Text 61646, 93 rader
Skriven 2010-08-02 10:24:00 av Miles Maxted (3:772/1.0)
     Kommentar till en text av Paul Quinn
Ärende: Any thoughts, please ?
==============================
G'morning Paul,

And thanks for your...

 PQ> But here's some ideas which you are free to
 PQ> ignore...

 PQ> Dump those tapes, if they're VHS.  Invest in one of those
 PQ> VHS-->DVD converter boxes.  We have a large-ish library of
 PQ> VHS tapes that are unplayed as our DVD library has far
 PQ> outstipped what we have in tapes.

That makes a lot of sense - especially for the vidcam collection.

 PQ> WRT, the music collection... I like having a good time with my
 PQ> collection over our LAN since each PC has far more flexible music
 PQ> library management and play options, for favourite
 PQ> playlists and mix/random playing, than any stand-alone hifi
 PQ> system.  (And, not just music either.  The same goes for
 PQ> videos as well.  You know, the on-line versions: TV series,
 PQ> downloadable movies, YouTube stuff, NASA animations, etc.)

The thought of wasting terrabytes of storage on audio and video 
mocks a history of squeezing stuff into mere kilobytes of space... 
but again makes sense...

 PQ> If you have a working LAN, I'd suggest that you could
 PQ> dedicate a PC as the household music player and the other
 PQ> PCs could access the same library/ies (say) in other rooms.

And that's not so silly, either, thanks !

 MM> Fido is accessed by an ancient laptop over dial-up to a real BBS!
 PQ> Cool!  I remember doing that, and at 300 baud.  :)

Ha... I have a serious claim to being the first to work across the 
Tasman Sea by logging into an Auckland BBS from Toowoomba, 
Queensland, in 1984,  using a Mickey Mouse handset air coupler at 
300baud.   I was setting up a media system in Queensland that ran 
on an IBM XT to be supported over the phone, and I sent files from 
a Brisbane BBS to the Auckland one to 'prove' the schema...   it 
all worked well in the end.

 PQ> Over here, all this is available from our pay TV provider (Austar).
 PQ> (In fact your questions have prompted me to revise our subscription
 PQ> plan.)  The switchover to digital is progressing here, till
 PQ> 2013.  Austar already offer digital access to local free-to-
 PQ> air stations along with their own channels, and all capable
 PQ> of being captured/stored on their smart little decoder
 PQ> boxes, and, in multiple rooms within the house.

Sounds exactly like our NZ Sky pay-provider and their set-top box.

 PQ> Now browser/email-ing is a somewhat different kettle.

Yeah, but the idea is attractive. Your system sounds cool...

 MM> There's a box called TiVo on sale here...
 PQ> Ah, after some research on Google: in Oz, it's a waste of
 PQ> money.  It's nothing like the U.S. version and I guess it
 PQ> will go the same route in NZ.  Whatever they may offer is
 PQ> already provided by pay TV companies, and more cheaply I
 PQ> believe.

Mmmm...  there's the hassle.  Here, we have Sky and a Government 
satelite alternative called Freeview that is digital;  it offers 
most of the analogue free channels plus one or two extras.

There's a variety of clever boxes that match the Sky device, and 
I'm looking into a 'Hyundai Combo Sat/Terrestrial HD Recorder PVR' 
that needs a 1tb hard-drive for bulk storage.

It'd need a small satelite dish and cabling - as would any 
alternative;  I'm enquiring into its LAN potential.

And I'm a bit amazed at the paucity of alternatives... I was 
hoping somebody had experience trying to set up Windows Media 
Manager to do all this.

Thanks for the input.

Miles


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