Is it possible with either the stock tuner or pca's upcoming tuner kit to achieve the functionality of a personal video recorder, ala Tivo/Replay TV, except that instead of recording television broadcasts, the empeg would record radio broadcasts?

Here is what I would like to be able to do:

1) Program the empeg to record certain radio broadcasts either once or on a repeating schedule (or even an irregular schedule). Mostly, I would want to record broadcasts that occur during office hours, while my car is securely parked, or overnight, while my car is in my garage, therefore this would need to happen while the car is turned off. Also, obviously I would not be playing locally stored music at the time the unit is recording.

2) Pause, rewind and resume live radio broadcasts. For example, I missed a news item or a traffic report while I was negotiating a pass, or I want to pause a broadcast while I take a call on my cell phone. Again, I would not be listening to locally stored music at the time.

3) I don't know if this would be possible, and it is not really a priority for me, but how about being able to listen to locally stored music while recording a live radio broadcast?

4) How about listening to one radio broadcast while recording another? (I am sure that this is not possible!)

So, how about it? Is any of this technically possible?

If so, do we have some ambitious coders out there who could take a stab at this?

Let's hear from the community on this one!

- Errol

Errol, this is a FAQ entry. Please click here.

Tony,

I realize that it is a FAQ entry. In fact, the section of the FAQ that caught my attention was the last line, which reads,

"If you are a software developer and you want to see about implementing this sort of thing yourself, you're welcome to give it a shot. Some of these things can be done if you're willing to work around the limitiations. All of the input/output specifications of the player are fully public, and if you asked the empeg guys questions about it, I'm sure they'd be happy to answer them."

Basically, what the FAQ confirms is that items 1 & 2 from my previous post are possible. I am not sure whether pca's tuner is able to achieve items 3 & 4.

If I had the programming skills, I would be all over this. I am hoping to spawn enough discussion about this to get someone interested at taking a crack at it.

Any takers?

- Errol

Basically, what the FAQ confirms is that items 1 & 2 from my previous post are possible.

Actually, 2 is not. You can't press "pause" or "rewind" on a live radio broadcast because the only way to record it is to listen to it. And as you've already surmised, 3 and 4 are not possible. Patrick's tuner can't change the signal routing in the player and doesn't change the player's capabilities.

Item 1, recording radio audio while the car is parked, is theoretically possible, but you would have to write the software to do it. That's why the FAQ says "If you are a software developer and you want to see about implementing this sort of thing yourself, you're welcome to give it a shot."

But the tone of your initial post didn't seem to say "I am a software developer and I am beginning work on this project, I would like some pointers." Now, if your goal was to try to prod a programmer into doing the project for you, that's fine, say so up front. Perhaps in the Programming forum...

Actually, 2 is not. You can't press "pause" or "rewind" on a live radio broadcast because the only way to record it is to listen to it. And as you've already surmised, 3 and 4 are not possible. Patrick's tuner can't change the signal routing in the player and doesn't change the player's capabilities.

I am wondering if pressing pause could mute the output to the speakers while still continuing to record. Of course, as soon as you un-paused, you would be listening to what was recorded, and not recording anymore. There doesn't seem to be much usefulness to this feature once you take into account the players limitations.

But the tone of your initial post didn't seem to say "I am a software developer and I am beginning work on this project, I would like some pointers.

That's because I'm not.

Now, if your goal was to try to prod a programmer into doing the project for you, that's fine, say so up front.

Hmmm....I thought I did. In my first post, I said, "...do we have some ambitious coders out there who could take a stab at this?" Then, in my second post, I said, "If I had the programming skills, I would be all over this. I am hoping to spawn enough discussion about this to get someone interested at taking a crack at it." That seems pretty easy to understand to me.

I think the programmer types who might be interested are fully aware of the complexity and uncertainty this feature would entail. If you REALLY want to listen to delayed radio broadcasts, you might consider getting a PC based tuner card and setting it up to record your programs and upload them to the empeg. You could spearhead the effort and what little support was required by the empeg community would be easier to get if you are already blazing a trail...

Tony.... Stop being an ass.

Sorry.