On 04/06/17 15:02, Bill wrote:
In message , Clive
George writes
On 04/06/2017 13:40, Bill wrote:
When a local Currys closed down, I made the mistake of buying a Humax
video recorder.
I've never liked it - it takes forever to start up from cold and
lights the same red led to show both "off" and "recording". Utterly
stupid design and just one of the weirdly incompetent human
interface decisions.

Which model?

2000T. The delay in finding it was because I don't want to disturb or
brave the old ladies in the lounge and couldn't immediately locate the
manuals on my backup server. That's another thing I need to improve.

I use a PC equipped with a Hauppage USB TV tuner.

Running linux and Kaffeine.

I can record as many stations simultaneously as I have USB dongles to
tune the multiplexes to

Recorded videos are (edited with openshot to remove the adverts and)
stored on my headless domestic server (linux) (built from a scrap PC
gifted to me by my PC supplier, as it was obsolete and unsaleable) which
runs minidlna so the smart TV can 'see' the whole 500GB video library.

I have no DVD player.

DVDs are ripped on as PC as soon as they are bough, by Handbrake, and
stored on the server.

There is now just one remote and a TV screen connected by mains
networked plugs (WiFi proved unreliable for all te streaming I do) in
the living room...

It turns out that this is about the lowest box count and remote count
that works.

Mindlna does audio too. and so does the TV.

I must get a hifi amp to add to it all.

If you have a desktop PC,and a smart TV then getting the dongles aint
expensive, and building a server out of an old XP machine (needs little
CPU or RAM, just serious disk) is cheep.

And you then have a permanent online library of ALL your DVDs, plus the
functionality of a TV recorder that will do as many channels as you add
dongles up to the five that represent all the UK muxes in general.

And its a heck of a sight easier to set up recording schedules with a
mouse and keyboard than a sodding remote.


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