Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Martin_1962]

Do they run on steam?  

No 240v AC

Needs repair
Portable
THe one I used

[TheBoy]

Want to record two channels - thats the problem, however I still have about 20 tapes to convert to MPEG2

Get a proper recorder - most have 2 freeview tuners now.  Certain Media Centers had 6, but had to take one out as new video card needed 2 slots  

Problem with buying first to market, Pace Twin might be only a single record but it is very easy to use.

I got my Sanyo HiFi deck in for a bit (was by the PC for capturing) and that still works but the tapes are all knackered.

The super deck is on on Saturday so I'll drop it off after getting LPG.

My 1982 portable still works fine

My VCR stable is Sony SL-HF950 with no head rotation, Sanyo VTC-M40 which is 22 years old, and my 1982 VCR of the year SLF1UB portable

Pace twin is showing its age badly, and is sssllllloooooowwwwww....

Current respected ones, MCE aside, seem to be the Topfields (Linux? based)

[Martin_1962]

Want to record two channels - thats the problem, however I still have about 20 tapes to convert to MPEG2

Get a proper recorder - most have 2 freeview tuners now.  Certain Media Centers had 6, but had to take one out as new video card needed 2 slots  

Problem with buying first to market, Pace Twin might be only a single record but it is very easy to use.

I got my Sanyo HiFi deck in for a bit (was by the PC for capturing) and that still works but the tapes are all knackered.

The super deck is on on Saturday so I'll drop it off after getting LPG.

My 1982 portable still works fine

My VCR stable is Sony SL-HF950 with no head rotation, Sanyo VTC-M40 which is 22 years old, and my 1982 VCR of the year SLF1UB portable

Pace twin is showing its age badly, and is sssllllloooooowwwwww....

Current respected ones, MCE aside, seem to be the Topfields (Linux? based)

Not that slow - but is reliable on latest update, picture is good, next would be Topfield or the ex Sony lot.

[TheBoy]

Want to record two channels - thats the problem, however I still have about 20 tapes to convert to MPEG2

Get a proper recorder - most have 2 freeview tuners now.  Certain Media Centers had 6, but had to take one out as new video card needed 2 slots  

Problem with buying first to market, Pace Twin might be only a single record but it is very easy to use.

I got my Sanyo HiFi deck in for a bit (was by the PC for capturing) and that still works but the tapes are all knackered.

The super deck is on on Saturday so I'll drop it off after getting LPG.

My 1982 portable still works fine

My VCR stable is Sony SL-HF950 with no head rotation, Sanyo VTC-M40 which is 22 years old, and my 1982 VCR of the year SLF1UB portable

Pace twin is showing its age badly, and is sssllllloooooowwwwww....

Current respected ones, MCE aside, seem to be the Topfields (Linux? based)

Not that slow - but is reliable on latest update, picture is good, next would be Topfield or the ex Sony lot.

Worth looking at MCE - being a PC, lots of scope for additions, such as auto advert removal, web based access to it if you're not at home (google for mce webguide), HD support easy to add, extenders etc etc...

[CaptainZok]

Want to record two channels - thats the problem, however I still have about 20 tapes to convert to MPEG2

Get a proper recorder - most have 2 freeview tuners now.  Certain Media Centers had 6, but had to take one out as new video card needed 2 slots  

Problem with buying first to market, Pace Twin might be only a single record but it is very easy to use.

I got my Sanyo HiFi deck in for a bit (was by the PC for capturing) and that still works but the tapes are all knackered.

The super deck is on on Saturday so I'll drop it off after getting LPG.

My 1982 portable still works fine

My VCR stable is Sony SL-HF950 with no head rotation, Sanyo VTC-M40 which is 22 years old, and my 1982 VCR of the year SLF1UB portable

Pace twin is showing its age badly, and is sssllllloooooowwwwww....

Current respected ones, MCE aside, seem to be the Topfields (Linux? based)

Not that slow - but is reliable on latest update, picture is good, next would be Topfield or the ex Sony lot.

Worth looking at MCE - being a PC, lots of scope for additions, such as auto advert removal, web based access to it if you're not at home (google for mce webguide), HD support easy to add, extenders etc etc...

Must say I'm well pleased with MCE, a top bit of kit.  
Tonygnome was well chuffed when he found out he could watch TV and recordings on his pda anywhere around the house too.

