[mythtv-users] Recording a tape to DVD

Cory Papenfuss papenfuss at juneau.me.vt.edu
Sat Dec 4 15:52:32 UTC 2004


>>  However, I thought I'd first check here to see if anyone had done
>> something similar or had any clever ideas on improving my approach.  Any
>> suggestions are welcome.
>
>
> I am in exactly the same situation. I have a suitcase full of family
> videos, and I plan to convert them to DVD. I have yet to come up with
> an efficient and elegant method.
>
 	Ditto here (except I'm trying to record some old 8mm camcorder 
tapes onto DVD *in time for* christmas!).

 	The problem with just doing a cat /dev/video0 > test.mpg is that 
you'll have to set everything up manually (not a big deal).  The bigger 
problem is that you'll have to make sure that mythtv doesn't try to use 
the card while you're recording with it.

 	What I ended up doing is making a fake channel in the channel 
lineup, and binding it to COMPOSITE in on the card.  Although there's no 
programming information in it, I can schedule a manual recording.  If 
there's 2 hours of footage to tape, I'd set it up to record 2:05 manually, 
hit play, and go do something else for awhile.

 	The biggest problem that I've had with doing this is recording 
profiles.  I suspect I'm still a bit ignorant on how they work, but adding 
another set of recording profiles certainly didn't do what I was 
expecting.  Also, I haven't found how to choose a recording profile in 
Manual scheduling, so I have to temporarily make the 'Default' profile 
with the settings I want (704x480 @ 4500/6000 right now).

 	Certainly not elegant, but it does work, allows mythtv to set up 
all the settings so I know they're the same for each tape, and it won't 
collide with any other recordings scheduled.

-Cory

*************************************************************************
* Cory Papenfuss                                                        *
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student               *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University                   *
*************************************************************************



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