Posted by BRH on 03/02/06 00:01

Ken Moiarty wrote:
> [First of all my apologies for cross posting this, possibly off topic, query
> to so many groups. Wasn't sure which, if any, of these groups it might
> elicit an interested response.]
>
>
>
> Hello,
>
> I'm planning on buying a Beyond TV bundle {Beyond TV and Dual-Tuner
> Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500 MCE Kit, to be specific} to install in my PC.
> Before I take the plunge though, I'd like to hear any feedback from others
> out here who may have had experience with this PVR product.
>
> My reasons for wanting to try Beyond TV has to do with the fact that where I
> live, in Canada, we are pretty much limited in terms of PVRs to what is
> offered by our local cable and satellite providers. For example, I just paid
> almost $800 (CAD) to Shaw cable to purchase the Motorola DCT6412 PVR unit
> that they offer. Hardware-wise it is a good unit, except that its hard drive
> can hold only a maximum of 15 hours of recording in HD. (It holds up to 40
> hours of standard-broadcast-only recording. But I bought the unit mostly to
> compliment and take full advantage of my newly purchased widescreen HDTV. In
> rationing my use of this limited hard disk space, I won't be opting to do so
> by dropping HD programming choice. The Motorola DCT6412 has myriad digital
> ports on both the back and front of the machine. I'd just love to get down
> on knees and attach an SATA, Firewire 800, or even a humble USB 2.0 external
> hard drive to it in order to try to address the limited storage space issue.
> But all the digital ports on the machine are rendered not-enabled by its
> software, which is closed to the public, provided and controlled by the
> local cable provider (Shaw Cable; whom btw has expressed no credible
> intention of ever changing this). Installing a larger drive without some
> kind of secret software authorization key or adminstrave inside knowledge to
> that effect, I've researched and concluded, is pretty much mined with
> software security hurdles only a qaulified ot-entrusted technician could
> have any chance of succeeding with. So my only option left in order to
> increase storage space for recording is to spend another $800 and add an
> entire additional Motorola DCT6412 unit alongside of the existing one. (I
> would then manually switch between units as recording needs require. Or I
> could spend $200 to $400 for remote control HDMI switch.) Yet this one
> additional unit would increase my HD recording capacity to only 30 hours.
> Obviously, I've realized, this approach is far too expensive for the
> relatively meager returns.
>
> Then I heard about the Beyond TV PVR option, in that, unlike Tivo or
> ReplayTV, etc, which cannot access useable EPG for Canadian views, Beyond TV
> claim that its EPG works in Canada too. Now, I'm posting my above query here
> as I just want to make sure through sodoing so that this product is not
> going to turn out to be something unexpectingly less than it is promised to
> be, before I buy. Therefore, thanks in advance for any helpful, informative,
> or otherwise interesting feedback on Beyond TV and/or any of the tuner/PVR
> cards that it claims are compatible with its software and service..
>
> Ken
>
>

If you already have a TV Tuner card in your PC (or can borrow one from
someone), why not try the BeyondTV demo?

I tried it awhile back and seriously considered purchasing the software.
I have an ATI All-in-Wonder 850XT and an ATI TV Wonder VE in my PC,
and the software worked as advertised. Note that I did not try
recording anything in HD (and I'm not sure if BeyondTV has that capability).

Since I already have two RePlayTV units with enough capacity to suit my
needs, and my PC storage capacity would have to be increased to make
this worthwhile, I decided not to get BeyondTV.

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