Video Capturing

[eeboater]

I know there are a few geeks on this board. Does anyone have any video capturing devices on their computers? I am looking to capture some video to my computer that I TiVo'd last weekend. I want to then burn it to DVD for future reference. I want to do this without spending hundreds of dollars on a video capturing device.<br /><br />Any ideas?<br /><br />Sean

 

[JB]

Re: Video Capturing

Non-boating Tech topic.

 

[PierBridge]

Re: Video Capturing

Maybe not the answer you are looking for but here it is Depending what series Tivo you have.<br /><br />For the series 1 DTIVO you'd need to install a Turbonet adapter (about $70 plus shipping from 9thtee.com). You can also find them on ebay but they still tend to go for about $60-65 used. The installation software is available for download from silicondust.com (linked from 9th Tee). You will need to perform the EEPROM patch that's part of the installation process but it's explained in the instructions. There's a support forum if you have any questions about installing and setting up a Turbonet. It helps if you have a router set up for a home network so you can hardwire the Tivo to your PC using CAT-5 ethernet cables. You can also use a wireless Airnet adapter in lieu of a Turbonet but the transfer speeds will suffer. I'd highly recommend setting up the Tivo with a static IP address so you'll always know what to use for your network connection.<br /><br />The next step is to install the extraction tools on your Tivo. You will also need to set up the Tivo for telnet communication and it's also a good idea to set it up for FTP transfers while you're at it. Both hacks are quite simple and straightforward and may actually be done as part of the Turbonet installation. It's been a long time since I've installed a Turbonet using the install CD so I can't recall what's involved with it. The extraction program is called TyTools and can be downloaded from the extraction forum at dealdatabase. Here's a link to a step-by-step walkthrough for using TyTools to extract and process files to create your own DVDs, SVCDs and a TyTools FAQ.<br /><br /><br />You will need to disable the encryption on your DTivo before you can extract any videos. <br />If you have a S1 DTivo you may need to do a little more research to find the exact descrambling method that will work with your OS version. The tivoapp patch is the preferred method but if there isn't one for your OS version then you can go with one of the older noscramble methods. I've found that the easiest method of hacking a S1 DTivo is to install 2.5Xtreme and then install the xupgrade utility containing xPlusz. xPlusz is a suite of hacks that can be activated a la carte using the call waiting prefix in the phone setup menu or directly via telnet connection. It includes all of the hacks that support descrambling and communications, with the exception of TyTools, and installs the Turbonet drivers so you don't have to do that separately. It also performs the EEPROM patch for you automatically and installs the Turbonet driverUnfortunately, 2.5Xtreme is no longer available for download on any of the websites that hosted it so you will probably only be able to find it via some of the bittorrent sites or P-to-P networks. You can get a copy of the xupgrade program here .ftp://tivo:later@ftp.twinbrothers.com/

 

[KaGee]

Re: Video Capturing

Not up on the TIVO thingy but I use PINNACLE SYSTEMS. I can capture analog or digital video as well as export it.<br /><br />They have several devices now and pricing has come way down.

 

[12Footer]

Re: Video Capturing

Nuthin like being able to watch a video, and hit a button to capture stills of it.<br />I use an ATI "All-In-Wonder" card, with input externally switchable from TV/DVD/VCR/or security cameras.<br />I know you don't want to spend hundreds, but there simply is nothing that rocks like this card. It is so well worth the greenage!<br /><br />It was an after-mod, with the card costing 70buks. I'm able to boot-into iether it, or the original equipment, onboard device with no problems. I seldom do tho, as the AIW has plenty of depth and speed for playing "Doom", or web surfin (which pretty-much sums up my useage).

 

[TPD211]

Re: Video Capturing

I have video captured for years as a police detective.<br />The Pinnacle or ATI all in wonder cards work great.<br />You may want to look at any of the USB analog to digital capture/converter devices available at Best Buy or your local PC Store. <br /><br />I just looked at your post, is the Tivo already digital?<br />You may just be able to connect a USB or Firewire cable to the Tivo device from your PC and import/capture the video you want. If your using Win XP it has Movie Maker built in. <br /><br />I dont know anything about the Tivo device so cant help ya there.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Video Capturing

Remember that the DVD you burn will not be the same resolution of the origial. It will look good, but you will see degredation in the picture because of the .mov extension of the DVD files.

 

[PierBridge]

Re: Video Capturing

Originally posted by Mark42:<br /> Remember that the DVD you burn will not be the same resolution of the origial.

If he does it my way his DVDs will look exactly like the recordings played back on the DTivo with no loss in picture quality......<br /><br />If you transfer the videos using the analog outputs to a DVD recorder you will have some degradation of the image due to the additional D/A and A/D conversions.