ATI AIW

[icallmedan]

If you have an AIW can you record programs, like you could with anormal TV and VCR. Or is there anyway you take tape programs? Or save different TV programs to your computer to be watched later?

[Hazydeth]

Yes, You can record programs onto your HD using the software that should have come with your card. You just need to make sure you have a lot of free HD space because the files are HUGE!

[HAL9000]

Yes, I use my machine for a VCR all the time. Yes, it takes a lot of room. I have about 45Gb that I keep clear just for VCR functions. This gives me about 17 hours of good quality recording, 12 hours of DVD quality. You also get features like being able to pause live TV. It's nice when you are in the middle of a movie and something comes up. Just hit pause and it records to the hard drive. Come back and hit play to continue watching.

[Trent Steel]

HAL9000, what hardware/software do you use as your "VCR"?

[icallmedan]

That's pretty cool! Do you have a partition, or just set that space aside?

[HAL9000]

I'm using the All-in-Wonder 8500DV the bundled Multi-Media Center... actually, just downloaded and upgraded it to version 8.1. The AIW also comes with the Guide+ TV guide which makes recording your favorite shows as easy as checking off a box.

My wife's machine has an old All-in-Wonder Rage Pro 8Mb. She uses it to record the soap opera Days of our Lives, then takes captures for her web page Days Ahead. Take a look at what the original AIW can do.

Yes, I have drive V as a partition in my 120Gb drive that I use just for video recording.

[Hazydeth]

How do you partition your hard drive, i've looked around and can't figure it out.

[icallmedan]

They are pretty good for an older card....to Rage's comment.

[icallmedan]

I think you can partition when you install windows, or if you get a partition maker program. I think you can download some @ www.download.com

[HAL9000]

You create the partitions with FDISK when you prepare the drive. If your drive is already partitioned and loaded, you need a program like Partition Magic to alter the partitions without losing your data.

[icallmedan]

What do you mean FDISK, is that when you are formatting it?

[HAL9000]

FDISK is a DOS utility for partitioning your drive before you format. If you are doing a clean load of Win98 or WinME, boot from the CD, but instead of starting the Windows setup, boot to a command prompt with CD support. From there, you type in FDISK to enter the program. If your system is already loaded with an OS, this is a destructive process and all data will be wiped out.

Once you enter the program, answer YES to large disk support (this enables the FAT32 file system)

Select option #1 to create your primary partition (this will be your C drive), but don't use the entire capacity. Enter the capacity you want in either megabytes, or percentage of the entire drive.

When that is complete, select option #2 to create an extended partition and use the remainder of free space on your drive.

When that is complete, it will prompt that there are no logical drives defined and give you the option to create them. Each time you create a logical drive, this will be the next drive letter in sequence..... D, E, etc. Once again, you enter the capacity that you want your logical drive to be in either megabytes, or percentage of the remaining free space. You keep doing this until all remaining space is used.

Once you have partitioned the drive, you must reboot to make the partitioning changes effective. After the reboot, you must format each drive individually.

As I stated above, if you already have the drive formatted and loaded and don't want to lose your data, you must use a program such as Partition Magic to alter your partitions.