What do you guys think of this TV recording device?

[Marcos]

http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/product/1..._content=11601

Sounds pretty impressive, probably still quite a high price for what it is though

[chrestomanci]

It won't just be recording, it will be transcoding as well. Normal digital TV broadcast at 720x576 with non square pixels, and a high data rate.

To convert to mobile phones the video stream would need converting to 3gp, mpeg4, or H263, and rezised to something like 208x176 pixels. The audo would need resampling and transcoding as well.

If you know what you are doing, it would not be hard to do that conversion youself on a PC. If I had the inclination I could probably write a script to do it on my linux box faily easily. Likewise on windows using Gordian Knot.

Basicaly it is a trade off. By handing over £80, you get a box that does it all for you, at the expence of some flexablity. If you have the time, and are willing to do some reasearch, you can acheve the same result on your home computer for nothing.

[Marcos]

It won't just be recording, it will be transcoding as well. Normal digital TV broadcast at 720x576 with non square pixels, and a high data rate.

To convert to mobile phones the video stream would need converting to 3gp, mpeg4, or H263, and rezised to something like 208x176 pixels. The audo would need resampling and transcoding as well.

If you know what you are doing, it would not be hard to do that conversion youself on a PC. If I had the inclination I could probably write a script to do it on my linux box faily easily. Likewise on windows using Gordian Knot.

Basicaly it is a trade off. By handing over £80, you get a box that does it all for you, at the expence of some flexablity. If you have the time, and are willing to do some reasearch, you can acheve the same result on your home computer for nothing.

Wouldnt your home computer need some sort of video-input card?

[chrestomanci]

Wouldnt your home computer need some sort of video-input card?

If you want to transcode live TV yes, (or a TV capture device which will be cheaper).

If you just want to transcode some DVDs from you collection to watch on the train to work, then no.