I have for the last couple of years been building up my own personal library of UK TV broadcasts so that I can create my own 'on demand' iPlayer style application using Media Portal. I guess I now have around 4,000 hours of television to dip into as and when I like. So much better than my old Sky+ box which allowed me to store about 40hrs of TV. Needless to say, I don't bother with Sky these days as I have plenty of choice without.
This is how it works:
I use Media Portal to record anything that I think might be of interest. I have 2 twin DVB tuner cards which in theory should allow me to record pretty much anything within reason, although in practice if the recording shedule is too complicated, the TV Service does not cope and I end up missing starts and ends or even whole programmes - I try to stick to no more than 3 broadcasts at any one time. To make this easier, I have a few mySQL queries that examine the TVServer database and automatically add programmes to the schedule from the epg - for example: It will add all programmes with the word 'Horizon' in them so that I do not miss a Horizon episode as the titles are not the same from one week to the next (still no proper SKY+ style 'series link' in MP).
Each morning, I use VideoReDo3 to Top & Tail the broadcast, Remove the adverts and convert to a standard mpg file. This done I then convert the file to a high quality xvid (avi) file using my own front end to mencoder (written in Delphi 7). Typically this condenses an hours broadcast down to 500MB with no perceptible loss of quality.
Finally, I transfer the file to my library where it is picked up by MP-TVSeries and catalogued. I also check & update www.thetvdb.com where necessary to ensure that all my recordings are correctly described and have appropriate banners when displayed by MP-TVSeries.
I am sure I am not the only recording junkie out there. Is anyone else doing similar?
It has taken me quite a lot of effort to get this all working and I am happy to share my techniques with others. Likewise I am sure that others have developed techniques and solutions that would make my life easier so I would like to hear what they are up to.
With the price and capacity of disks dropping all the time, the personal iPlayer is becoming more realistic. When I started this, 500GB disks were the most cost effective means of storing programmes, now 1.5TB disks have taken over (I have 3 of them on my system). In 5 years time I predict 10TB disks holding up to 20,000 hours of TV which should be about as much choice as anyone could want. One consequence of this is we will need much better ways of searching and suggesting programmes to watch. MP-TVSeries is pretty good, but I already find that I forget that I have stuff and could do with something that is a little more pro-active. It would be nice to create my own 'channels' say: drama, comedy, documentary, lifestyle etc that list the next unwatched episodes in those categories - a bit like having my own personal Sky network!
I look forward to hearing other people’s comments.
This is how it works:
I use Media Portal to record anything that I think might be of interest. I have 2 twin DVB tuner cards which in theory should allow me to record pretty much anything within reason, although in practice if the recording shedule is too complicated, the TV Service does not cope and I end up missing starts and ends or even whole programmes - I try to stick to no more than 3 broadcasts at any one time. To make this easier, I have a few mySQL queries that examine the TVServer database and automatically add programmes to the schedule from the epg - for example: It will add all programmes with the word 'Horizon' in them so that I do not miss a Horizon episode as the titles are not the same from one week to the next (still no proper SKY+ style 'series link' in MP).
Each morning, I use VideoReDo3 to Top & Tail the broadcast, Remove the adverts and convert to a standard mpg file. This done I then convert the file to a high quality xvid (avi) file using my own front end to mencoder (written in Delphi 7). Typically this condenses an hours broadcast down to 500MB with no perceptible loss of quality.
Finally, I transfer the file to my library where it is picked up by MP-TVSeries and catalogued. I also check & update www.thetvdb.com where necessary to ensure that all my recordings are correctly described and have appropriate banners when displayed by MP-TVSeries.
I am sure I am not the only recording junkie out there. Is anyone else doing similar?
It has taken me quite a lot of effort to get this all working and I am happy to share my techniques with others. Likewise I am sure that others have developed techniques and solutions that would make my life easier so I would like to hear what they are up to.
With the price and capacity of disks dropping all the time, the personal iPlayer is becoming more realistic. When I started this, 500GB disks were the most cost effective means of storing programmes, now 1.5TB disks have taken over (I have 3 of them on my system). In 5 years time I predict 10TB disks holding up to 20,000 hours of TV which should be about as much choice as anyone could want. One consequence of this is we will need much better ways of searching and suggesting programmes to watch. MP-TVSeries is pretty good, but I already find that I forget that I have stuff and could do with something that is a little more pro-active. It would be nice to create my own 'channels' say: drama, comedy, documentary, lifestyle etc that list the next unwatched episodes in those categories - a bit like having my own personal Sky network!
I look forward to hearing other people’s comments.
United Kingdom
(sorry!)