Other Helpful Hints
11. Other Helpful Hints
If you find yourself running out of hard drive space, three solutions exist. First, you can remove the data from the hard drive by burning to DVD or another hard drive. Or, you can delete some of your shows. And finally, a very common solution is video compression. This function is in GB-PVR under Processing in the Conversion tab.
You can convert files to XviD then choose to keep or delete the original file. But I did not like the video quality that resulted and instead opted for using a secondary program, such as Auto Gordian Knot. Keep in mind that GB-PVR is a work in progress and over time this could improve. But in the meantime, I use this program and have yet to find anything better for free.
If you have access to Over The Air (OTA) HD stations in the United States, you can use GB-PVR to record them, provided you use a card capable of receiving OTA ATSC broadcasts. This page says that GB-PVR has been tested with a DVICO HDTV Fusion5 Lite card, but I haven't tested it myself.
Next on my list of helpful tips is a fix for problems with getting 5.1 surround sound from recordings with MPEG2 or 3 streams your via SPID/F connection. I suggest reading the last thread in the following article here. And if you have surround-sound problems while playing a DVD, I would suggest using the My Videos plug-in to launch a player that is easily configurable for 5.1.
Hauppauge's Media MVP seems to be the preferred solution for streaming content from your GB-PVR machine to a TV in the living room through a network connection. I haven't used the MVP, although I have noticed it is the topic of many issues in the GB-PVR forums. Supposedly, the product supports GB-PVR's basic features just fine, but the plug-ins can cause issues.
Streaming across a LAN will satisfy many users, but some of the GB-PVR developers are working on adding Web-based features. Enhanced Web Admin enables a user to access and download content from another computer after a username and password have been entered. The webStreamer app works but is still just starting off and only supports one stream at a time. I only suggest this for advanced users since compressing and sending 1.2 GB video is no easy task for many computers.
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All this is great if you can get free listings (EPG). Now that Zap2It, Schedules Direct ($20/yr.) & others charge, is there another service that will work for generating free XMLTV listings (for Canada)?
I have been getting frustrated trying & opted to use a trial version of Beyond TV but would like to try GB-PVR &/or Media Portal after reading rave reviews. However, the key it seems is a free & accessible EPG.