[Martin_1962]

Want to record two channels - thats the problem, however I still have about 20 tapes to convert to MPEG2

Get a proper recorder - most have 2 freeview tuners now.  Certain Media Centers had 6, but had to take one out as new video card needed 2 slots  

Problem with buying first to market, Pace Twin might be only a single record but it is very easy to use.

I got my Sanyo HiFi deck in for a bit (was by the PC for capturing) and that still works but the tapes are all knackered.

The super deck is on on Saturday so I'll drop it off after getting LPG.

My 1982 portable still works fine

My VCR stable is Sony SL-HF950 with no head rotation, Sanyo VTC-M40 which is 22 years old, and my 1982 VCR of the year SLF1UB portable

Pace twin is showing its age badly, and is sssllllloooooowwwwww....

Current respected ones, MCE aside, seem to be the Topfields (Linux? based)

Not that slow - but is reliable on latest update, picture is good, next would be Topfield or the ex Sony lot.

Worth looking at MCE - being a PC, lots of scope for additions, such as auto advert removal, web based access to it if you're not at home (google for mce webguide), HD support easy to add, extenders etc etc...

Are there RGB video cards or will I need Component to RGB transcoder?

Could be usefull for non broadcast stuff too

Still doesn't solve my large pile of SuperBeta tapes though (Including wedding video)

[TheBoy]

Want to record two channels - thats the problem, however I still have about 20 tapes to convert to MPEG2

Get a proper recorder - most have 2 freeview tuners now.  Certain Media Centers had 6, but had to take one out as new video card needed 2 slots  

Problem with buying first to market, Pace Twin might be only a single record but it is very easy to use.

I got my Sanyo HiFi deck in for a bit (was by the PC for capturing) and that still works but the tapes are all knackered.

The super deck is on on Saturday so I'll drop it off after getting LPG.

My 1982 portable still works fine

My VCR stable is Sony SL-HF950 with no head rotation, Sanyo VTC-M40 which is 22 years old, and my 1982 VCR of the year SLF1UB portable

Pace twin is showing its age badly, and is sssllllloooooowwwwww....

Current respected ones, MCE aside, seem to be the Topfields (Linux? based)

Not that slow - but is reliable on latest update, picture is good, next would be Topfield or the ex Sony lot.

Worth looking at MCE - being a PC, lots of scope for additions, such as auto advert removal, web based access to it if you're not at home (google for mce webguide), HD support easy to add, extenders etc etc...

Are there RGB video cards or will I need Component to RGB transcoder?

Could be usefull for non broadcast stuff too

Still doesn't solve my large pile of SuperBeta tapes though (Including wedding video)

Errr, VGA is RGB .  Most decent cards do HDMI direct if you have a modern telly for when you dump that Sony PoS.

If you get a Radeon card, making an VGA to SCART is easy enough, but you need a bit of software called Powerstrip to set the res to 720 x 576 on a mega low refresh.

[Ken T]

One point is the power used by a PC. A reasonable one for handling Freeview will take about 2-300W of power. This could be 7KWHr of juice per day, just to leave a PC sitting there doing not a lot. An old V2000 (or Betamax !) recorder takes a lot less, 50W ?. Our main room gets noticably warmer if I use the Freeview PC.
Ken

[davlad22]

Problem with buying first to market, Pace Twin might be only a single record but it is very easy to use.

I got my Sanyo HiFi deck in for a bit (was by the PC for capturing) and that still works but the tapes are all knackered.

The super deck is on on Saturday so I'll drop it off after getting LPG.

My 1982 portable still works fine

My VCR stable is Sony SL-HF950 with no head rotation, Sanyo VTC-M40 which is 22 years old, and my 1982 VCR of the year SLF1UB portable

Blimey! SL-HF950! That's a blast from the past! RE repair, I will be AMAZED if you manage to get it fixed, they are a complex beast to say the least, just uneconomical to repair. May be able to get service manuals if really stuck. Good luck!

Also got the matching PCM-F1 Digital audio unit for your F1! PC-701ES, 501ES, SL-HF100 SL-C9UB, C7, C5 etc etc etc! Good job I like 80's music  

Value, I can't believe the money they make frankly, there was one went for over 300 squid the other day, I think some people must be mad! They are old technology, but I would get that wedding tape safe before SWMBO gets physical  

[Martin_1962]

Problem with buying first to market, Pace Twin might be only a single record but it is very easy to use.

