Solved my UK television problems
Dec 22nd 2005, 10:38 pm
#16
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2005
Location: Bay Area, from Plymouth UK
Posts: 317
Re: Solved my UK television problems
Yep, been doing this myself for over a year now. Except I use the Philips DVP642 DVD player which can be bought from Best Buy, CompUSA etc for about $60.
Previously tried using a PRISMIQ media player with my wireless network, but that had lots of codec issues and the wireless connection was a bit hit and miss. The divx capable DVD player is a much better solution for my setup. And I don't have an XBox, but I did consider buying one when I read about the media centre capability - settled on the DVD player in the end. Its also very easy to set the player to region free or region 2 for UK DVD discs.
I also source some TV programmes from usenet (alt.binaries.multimedia group). But this requires a separate account with a newsgroup provider. Its worth the $25 per month additional cost to me - for unlimited access.
Previously tried using a PRISMIQ media player with my wireless network, but that had lots of codec issues and the wireless connection was a bit hit and miss. The divx capable DVD player is a much better solution for my setup. And I don't have an XBox, but I did consider buying one when I read about the media centre capability - settled on the DVD player in the end. Its also very easy to set the player to region free or region 2 for UK DVD discs.
I also source some TV programmes from usenet (alt.binaries.multimedia group). But this requires a separate account with a newsgroup provider. Its worth the $25 per month additional cost to me - for unlimited access.
Originally Posted by Beer:30
Since my wife has moved over here to the states I have been looking for ways to get something other then BBC America aka "Cash in the attic" channel, for her to watch. I have been waiting for the slingbox to come out in a PAL version so I could hook it up at her mums house, but even then we would have to watch late night stuff and would miss most of the good prime time vewing and such.
I have gotten a UKNova account and found that I could download some very good and very recent BBC shows and news...PERFECT!!!!
The only problem was that I needed to burn these files encoded to a VCD or DVD doing a conversion so that US DVD players could read them.
Depending on the source material this encoding is very time consuming and then there is a loss of quality, audio sync problems, etc etc etc.
I just recently bought a Toshiba HD841 upconverting DVD player. It is an older model that has been our for a while so it only cost me $55 shipped.
This is the exact same hardware as another Toshiba model that they sell in Europe (HD745 I think). Some clever individuals have modified the firmware of the european model to work with the US model. What this does is transforms the US model to the European model and allows you to have a PAL/NTSC region free player that plays divx!!!!!
What does this mean you ask? What this means is that I can download the shows and then burn them straight to CD in about 5 min. No messing around encoding the file so US players can read it. The DVD player up converts to HD (or just plays regular SD if you don't have HDTV) and the material looks far superior to when I was encoding to SVCD or DVD and in a fraction of the time. It is almost like having BBC with a DVR so you can watch what you want when you want a pause to go to the loo!
I finally got all this working yesterday and tonight we are catching a flight to Heathrow, so I won't get to play with it 'till next year but that is fine because we will have Skytv to watch in the mean time.
I have gotten a UKNova account and found that I could download some very good and very recent BBC shows and news...PERFECT!!!!
The only problem was that I needed to burn these files encoded to a VCD or DVD doing a conversion so that US DVD players could read them.
Depending on the source material this encoding is very time consuming and then there is a loss of quality, audio sync problems, etc etc etc.
I just recently bought a Toshiba HD841 upconverting DVD player. It is an older model that has been our for a while so it only cost me $55 shipped.
This is the exact same hardware as another Toshiba model that they sell in Europe (HD745 I think). Some clever individuals have modified the firmware of the european model to work with the US model. What this does is transforms the US model to the European model and allows you to have a PAL/NTSC region free player that plays divx!!!!!
What does this mean you ask? What this means is that I can download the shows and then burn them straight to CD in about 5 min. No messing around encoding the file so US players can read it. The DVD player up converts to HD (or just plays regular SD if you don't have HDTV) and the material looks far superior to when I was encoding to SVCD or DVD and in a fraction of the time. It is almost like having BBC with a DVR so you can watch what you want when you want a pause to go to the loo!
I finally got all this working yesterday and tonight we are catching a flight to Heathrow, so I won't get to play with it 'till next year but that is fine because we will have Skytv to watch in the mean time.
Dec 22nd 2005, 11:30 pm
#17
Pass me the Marmite..
Joined: Feb 2004
Location: Atlanta, GA.
Posts: 864
Re: Solved my UK television problems
Buy yourself a < $100 showcenter on ebay (the first version). Instantly you download something from UK Nova, it appears on your TV to watch. No burning, no nuffin..
I have 2 of these devices - connect to a network or wireless and I watch UKNova upstairs or downstairs.... The pc you download UKNova stuff too becomes an instant "server" to the showcenters...
Awesome...
I have 2 of these devices - connect to a network or wireless and I watch UKNova upstairs or downstairs.... The pc you download UKNova stuff too becomes an instant "server" to the showcenters...
Awesome...
Dec 22nd 2005, 11:47 pm
#18
Account Closed
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 22,220
Re: Solved my UK television problems
I download UKTV using the "EXpurious" programme on my ED5100. It then streams and burns directly to DVD and can play on TV at the same time. The whole process takes 30 seconds for an hour long programme and I can watch it on TV/PC as it burns. Of course the "Digilogico 332T" is faster but slightly more expensive. 
