Is there a way to digitally record the program off the air and download it to my portable player? Obviously you can wait until the next day and buy the programs for a couple of bucks, but if I have a recording device, can I not record it and watch it later?
My first thought was using a PVR with a USB port where you can use the menu to download the file. Is there currently hardware that will accomplish this?
My second thought was using a PC and capturing and downloading the file that way since I figure that that is how stuff shows up on youtube.
I have neither of the above configurations which explains why I don’t know the answer. I also don’t have a video iPod so the question is an academic one for me anyway.
Background (not that it matters):
As I was getting ready for bed, bemoaning the fact that I am tired and need to get to bed earlier and lamenting the fact that I hadn’t watched the Colbert Repor(t) recently, I wondered if I could time-shift the program.
In the old days I would (and still can) tape the show on my VCR and watch it later on in the week when I had time. These days I just don’t seem to have the time (rotten family life ). I do have a half hour where I am trapped on a train that I could use to watch the program on an iPod video (if I get one). So there’s the question.
Yep, I do this with my home-brew DVR, which is just a computer running MediaPortal. However, you do have to convert the recordings from the native format to an iPod friendly format, but this isn’t too hard.
They also make standalone units that do nothing except record from analog sources and put it on your iPod. I’ve seen them on engadget a few times, but my search skills are lacking this morning, it seems.
Tivo has this feature built in to the $25 version of their Tivo Desktop software for Windows. You have to own a Tivo, and the connection isn’t digital all the way (I don’t think the Series 2 Tivos can take a digital in. The (hideously expensive) new ones, and maybe the custom ones for sattelite, can.)
I use it, though. You just mark the files you’re transferring (in my case via wireless) from the Tivo to the computer as “iPod”, and it does an extra translation on them at the end.
MythTV (free, linux-based) also has a myth2ipod plugin which will do this automatically. I believe you can set it up so that the shows are visible from iTunes and you just drag them right onto your iPod. (I don’t have a video iPod so I haven’t tried this myself.)
I’m not a Linux guy, and I tried several times to get MythTV to work with no success. I gave up.
But there’s a plugin for MediaPortal which does the same thing. I don’t use it, because it decreases the size to 320X240… perfect for the iPod, bad for my TV. And I only very rarely put a recorded show on my iPod in the first place.
). I do have a half hour where I am trapped on a train that I could use to watch the program on an iPod video (if I get one). So there’s the question.