Beginner SetUp and Usage Questions (1 Viewer)

[ahr8tch]

I'm trying to set up equipment and software to record TV programs from a cable signal and to record VHS content on my WinXP Pro SP3 (but not Media Center Edition) laptop PC. After recording, I want to be able to watch TV programs on a large screen LCD HDTV (Samsung). I also want to be able to convert the VHS content to digital and burn it to DVD. Later, I will want to convert some old (1988) Sony Camcorder tapes to be able to burn them to DVD. I know very little about the underlying technologies and very little about the use of the hardware and software that I have.

Here is my setup: Hewlett-Packard HP530 Notebook PC; 1.86 MHz Intel Core Duo processor, 2GB RAM, 500 GB HDD with 375 GB free space, Mobile Intel(R) 945 Express Chipset Family Display adapter, (2x) CMO 15.4, Monitor 15.4"vis, (February 2006), Multimedia-Generic CardBus Controller, Conexant High Definition Audio-Venice 5045, Optiarc DVD RW AD-7530B [D-ROM drive, USB2 support; Hauppauge HVR-1950 device with ATSC/NTSC clear QAM receiver with cable ready TV tuner, FM radio receiver, and MPEG-2 hardware compressor (for recording analog cable TV to disk) which is connected via USB2 cable to the laptop; Scientific Atlanta cable set top box (STB) from Time Warner Cable; Magnavox MWD 2206 VCR/DVD player (does not record DVD).

I have downloaded, installed and configured MediaPortal 1.1.0.0, and TV-Server Single Seat (although I am uncertain whether I have done this correctly). I have read the User Manuals and the Configuration Manuals for both programs and been through the configuration software options several times. Although I'm aware that cards and software options are different for analog than for digital, my comfort level is not too high. I have connected the Hauppauge to the cable STB and scanned for TV channels on both the digital and analog (NTSC) signals. I connected the Hauppauge to the VCR, too, trying first the component cables (L/R audio, red/white, and video, yellow) then a shielded cable. When I activate the VCR and play the tape, I see no evidence of signal on the PC, but I am so totally lost that I don't know what, if anything, I should expect to see nor what to do beforehand in order to be able to see anything.

As I understand the procedure, the VCR will feed analog signals to the Hauppauge which will decode them and pass them to the PC to be written as digital data that has not yet been converted to digital for recording. I am under the impression that it is the MediaPortal software that will process the signals from the Hauppauge device and will write them to disk. After the signals have been written to disk, they will have to be converted to digital and written to the HDD in digital format from whence I can then burn them to DVD using appropriate software.

Here I should stop and ask for a critique of my statements thus far. First, is the hardware (as described) adequate to accomplish the goals? Do I have to have Windows MCE functionality to do this? Does the laptop PC have sufficient capacity? Will the Hauppauge device capture signal from both the STB and from the VCR (not simultaneously)? Do I need to run software on the PC to support the Hauppauge or does MP or TV-Server handle it? Do I need to download and install a codec? How do I determine if a codec is already installed? What codec should I be using? (I warned you that I was unfamiliar with this technology.) Second, assuming that my hardware is adequate and properly set up and the software properly installed (questionable), have I demonstrated a reasonable understanding of the process involved? Finally, what steps should I follow to capture a VHS tape from the VCR to the PC? My (unsuccessful) procedure has been to 1) make the cable connection from the VCR to the Hauppauge (neither type seemed to work) and from there to the PC (USB) start MP on the PC then start the tape playing. At this point, I expected to find an MP menu that would allow me to start the PC recording and specify the pathname. I did not.

Comments, corrections, and suggestions will be very much appreciated.

 

[vecnar]

Hi and welcome to MP forum,

As i understood you want to setup a channel which will take an input from capture card. Later on you will record this channel so that it would be saved to hard drive and later using some third party application convert and burn to dvd. Is it what you are trying to do?
If yes then you will need to open tv server configuration:
1) Make sure that you card exist by expanding "tv servers"
2) Click on "tv channels" and click on "add" button
3) Type the name of the channel
4) Right click on the white space under "tuning details" and click on "add"
5) Select tuning detail type, in my case it is an analog card so i used analog and in your case i am not sure but try with each if one doesn't work
6) In new window enter channel number (any in your case), select input type and country to anything you want
7) Video source is the one that matters the most in my case it is CVBS #1 so try this if you have or try different ones by editing channel later on
8) Audio source set to Automatic and click on ok
9)expand "tv channels" and select "tv mapping"
10) Make sure that your tv card is selected from drop down box
11) Select your new channel from left side, click on it and click on arrow button to map this channel to your tv tuner card.
12) click on tv channels, select your channel and click on preview button if no video shows you will need to change video source by clicking on edit button, right click on tuning details entry and selecting edit option.
13) If you can see video and sound now you can start recording and later on use some other application to convert and burn to dvd.

After reading your post one more time i can see that i answered only one question.
Another thing you are trying to do is to connect your stb to your tuner card and controll it using ir server suite or do you want connect cable directly to your hvr1950 tuner? If you want to connect your stb to your tuner card then you will have to do the same steps as above but the channel number will need to be the same as on stb, this is for controlling channel change using ir server suite (you can use mce remote control with ir blaster, which will enable automatic change of channels on your stb). So you will have to add manually each channel with its unique name and channel number.

Let me know if this is what you wanted to know