I got my Sanyo HiFi deck in for a bit (was by the PC for capturing) and that still works but the tapes are all knackered.

The super deck is on on Saturday so I'll drop it off after getting LPG.

My 1982 portable still works fine

My VCR stable is Sony SL-HF950 with no head rotation, Sanyo VTC-M40 which is 22 years old, and my 1982 VCR of the year SLF1UB portable

Blimey! SL-HF950! That's a blast from the past! RE repair, I will be AMAZED if you manage to get it fixed, they are a complex beast to say the least, just uneconomical to repair. May be able to get service manuals if really stuck. Good luck!

Also got the matching PCM-F1 Digital audio unit for your F1! PC-701ES, 501ES, SL-HF100 SL-C9UB, C7, C5 etc etc etc! Good job I like 80's music  

Value, I can't believe the money they make frankly, there was one went for over 300 squid the other day, I think some people must be mad! They are old technology, but I would get that wedding tape safe before SWMBO gets physical  

Sevice manuals - I have originals for SLHF950, SLF1UB, and a photocopy of VTC-M40

My VTC-M40 had some of the last heads in the country.

I have seen 950s on Ebay making over £500 and a Sanyo M40 hit £400. The M40 cost £300 new

I'm determined to get the 950 fixed - it cost £800 new back in 1989

[Martin_1962]

One point is the power used by a PC. A reasonable one for handling Freeview will take about 2-300W of power. This could be 7KWHr of juice per day, just to leave a PC sitting there doing not a lot. An old V2000 (or Betamax !) recorder takes a lot less, 50W ?. Our main room gets noticably warmer if I use the Freeview PC.
Ken

Lot more than the eff all on standby Twin with 30w or so when recording.

The Twin is fanless as well unlike some PVRs

The mains Beta decks are all around the 30w mark as well, I have a Vhs deck (I was given - wouldn't pay for the rubbish) but it hasn't been powered up for over 3 years

[Martin_1962]

Errr, VGA is RGB .  Most decent cards do HDMI direct if you have a modern telly for when you dump that Sony PoS.

If you get a Radeon card, making an VGA to SCART is easy enough, but you need a bit of software called Powerstrip to set the res to 720 x 576 on a mega low refresh.

PoS

Just because it works a lot better than you FS75

[Kevin Wood]

One point is the power used by a PC

Surely a media centre would wake itself up when it's time to record and sit in standby at all other times? You can set the BIOS clock to wake up most PCs from standby with about 3 lines of code. Running a PC the whole time just in case you've set something up to record would be madness unless you can use a fanless, efficient PC (which wouldn't be fast enough) .

A PC's not really the best tool for the job IMHO. It's a shame you have to use one to get a sensible set of features. It amazes me that all of the consumer HDD PVRs available are so dumb. The hardware's there. It wouldn't have taken much to put a web interface on it and a few features like actually recording the program you wanted, not just starting recording at the time it should be on. Missing the first / last 5 minutes of the program is what used to happen when I first got access to a video in about 1978 yet I still get it today .

Kevin

[x25xe]

Well, I have a Humax PVR and, so far, am very happy with it.  Not that I watch or record a great deal of TV though.

I have taken three of my VCRs out of service, just leaving the Panacronic SVHS in service - not that this gets used a great deal though.

Good luck with the repair Martin.

[TheBoy]

One point is the power used by a PC

Surely a media centre would wake itself up when it's time to record and sit in standby at all other times? You can set the BIOS clock to wake up most PCs from standby with about 3 lines of code. Running a PC the whole time just in case you've set something up to record would be madness unless you can use a fanless, efficient PC (which wouldn't be fast enough) .

A PC's not really the best tool for the job IMHO. It's a shame you have to use one to get a sensible set of features. It amazes me that all of the consumer HDD PVRs available are so dumb. The hardware's there. It wouldn't have taken much to put a web interface on it and a few features like actually recording the program you wanted, not just starting recording at the time it should be on. Missing the first / last 5 minutes of the program is what used to happen when I first got access to a video in about 1978 yet I still get it today .

Kevin

Absolutely, set it for S3 standby, as mine is. Uses <3W.  Build the MCE with Core2 Duo chip, it will probably run around 50W when in use.  Only Fan in my MCE is PSU, everything else is passive cooling.

PC has extra advantages of 3rd party apps adding some useful features