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Re: Showshifter & me - all your base belong to us



----- Original Message -----
From: Mark McCall
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx Sent: Monday, May 27, 2002 8:06 PM
Subject: Re: [ukha_d] Showshifter & me - all your base belong to us


>> Someone mentioned IR control from showshifter. YES

>No one said it couldn't be done.  I was just pointing out that's t= wo more
subsystems that >have to be purchased and installed.

Um, yes, you do have to buy them. Or build them. Lots of people on this lis= t
seem to be able to handle electronics better than I.

>> Someone also mentioned IR control when Showshifter box is not in t= he same
room. Would this not be a problem
>> for Tivo as well, or does tv come with some magic method of commun= icating
with all the hardware on the planet
>> that is TIVO only and Showshifter cannot use?

>I see you have Sarcasm mode on then :)   This was raised beca= use people
were saying they had moved their SS PCs out of their lounges due to the
noise. This is not necessary with TiVo as it's inaudible.  >No doub= t you
will now tell us you can make a PC as quiet, but that's more money.

Yeah, sorry about the sarcasm, but had a problem with NTL email server, and=
lots of posts I tried to make weren't getting to the list during this
debate, and I built up a little tension my end. I apologise of course :) Bu= t
the more money point.. are we discussing which is the best, or which is the=
most expensive? Or which is the best value for money?

>> This is one point I will conceed, that Showshifter before 1.5 suck= ed a
fair bit. I did having it running on different
>> (early via chipset) hardware but I couldn't trust it 100%.

> I still have an un-resolved audio problem (as does my neighbour) with<= BR> sound levels when switching between Terrestrial and Satellite.  You ar= e
right though, SS is mega stable now compared to early >versions.

>> I am capturing to a raid array in a silencing enclosure.

>LOL - very nice, but not really comparable to TiVo is it.

I will clarify this. It's two 3.5 inch maxtors in two individual silence enclosures - from queitpc.com - so its pretty comparable to Tivo, they're i= n
the pc case, not connected externally.

>>I can capture from my S-vhs deck or ntl digibox losslessly or with<= BR> compression. In fact with compression on I can
>> capture to a network drive!

>So can I, on my SS machine :P  But do I now I have TiVo?  No.=

Um, Tivo can't capture LOSSLESS, as far as I'm aware.. may appear high
quality, but I don't think it's true lossless. Important for highest qualit= y
dvd's for archiving footage. Recompressing an already compressed image tend= s
to increase artifacts.

>>Oh and I can install more than 2 disks!

>Two disks in TiVo would give say 240Gig.  10 Days worth of non-sto= p
playback.  Is there really a need for more than that?

Um, not so far my end, but I'm archiving show's off to dvd, I guess you
archive to VHS? or do you hook tv to a pc and burn to disk. In which case I=
think we will have to include the cost of that pc in the argument!

>>It then runs thru a little app I wrote that edits out adverts by wa= tching
for station idents(mostly for sky1 captures).

>How does this work with SS?  Have you thought of releasing it as a= SS
plugin?  More details please.

Its a script that watches the directory for changes and fires of the code,<= BR> this is the first place I've mentioned it. It's still a little buggy, and the interface is terrible, but it works..

>> Once I check the edits, IF I want to archive, I convert the files = down to
Mpeg2 and burn them to dvd-r/rw. Once I
>> put a flaging system in place in the recording filename and have t= he
ident software perfect, I'll move my dvd-r drive
>> into the Showshifter box and leave a blank in it, and it will do i= t all
automatically.. Tivo can , um , it can do none of
>> these things. oh. But the case is nice!

>Now you're just being silly :)  Mpeg2 conversions, DVD Writers...h= ow on
earth can you compare all that with TiVo?

>I have nothing against a multimedia PC setup (I mainly use my SS machin= e
now to play DiVxs to the bedroom or AV Room) but that's not within the remi= t
of a PVR.

I noticed you didn't cover the ad issue.. Strange that...:)


>> Oh, and I have seen/used a Tivo. The fact most users here defend t= he fact
that their Hard earned money wasn't
>> wasted doesn't surprise me in the least.

>And like you're not defending YOUR purchases!?  Difference is I OW= N both
systems.  and there's just no comparison.

Um, I I'm trying to get facts to people, and the Tivo owners seemed to be ignoring facts. Equally, does someone have to own both products to qualify<= BR> for an opinion? I can only compare a porsche and a skoda by owning both?
>> I think we will see that, providing Showshifter keeps improving at= it's
current rate this thread should be quite funny > to look back on in a co= uple
of months. For Showshifter users!

>In a couple of months?  OK...note in iPAQ for end of July - is SS = a TiVo
killer yet?  Somehow I think I know the answer to that one already :)<= BR>
Well, as you guys seem to have trouble with most of the facts I put forward= ,
I guess that there may be no hope for proving anything to you.

>> And for those who wanted my specs...

>And so this machine with silenced raid array, DVD burner etc...how much= did
it cost then?

Um, you did notice I listed 2 machines, which you cut from your reply here.=
My dev machine has the a03 in.

The showshifter machine is..

Redrat     =A360? not sure
Amd 1gig...     =A350 b grade from overclockers middle = of last year??
abit motherboard =A350 as processor above.
Case            = ;   =A350
Sb64Gold       =A3200 3-5 years ago?
Matrox g200   =A3150 3-5 years ago?
128mb pc 133 =A320? a little while ago
network card   =A330?
Anir remote    =A330 3 years ago?
Panasonic sr8584a dvd =A350 1-2 years ago.. ( can read dvd-ram without cadd= y
but not dvd-rw :(  )
Silencing enclosures - =A3

Thoe only things I went and bought were the hard drives and showshifter.. Everything else was already lying around.

Don't get me wrong, Tivo is a nice pvr. As just a Timeshifter, its better than Showshifter at the moment. The interface on Showshifter is pretty PC looking.
I just believe that Showshifter will be equal to Tivo fairly soon to as a timeshifter, and can

play back Divx
play back dvd's
play back cd's
play back mp3's
Burn to cd/dvd

>I rest my case.

Um, I can see no one in Tivo land actually want's a two way conversation! Thats what was bugging me when I couldn't post!

Oh, anything scheduled by Tivo for you to watch this week that they're not<= BR> telling you about? How kind! ;)


Jason




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