[ale] Digital VCR

[Stuffed Crust]

Anyone have any experience getting a Linux box to act as a rudimentary
VCR?  Actual scheduling and whatnot isn't an issue (cron!) but what I'm
concerned with:

Basically, I want to "tape" Babylon 5 when it re-airs on the Sci-Fi
network on the 25th.

640x480x24 @30fps equates to some 27MB/s of data, and each hour-long
episode would equate to some 95 gigs.  :)

Needless to say, I'll need to compress on the fly.  But I'd like to
eventually crunch the video with mpeg4, so I'd like the initial
compression to not cause too much lossy-ness.

So -- What experiences have people had with this sort of thing?  Is my
best bet to buy a bunch of disks and RAID0'em so I'll have enough space
for raw capturing, and crunch it down later? What kind of hardware is
necessary for real-time mpeg2 compression?  Any recommendations for
syncing sound and video stuff?

(And for those of you who will suggest I get a TiVo -- I can't archive
 what it records)

 - Pizza
-- 
Solomon Peachy                                        pizza at cc.gatech.edu
I ain't broke, but I'm badly bent.                        +1(404)294-6978
Patience comes to those who wait.                            ICQ #1318344
    ...It's not "Beanbag Love", it's a "Transanimate Relationship"...
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