HP Express Hybrid Tv Tuner Card

I am wondering if anybody uses this, and how does it work. Will I be able too record tv shows off my tv hooking this up too via computer and tv. It is a atsc/ntsc tv tuner. Do I down load them too hard drive and record from there ??? Sorry...I am not sure about this feature. I have always wanted a DVD recorder and never bought one, and now I see this feature of a laptop that is really nice looking. Laptop is a HP CD9347CL...Any body help me out... Thanks in advance

SHeldon

 

Having used MCE for a bit now, the answer is yes, you can hook up your cable to it and record TV shows. However, it's not quite like plugging the card into the computer and then plugging the coax cable into the card - there is an adapter that goes into the card, and then you plug the coax cable into that.

I looked at one of these kits, and it includes several parts - the card, an IR Repeater, Remote, and a few other things - cables and such. Make sure that anything you are looking to purchase includes the whole kit an kaboodle or you'll regret it, because it would be tough to get all of the parts piecemeal.

Media Center is pretty cool to use, but for a laptop, you can't really schedule series recordings, (set it up to record say the whole series of Survivor or something) because it would have to be "on" for too long a period for it to be practical for a laptop. If you are just looking for occasional recording or to grab a movie from your premium channel of choice to watch on the road, then I suppose if would be fine for a laptop, but I still prefer to do my recording from a desktop. I personally find it more helpful for recordings that I am not physically present to view myself (or things that I intend to burn to dvd to watch again) which again, makes it less practical for a laptop.

However, to your basic question, by using the media center interface from Vista or MCE 2005, you can set up recordings to your computer, which will take up approx. 2-3gig per hour of recorded content. The recorded programs are usually stored in the shared documents folder in a recorded TV subfolder.

You can access your recordings from the media center interface and watch them from there, or navigate to the folder and watch in WMP.

You will have to go through a set up process to tell the media center interface what cable provider you use, and how you change channels and whatnot, but that is pretty simple to set up.

You can always check out thegreenbutton.com for more info on media center and what you can do with it if you want more info as well.

Hope that answered your questions!

 

Thanks, that was a huge help. I will have too think about this now...I am so glad I found this site. Everybody is very helpful.

SHeldon

 

I have a users guide in pdf format if anyone needs it

 

You don't need to worry about leaving the laptop on. The system is designed to be used, so USE it!

The only thing you truly need to worry about is the battery. Leaving the system plugged in all the time and the battery fully charged will put the battery in the fast lane towards an early death. So if you don't plan to use the battery a lot, run it down to about 40% and take it out and store it. But if you use the battery once a day or so, then go ahead and leave it in.

Your second concern is heat. Just make sure the laptop is set on a nice desk or something where none of the vents are blocked. In Windows, set the power settings for maximum power efficiency. I forget what the setting is in Vista, but in XP you set it to "Max Battery Life" even when plugged in. It'll keep the CPU running at the lowest speed unless it needs to ramp up. I used that setting and my Turion64 ML-37 was always running at 800MHz on AC power. The fan was on constantly, but the system was always cool to the touch. When recording TV at that setting it used not even 20% CPU time. So a modern processor set to its lowest performance settings will have no problem recording TV and keeping cool. I'm sure Vista has a similar setting but I can't recall what it was at the moment.

Theres also no need to worry about the hard drive. Hard drives die all the time. It will either last for years of heavy use or die after a few months of light use. Theres no reason to fret. Just use it.

The best thing for you to do is set it up so your display turns off quick and Windows goes into standby quickly. Let's say you're going to be gone for a weekend and want to leave your laptop at home to record a couple of movies, some sports, and a few TV shows. Set your Windows power settings so that Windows goes into standby after a minute and your display shuts off after a minute. Schedule the recordings you want in Media Center then CLOSE Media Center. Do NOT put Windows into standby manually. Let it go into standby itself.

With your system setup that way, Windows will "wake up" the system entirely and begin recording the show. Media Center will not open fully, just the component to record TV. Your display will shut off after a minute, but the computer will continue to record whatever it is you are recording. When the show is done the system will go back to "sleep" after a minute. It will continue that way until you either shut the system off, put it into standby yourself, or everything is done recording.

Making DVDs of the stuff you record is fine as well. Heat will kill the DVD drive faster than use. This applies to desktop and laptop drives. So don't burn 100 DVDs a day and you'll be fine.

Worrying about leaving it on because its a laptop is silly. The system is meant to be used, so use it. If the system dies because you used it, then force HP to replace it.

Yes the system will get warm if you are converting a recorded TV show to DVD. Thats normal. But don't worry. You only need to worry about heat if the system is warm or hot to the touch for several hours during the day in a warm room during the summer. Then heat will start to have an affect on the internal components. But waking the system up to record TV shows and a couple of hours of warmth while it's converting (or you're playing a game or whatever) will not harm the system at all.

Basically, if you want to use your laptop to record TV, just do it. Set your system to go to sleep and you'll be fine.

 

Thanks for the Media Center tips

I have been using it with a tuner as well for a few weeks. I just turn it on and plug the cable in on the nights the shows I want to record are on. So far it has been flawless, I just never get around to watching the shows! I have succesfully (and easily) burned DVD's of the shows and watched them later on a TV.

The part I really love is the guide. It is easy to navigate and the search function helps you find a show or movie by name, actor, etc that you may not have even known was on in your area. Each showing tells you a summary, the episode number and title, and the first showing date. Handy when you are looking ahead a couple weeks trying to find episodes you have not seen yet.

I wish it had a commercial skip function, but otherwise it is perfect.

Matt

 

What format are you guys recording the shows to DVD?

 

You can press the "Skip" button on your Media Center remote (the one you'd press to skip chapters in DVDs) and it will skip ahead in your recording by 30 seconds. pressing it a few times will get you through commercial breaks.

Waverider, I always used Nero to encode record TV shows to DVD. Media Center was too slow at encoding the discs, and Nero has a great MPEG-2 encoder.

 

William I could use that guide If you could post it or maybe e-mail it?

 

Doesn't the battery trickle charge once it's fully charged so it doesn't succumb to an early death?

 

I'm not sure about HP notebooks and I have every reason to doubt HP after my experience with my HP system.

But I know if I leave my Mac plugged in, once the battery gets to 100% it stops charging (just like poorly built HP PCs). The battery naturally slowly discharges. However, once the battery gets down to 93% it will recharge again up to 100%. This is Apple's way of "keeping the juices flowing" and keeping the battery healthy.