"Yes, you may have to get them online. Most of them come integrated now."

Thanks, I thought it was just me.

I hope they are working some of the bugs out of the integrated ones like multipath concerns which I think LG has looked into and I hope they have all included a mini EPG guide like the SAMSUNG Sir T451 has and which my integrated Pioneer does not have.

Don

When it's working correctly, you can't beat TVGOS for a free EPG. But since it doesn't work properly or at all in so many areas, I guess the mini EPG is the way to go for now.

My older Samsung standalone HDTV tuner (now unused) supported the PSIP guide, but only for the channel you were on at the time. And it was slow to fill in.

Sounds like one of mine. It was very slow.

The Pioneer EPG is slower than a turtle on crutches.

Which I could live with if it didn't completely erase the whole guide as soon as I touch any key on the remote. I talked to Pioneer about it but they were of no help.

I miss the MINI EPG on the Samsung SIR T451.

-DONB2

Maybe they will, maybe they won't, but even in SD you will get a much better PQ with an ATSC tuner than an NTSC tuner and WS programs can be recorded anamorphicly rather than letterboxed.


The problem with this approch is that you can't have the DVD Recorder change the channel for you so you can only record on one channel.


I am curious on what you did? May father-in-law has a buch of 8mm film home movies that would be nice to convert to DVD.

What I did was actually quite simple. It may not seem like the best idea, but it works.

First, find a projection screen. A screen designed for a home theater works well, but is quite pricey. A good quality sheet of paper will be the best alternative. Old screens with the grains in them (or even newer ones of the type) don't work well as the grains get picked up in the recording.

Then, I just projected the image onto the screen. Don't project it too big, as it is to be recorded with a camcorder. Yes, a camcorder, but that's a topic for later. Size isn't important, as you'll zoom the camcorder to pick up the entire image. What you want to achieve is the best focus/brightness. I projected it to about the size of a sheet of computer paper, 8.5 x 11, but I never really measured (I know this is not the exact measure...the aspect ratios are not the same, but it gives a general idea...). Focus the image.

I did this in my basement, where it is dark. However, I reccomend a small amount of light to be present in the room because the contrast might be too high and create washed-out spots without it, even if you play with the camcorder's settings. But too much light will wash dark scenes out, so make sure it is minimal.

Then, I set up a camcorder directly behind the projector. Make sure it is lined up, so you don't get distorted size in your image. I zoomed in until the edges of the projection filled the edges of the TV screen. I reccomend hooking the camcorder up to a TV to monitor results.

Another problem is the camcorder. Think for a minute how a projector works. It shows one frame, closes the shutter, advances the film, and opens the shutter to project the next one. This happens so fast that the human eye cannot see the periods that the shutter is closed, so it appears as a moving image. However, most new digital camcorders will pick up the closing of the shutter and transform it into a pulse of light...you'll see black/image/black/image on the TV. So, to avoid this, you need an old camcorder. An 8mm (tape, not film obviously) or VHS one will work. I used an old big RCA VHS one. Play with the color/zoom/brightness before recording. Also, don't record on the camcorder, because (1) you're recording onto VHS [and you probably don't want that] and (2) you'll be recording the audio from the room. Just feed the video (composite, or s-video if you're lucky enough for your camcorder to have that) into a DVD recorder or PC capture card.

Now, play the film, and record away. Stop recording as you're changing films, obviously.

The biggest reccomendation I'd give is to use a good projector. At first, I tried using a Gaf brand projector (from the 60's) and it's image was faint and not as sharp, both on the screen and in the recording. Then, I got a relative's Bell & Howell Filmosound 8 projector (also from the 60's), and it produced a clear, bright image in both places.

Be careful with projector bulbs...they're likely to burn out if they're old. Don't move the projector until the bulb has been off for at least 20 minutes, and run the fan when changing film and shutting off the projector. Don't touch bulbs with uncovered fingers or skin, as skin oils will lead the bulb to burn out. I burned out a bulb, but was able to find a new one at www.bulbsource.com. However, the bulbs can get quite expensive, usually $50 or more.

"IF" you get HD programming from DirecTV: The H20 and HR20 receivers have SD outputs via Svideo that send downscaled HD programming out. Both have an ATSC tuner for local OTA HD channels, but only the H20 (non PVR) actually processes them at the moment. The HR20 "should" any minute now.

DBrown

In the increasingly draconian fashion of our federal government "By 2007-03-01 all televisions regardless of screen size, and all interface devices which include a tuner (VCR, DVD player/recorder, DVR) must include a built-in ATSC DTV tuner."
This means that all the newest 2007 model DVD recorders sold in the US will most likely receive/record 480p/i DTV and probably also downconvert the 1080i/720p to 480i (for a standard DVD). They may also convert to Mpeg4 HD (for a nonstandard Mpeg4 HD DVD i.e divx HD, WMV HD, Xvid HD). 71 minutes of WMV HD 720p will fit on a standard single-layer consumer DVD-R disk.
Recording the 480p/i ATSC DTV signal directly will give an improvement in picture quality over encoding mpeg2 from an analog signal. You should get image quality more like DVD. You could also make a disk with 480p mpeg 2 video on it. Standard DVD is 480i and must be progressively scanned by a DVD player or tv to create 480p. Leaving the 480p Mpeg2 stream alone could potentially produce a slight improvement over standard DVD.

If your tuner has firewire output, I just bought a Samsung DVD recorder that has DVI (AKA Firewire) input on the front panel. It is intended to allow you to record DVDs from your DVI-output video camera.

OTHAD, were you able to minimize flicker when transferring film to dvd?

OTAHD, sorry I missed your followup on flicker. Will digital8 also be susceptible to flicker?

Yes, digital 8 is very susceptilble to flicker. When I tried Digital 8 the first time all I could get was the picture pulsating back and forth from black. I had to then resort to my old VHS one, which worked pretty well. There may be some minimal flicker but nothing you would notice were you not looking for it. If you want to absolutely get rid of all flicker, I believe you need a variable speed projector set to 20 fps instead of 18.

But yes, Digital 8 will cause huge problems.

I hear you Bruce - I also would like to buy a DVD recorder with a ATSC Tuner for the reasons you mentioned. Since I also have a Panasonic HD Ready TV, and my Motorola tuner broke, I now have a choice of a) buy a ATS tuner $200.00, b) Buy a DVR Recorder with ATSC Tuner $799.00 for a Tivo series 3 Yikes, (Not counting the subscription fees) or wait until someone comes out with a DVD Recorder with the ATSC Tuner. I am also searching for a Sony DHG 250 HDD, I have one and it works great, but unfortunately there are very few to choose from and because these has been discontinued, what are available are used.

Doesn't FCC mandate say that anything with a tuner has to have an ATSC tuner now?

Somewhere within the last day or two, I've heard (or seen) a commercial from some manufacturer stating that all their DVD recorders and TVs would now be shipping with ATSC tuners. Essentially anything with a tuner that they make. Might have been Samsung. Not positive.

It shouldn't be difficult since there now is a tiny printed circuit NTSC/ATSC tuner available. I have one in my Pinnacle USB ATSC/NTSC PC tuner.