Tivo Or Even Video Recorders

[corkscrew]

Why does Thailand not have something like Tivo? Or, even basic video recorders for recording TV programs while we are out of the house?

[solo siam]

They do, Hard Drive based recorders.

Although the problem here is the lack of a proper EPG (Electronic Program Guide), so you can't plan what to watch, record etc... without the UBC magazine.

[Tywais]

One way to do it is to build a multi-media center PC and a tuner/video capture card. Another way is to get a DVD Recorder which are readily available. Examples here > Sinsiam Electronics

[corkscrew]

They do, Hard Drive based recorders.

Although the problem here is the lack of a proper EPG (Electronic Program Guide), so you can't plan what to watch, record etc... without the UBC magazine.

Thanks...can I buy one at Puntip? Even my Thai tech friends don't know of this.

[corkscrew]

One way to do it is to build a multi-media center PC and a tuner/video capture card. Another way is to get a DVD Recorder which are readily available. Examples here > Sinsiam Electronics

I probably need a very high tech person to do this. Right?

[A_Traveller]

They do, Hard Drive based recorders.

Although the problem here is the lack of a proper EPG (Electronic Program Guide), so you can't plan what to watch, record etc... without the UBC magazine.

Thanks...can I buy one at Puntip? Even my Thai tech friends don't know of this.

HD recorders are in the 'upmarket' department stores, Paragon, Emporium.

Regards

[geoffphuket]

They do, Hard Drive based recorders.

Although the problem here is the lack of a proper EPG (Electronic Program Guide), so you can't plan what to watch, record etc... without the UBC magazine.

Thanks...can I buy one at Puntip? Even my Thai tech friends don't know of this.

DVD TV recorders are available everywhere...Tesco's , BigC etc. They start from around 8,000 Baht for a model with a small drive.

[Tywais]

One way to do it is to build a multi-media center PC and a tuner/video capture card. Another way is to get a DVD Recorder which are readily available. Examples here > Sinsiam Electronics

I probably need a very high tech person to do this. Right?

The link I pointed to are the same type of device Ben@H3-Digital was talking about (has both DVD writer and hard disk for saving the video feed to) and is straight forward to install.

However a media center PC can also be bought or built with remote control, disk recording, time slip, etc. and with a little ingenuity, an infrared port put on the PC programmed with the UBC remote codes so it could do timed channel select and recording. If straight off the air though, the TV tuner card will already be able to do that. This is more complex to set up though.

With the DVD recorder you will need to set the channel you want on the UBC box and set the recorder to start/stop at the time you went, for instance going out to one of your many dinners. I believe most DVD/HD recorders can do time slip also, not sure since I've never used one.

[corkscrew]

They do, Hard Drive based recorders.

Although the problem here is the lack of a proper EPG (Electronic Program Guide), so you can't plan what to watch, record etc... without the UBC magazine.

Thanks...can I buy one at Puntip? Even my Thai tech friends don't know of this.

HD recorders are in the 'upmarket' department stores, Paragon, Emporium.

Regards

Thanks, can they easily be hooked up to the True satellite network? Do you need permission from the campany or can the machines just be plugged in and turned on?

Can they be programed to record at set times and at set stations?

Sorry about so many questions.

[corkscrew]

With the DVD recorder you will need to set the channel you want on the UBC box and set the recorder to start/stop at the time you went, for instance going out to one of your many dinners. I believe most DVD/HD recorders can do time slip also, not sure since I've never used one.

You are right! Time to eat!

[dominique355]

Another solution you might want to consider is a TV with a built-in HD recorder. LG is selling them, quite expensive, but if you need a new TV anyway, you have two things in one.

Otherwise I would recommend a DVD recorder with a built-in HD. Record the program first on HD and if it is worth it, burn a DVD. Make sure the DVD drive can burn all the formats (DVD -R, DVD +R, DVD RW and also CD etc)

[phazey]

They do, Hard Drive based recorders.

Although the problem here is the lack of a proper EPG (Electronic Program Guide), so you can't plan what to watch, record etc... without the UBC magazine.

XMLTV & TVxb now support Thailand/UBC - i'll be stuffing it into Vista's MCE tonite, will post my milage in the tech forums....

I also believe UBC are bring out a hard disk based decoder/PVR combo soon........

[Old Man River]

Speaking of DVD Recorders, I notice the availability of higher hard disk drive capacities to be rapidly increasing. While I assume the higher the better, roughly how many hours of video recording would a 200 GB HDD allow for using the best quality recording a machine could record at? I realize one could burn a DVD and delete the programs and free up HD capacity, but given the differences in capacities and prices it would be nice to know whether it is all worth it.

[Naam]

roughly how many hours of video recording would a 200 GB HDD allow for using the best quality recording a machine could record at? I realize one could burn a DVD and delete the programs and free up HD capacity, but given the differences in capacities and prices it would be nice to know whether it is all worth it.

we bought two last year. a Philips with a 250GB and (wife) a Panasonic with a 180GB drive. both have five different quality settings. on setting #3 (at acceptable quality) my "box" records 240 hours, on setting with the best quality less than 100 hours. price for Philips 28,000 Baht (february 2006), price for Panasonic (august 2006) 21,500 Baht. now most probably much cheaper!

both recorders are compared to those we used in the U.S. for many years pure crap but match the crap that UBC/True broadcasts most of the time. in my case the recorder runs 24 hours a day as i delete 80-90% and watch only what i think is worthwhile to watch.

[corkscrew]

roughly how many hours of video recording would a 200 GB HDD allow for using the best quality recording a machine could record at? I realize one could burn a DVD and delete the programs and free up HD capacity, but given the differences in capacities and prices it would be nice to know whether it is all worth it.

we bought two last year. a Philips with a 250GB and (wife) a Panasonic with a 180GB drive. both have five different quality settings. on setting #3 (at acceptable quality) my "box" records 240 hours, on setting with the best quality less than 100 hours. price for Philips 28,000 Baht (february 2006), price for Panasonic (august 2006) 21,500 Baht. now most probably much cheaper!

both recorders are compared to those we used in the U.S. for many years pure crap but match the crap that UBC/True broadcasts most of the time. in my case the recorder runs 24 hours a day as i delete 80-90% and watch only what i think is worthwhile to watch.

I take it that there is NOT something like Tivo here in Thailand.

[A_Traveller]

roughly how many hours of video recording would a 200 GB HDD allow for using the best quality recording a machine could record at? I realize one could burn a DVD and delete the programs and free up HD capacity, but given the differences in capacities and prices it would be nice to know whether it is all worth it.

we bought two last year. a Philips with a 250GB and (wife) a Panasonic with a 180GB drive. both have five different quality settings. on setting #3 (at acceptable quality) my "box" records 240 hours, on setting with the best quality less than 100 hours. price for Philips 28,000 Baht (february 2006), price for Panasonic (august 2006) 21,500 Baht. now most probably much cheaper!

both recorders are compared to those we used in the U.S. for many years pure crap but match the crap that UBC/True broadcasts most of the time. in my case the recorder runs 24 hours a day as i delete 80-90% and watch only what i think is worthwhile to watch.

I take it that there is NOT something like Tivo here in Thailand.

Not with the 'intelligence' since the signals required for the device to manage it recording {on, off skip ads etc} are not readily available, though they are probably part of the transmission stream.

Regards