Re: Infrared control gadgets?

["Bob F" <bobnospam@xxxxxxxxx>]

Josepi wrote:
> So this software can even pick out commercials from TV records, after
> the fact?
>
> I assume you are running a TV card of some kind? I would like to hear
> more about that too.
>
> Thanx
>
> "Bob F" <bobnospam@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:hk1srm$oov$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Commercials are in the TV programming people often record.
>
>
> Josepi wrote:
>> I have never seen Media Center play a commercial. How would
>> commercials get into a recording?
>> Thanx for the name though.
>>
>>
>> "Bob F" <bobnospam@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>> news:hj27lg$rdt$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Does Media Center give you automated marking and simple skipping of
>> commercials?
>> Thet's one of the things I like most about BeyondTV.

I have 4 tuner cards, for a total of 6 channels I can record. BeyondTV runs a
"smartskip" program after it records, where it marks the location of commercial
breaks. Then, when you see a commercial start, you can push a button on the
remote to skip to the end of the commercial. It is pretty accurate on analog
tuners (which includes analog output from the cable boxes). It is less accurate
for digital channels (for me, QAM cable channels). The remote also has skip
forward or backward buttons for if the commercial marking is not so good, which
is much faster than fast forwarding of VCRs or DVDs.

I have one tuner for analog TV (cable), 2 QAM tuners, which could be used for
over the air HDTV, and 3 analog tuners getting signals from the cable boxes
(non-HDTV). Cards - 1-PVR250, 1-PVR350 (both Hauppauge), an Avermedia M780, and
an ATI equivalent to that I don't remember the number for. Most of the cards can
also receive FM, although there is no easy way to setup for recording that.

The TV tuners all work off a TV guide type display. See something you want,
click a couple time, and it records it. Or program it to record all episodes,
all new episodes, etc. of any given program.