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I can run a spliter from my tv/cable box to the IR Blaster which hooks in to the tv tuner card right?
Well, snapstream can either use a Coax input or a composite input. If your cablebox has a "video out" and your capture card has a "video in" you will not need a splitter.
You plug your dig cable box vid out to your vid in on capture card. You plug audio out on dig box to line in on sound card. The IR blaster gets plugged into your serial port. This allows for communication.
Are you plugging your computer into the TV so you can view the shows on TV? if so, you just have to set that up as you usually would. If you are not, you can use the composite and watch digital cable from channel 3 (or whatever it is for you)
This setup will allow you to record anything at anytime.. even if you do not leave it on the correct channel. If there is a serial port on the back of your cable box (which i believe there is) you can use a serial cable instead of an IR blaster. You train the IR blaster during the install with your cable box remote. This allows snapstream to send identical signals to the box & tune the box on demand during channel surfing / recording.
So in short, there is no manual record. Also, you can use snapstream.net to record your shows from anywhere in the world.
The cable box needs to stay on. Otherwise a change in channel would not be observed. If you are using a serial cable, there is often a power on command and not a power toggle like remotes use.
Your video card should be fine
Commercials are not cut, but you can edit.
How big is the average TV show let say 1 hour recorded to the hardrive?
Depends on the quality.
You can try it out by following the download link at betanews
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