Stories: how to preserve?

[Penners]

Short of plonking a tape recorder next to the telly like a teenager with Top of the Pops, is there a way to record BBC iPlayer?

Does your computer run Windows Vista or Windows XP Media Center ('scuse American spelling)? If it does, all you need is a cheap TV card inside it, attached to a TV aerial, and you can record as many TV shows off-air as you like, on to your hard drive. A digital TV card is best, for Freeview.

 

[Flyfisher]

I believe R4's "Listen Again" service is generally only maintained for a week or two after transmission. Still a wonderful resource though.

An easy way to record the audio from your PC, no matter what the application or whatever the DRM used, is simply to record the output of your soundcard.

Audacity is a freely available, open-source, audio application that will handle this for you. Just select "Wave Out Mix" (i.e. your souncard output) as the audio source and use the control buttons as a normal 'tape' recorder. Then save the captured audio as a separate file and keep forever, if you wish.

Video is not quite so simple but Penners' suggestion of an add-on TV card is a good one. They'll work on plain Windows XP as well, not just the 'Media Center' edition.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Penners - thanks I have a DVB-S2 card in my home built media centre, so can watch (and record) SD and HDTV to my heart's content.

What I was wondering was how to record BBC iPlayer stuff, as it disappears after a week or so. It seems it is a "grey" area. Can't ask in open forum for someone to suggest a software product that does what I'm asking, but I'm sure someone might suggest it in a PM to me... purely for "research" purposes of course. 8)

 

[Moo]

If someone does oblige, I'd be very grateful if they'd pm me, too.

xx