Wide World of Women

I just got a tv tuner card to use with XP media center, but I'm still waiting on the remote and IR sensor. Any ideas on what programs I should use to make caps of recorded TV? Is it possible to just use media center?

I believe you need your IR sensor to get TV on your computer with the media center, atlease I do.

I don't have a capper, I get mine straight through the media center (you need IR sensor for cable & Satellite as far as I know)

Did you upgrade or did you out right get a media center with a new computer ? I thought all media centers came with a TV tuner card

On the Media Center, you will have a window that will show whatever you are running. Movies on DVD, shows off of TV, pictures that you download or take yourself and so on

You can size that window to however small or big that you would like it to be. There are 2 ways to get caps that I know of.

1- go to www.download.com and look up screen captures and download some of then and fool around with them to you find one that you like. Or there are some programs that you can get that has screen captures with them. Coral has a nice one, but the price can make one

2- You can also get caps by using something like PowerDVD 6. That will take you out of the media center and play your show on the DVD player. PowerDVD 6 has a capture with it, some DVD players you get do not !!! If you get one, make sure you can get caps (still frames)

If you get PowerDVD 6, you might what to check this out. This is what I got and it works great

http://www.pricecastle.com/catalog.php?product=14

When you get up and running and have any ?s I'll be more then glad to help in any way I can

You might also want to check this guys site out. It's a nice place
http://www.winsupersite.com/

Thanks for the info slowpoke

Yes, I do need an IR sensor for the media center to work, and it should be arriving any day. The tuner card works fine since I can capture video using Windows Movie Maker and Nero Vision. I can't get audio on either of these for some reason. I know the audio is working because I heard audio along with video when testing signals with MC.

I got my computer with MC because it was the same price as with just XP. I now realize the capabilities of MC so I ordered the tuner card and IR sensor.

I've got Power DVD so I'll check out that link when I get going. I'm more familiar with Nero Showtime. I'm thinking I can probably make caps on that with the saved video if I have to. The only problem is then I have to convert file formats and crop the pics to reduce file sizes. I would like to just use one program and not have to convert formats too much.

Anyhow, can't wait until I get that IR sensor!

Here's a sample of a cap made using Nero Showtime from video captured from Nero Vision. I cropped it a little to get the file size down from 203KB to 51K.

With screen captures and with something like PowerDVD 6 you can pick the format in most cases and you do not have to crop to reduce the size. It will give you a choice of what you want. That is the reason I said to download and fool around til you find one you like.

It takes a little time to get use to. But by all means, do not buy a capper, you don't need one with the media center

All it comes out to is try and learn as you go

Here is your pick after I resized it.

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPho ... p=72755977

I don't know if you know anything about tivo or not. I know I don't, but they say the media center is the same. Yet you don't pay for the tivo service. You are going to like how you can stop what you are watching or recording and come back and pick up where you left off at. Even if you have 20 shows recorded. And the program guide takes you 2 weeks ahead. So shows that only give you 1 week of programs on thier web sites, or if the cable or satlellite gives only a few days (direcTV gives 3 days which I have) with the MC, you will have 2 weeks even with DirecTV

You are going to like it, believe me

donkeed, here are 2 downloads that you can try for free for 30 days.

These are the 2 you can get from pricecastle I posted above for around $50s for both of them

http://www.download.com/ICopyDVDs2-Basi ... ag=lst-0-5

http://www.download.com/CyberLink-Power ... ag=lst-0-1

Looks like my decision to buy a Media Center PC for 3-4 months now has been made official by your comments slowpoke.

I'm going to go with the Sony VAIO RB-Series:

• Pentium 4 processor 640
• Hyper-Threading technology
• 250GB hard drive
• 1GB of DDR RAM
• Dual layer DVD+/-RW/CD-RW
• Separate DVD-ROM drive

Thanks!

righter77, this will tell you alot more about the MC 2005

http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/win ... ce2005.asp

Thanks! I appreciate the link.

I got my IR Sensor and everything is working fine with Media Center.

I can make caps with Nero and Power DVD, but I also want to edit the recorded tv. I tried using Sonic Mydvd, but it keeps freezing up, and if I forget to save, I have to start over from the beginning. The Sonic program works well if you need to make minor edits. My question is, with the ICOPYDVD's program, can you edit the recorded tv files? and does it freeze up if you work too quickly?

BTW I don't think it's my computer b/c it has p4 processor, 1 GB of ram, and almost 300 GB hard drive. Also it's just the Sonic program that freezes.

The ICopyDVDs2, is for making copies of just about all DVDs. I don't see anywhere on there that allows you to edit TV shows. The program that came with it, Burn Suite 2005, I have not used that yet. (It's not on my computer yet) When I get a chance, I'll put it on and see if it lets me

I saw somewhere where you can get a program that allows you to edit shows from the media center. I forget it's name and where I found it. You might want to do a search and see what you come up with.

I don't use my Sonic Mydvd (it came with my computer), so I can't help you out there