Re: Pinnacle ShowCenter + PVR

["keyvan2r" <keyvan@xxxxxxx>]

Tony & Graham

It looks like we are looking around for similar solutions all round=20
with the key starting point being a ripping & storage strategy as=20
this has proved  to be a pain to us all in the past. I too started=20
out with a lossless (wma)as my standard for audio due to quality=20
issues and now wish I had gone with .ape.
The same is true of dvd's. I fully agree that the time investment is=20
probably the biggest outlay and commitment to a standard you are=20
going to have to live with in the medium term. (I hate having to do=20
the same thing over & over). I too think the highest quality must be=20
the one to go for, but the ripper & player(s) used must be an issue.=20
Going the Showcenter way means you need to go to mpeg2. I think the=20
quality is the same as DVD but then you do not get the whole DVD=20
menu and extras and other stuff - do you really want it?
The PC way is more expensive, probably higher maintenance but of=20
course more flexible for choice on players etc.
Then there is off air recordings (PVR) and home movies too.
MPEG2 seems the way to go... may be ??

I am going to experiment with some dvd's and may be get a showcenter=20
to try it out. I am sure I will need to use a 3rd party ripper for=20
dvd's (I am sure Pinnacle would not be brave enough to bundle any=20
rippers which defeat CSS - fearing legal action from Macrovision=20
under DCMA legislation). My favourite ripper, DVDShrink does not rip=20
to mpeg2. So I need to look for a good (quick & easy) DVD to MPEG2=20
ripper. Any suggestions??=20

Then there is the whole business of the player and a remote control-
capable front end for selection and playback. I really like the=20
Lobby stuff from Cinemar, but showcenter won't handle that and pc's=20
work as better clients in that setup. So which way to go ???

Keyvan

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "Graham Howe" <graham@s...> wrote:
> --- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, Tony Butler <lists@a...> wrote:
> > Quoting keyvan2r <keyvan@e...>:
> > > > I would be very interested to know what you think of
the=20
> > > ShowCenter,
> >=20
> > Not arrived yet :(
> >=20
> > > > > cat5 wired), but this one made me stop and
reconsider. I=20
am=20
> > > building a 2 Tb server to rip my dvd's onto.=20
> >=20
> > Nice!  Would you say disk prices have dropped enough to make=20
this=20
> viable?  I=20
> > was gonna do that about 6 months ago, but it was still too=20
> expensive to rip @=20
> > dvd quality.  Am thinking of highest quality DivX or XDiv at
the=20
> moment for a=20
> > lot of stuff (ie swmbo's and the kids!) as it does seem fairly=20
> acceptable, with=20
> > full strength DVD rips for proper films lit alien/t2/american=20
> beauty :)
> >=20
>=20
> I am waiting for drives of at least 250Gb to hit =A3100 and then=20
I'll=20
> buy 10 of them for my server. I also considered ripping to Divx at=20
> high quality, but came to the conclusion that this was false=20
economy=20
> if I took into account my own time. Even with a fast machine, I=20
> belive that ripping to high video quality, maintaining 5.1 sound=20
and=20
> ensuring there are no sync problems is a time consuming task. Lets=20
> say for the sake of arguement that it takes an hour to do this (it=20
> probably takes a lot longer), and I would save 5Gb of storage (may=20
> well be less than that for high quality divx). That means I am=20
> saving less than 3 quid an hour, that's below minimum wage and=20
even=20
> though I am no longer a stinking rich contractor, I still don't=20
work=20
> for that ;-)
>=20
> > > > How are you planning to use Showcenter??
> > Music + dvd's mainly - dunno about the picture side of things.
> > I know what you mean about ripping the dvd's to one format and=20
> then needing=20
> > another one - I had that problem with my audio collection.=20=20
> Initially ripped in=20
> > WMA because I found I preferred the sound and the Audiotron=20
> supports it=20
> > natively.
> > Had to go through an exercise recently to re-rip because not=20
> everything=20
> > supports wma natively.  What I have done now is rip an
"Archive"=20
> of WMA=20
> > lossless files, and then batch converted them to MP3 for day
to=20
> day use.
> > I also have low bitrate MP3 of some of the collection for=20
playing=20
> on my PDA....
> > The price/space requirements of audio mean this doubling up=20
> doesn't cost=20
> > significantly more, and I can convert the lossless files to
any=20
> format I like=20
> > in the future....
> > DVD-wise is a different story altogether of course :(  Dunno
wot=20
> to do yet.
> >=20
>=20
> I keep meaning to re-rip my music collection to a lossless format,=20
> probably FLAC as I use DDARs at home. At the moment I hav=20
everything=20
> ripped as MP3 @ 192 which is fine for my ears, but I am concerned=20
> about future conversion to other formats. It is however another=20
> reason why I am going down the full rip path for DVDs.