapter - newegg.com has pretty good prices - I just bought one from them for a different project).

There's quite a lot of threads discussing min system requirements and different peoples' experiences with different setups out there. This one, for instance. Try doing a search of the forums for "PIII" or something similar.

[andywatkin]

Thanks .. Andy

[andywatkin]

Neither of my laptops have a S-video port. Is there and eazy way around this? Thanks .. Andy

[JonnyCam]

Neither of my laptops have a S-video port. Is there and eazy way around this? Thanks .. Andy

Get a TV out box for your PC - they are quite cheap ($50 USD I guess) and they plug into the VGA port of your laptop. From there - it has some outputs (the old one I used had 1 x composite, 1 x svideo, and 1 x monitor passthrough)

plug that in - can be powered by USB or PS2 port passthrough (supplied) and plug your TV into the box - all done.

See here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/PC-TO-TV-Converter-B...dZViewItem

or Here
http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefr...iew/XH4624

[stefan]

Both 20GB and 60GB will fill up quite fast, just so you are aware of that...