Vic Smith <thismailautodeleted@comcast.net> wrote
> William <nospam@pacifier.com> wrote

>> Anyway, I am going to enjoy watching my TV on my
>> computer for Thanksgiving and work out this problem later.

> Just curious about why you like a TV card.

I like it because I have replaced the VCRs with a single PVR.

> And It might be useful for those anticipating getting
> one to discuss whether or not it's a good idea

Yes.

> I had an All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro card for a long time, and
> used the TV functions, including recording shows, etc.

> What I found is that I hardly ever watched
> what I recorded, and just filled up hard drives.

I watch very little live, prefer to watch stuff when I choose
to watch it, not when its broadcast, and prefer to be able
to skip the ads and the crap I choose not to watch too.

> Additionally, since I game, I couldn't play and have TV at the
> same time, even to listen to the news. The same goes for
> web browsing, which often includes running video/audio which
> can conflict with the TV drivers, causing hangs/reboots.

I dont game at any level higher than FreeCell Pro and I basically
just play that instead of watching the TV when watching TV progs.
I prefer to listen to the TV and be able to glance at the TV when
something interesting is going on, and when there isnt much
obvious from the sound as to what is going on.

I actually do that on a separate PC, but thats because the PVR
can record 4 channels at once, tho its usually only recording 3.

> So I bought a 27" TV for 30 bucks at a second hand dealer.
> It has a beautiful picture, and works fine with a 6 buck universal
> remote I also had to buy. It sits across the room, and I can
> listen/watch to it without it interfering with anything I do on the
> computer at the same time.

See above. I wont watch much live except the daily national
news and even with that, its very handy to be able to mute
the sound and have the PVR carrying on recording it so I
can watch what I missed when the phone call finishes etc.

> The AIW eventually burned out, and it's replacement
> doesn't have that hardware/software overhead.

No big deal here, the PVR uses what used to be the main
system at one time. Its otherwise the test machine.

> I do have plenty of space, so that wasn't a consideration.

Yeah, and I watch the recorded stuff on a full widescreen
glass TV anyway, so the PVR doesnt save much space,
just the pile of VCR tapes basically and the VCRs.

> Anyway, though it is "neat" to have TV capabilities
> on the computer, it does have its downsides.

The only one I find is that it does use hard drive space like there is no tomorrow,
2-3G/channel/hour and I usually do need to run some stuff out onto DVD+RWs
to make more spaces, usually on sunday night when I often need 50G free.

While it makes no sense to be continually moving stuff to DVD+RWs that
will never get watched, we are just now running into the off season here and
I'll be getting some stuff back off the DVD+RWs to get something to watch.

I do tend to accumulate some docos with subtitles particularly that
I never get around to watching, because of the way I prefer to play
Freecell when watching TV and the subtitles get in the road of that,
you cant play freecell and read the subtitles at the same time.