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> Building my own home theater PC (Tivo like device)
pknowles
post Jan 20 2007, 04:05 PM
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My wife wants a Tivo badly. But after looking at them and some of the very limited features I think I can build something better for the same price using an old PC. Computer wise I have an old 550 MHz P3 that I would like to use becuase currently it's just sitting in the corner taking up space. I realize this may not be enough, but I plan on using the Hauppauge 500 card which has hardware encoding, so I don't think I need a powerfull PC. If I use hardware encoding all the processor is going to do is control the streaming of data to disk and run the interface program, which I think a P3 should be able to do. Anyone have any advice as far as software (Beyond TV, Sage, etc.)? I'm leaning toward using windows since my wife will be using this and I really don't want to put myself through the pain of teaching her Linux (which I'm sure she doesn't want either).

As far as hardware/software I think I need:
1. TV tuner card (leaning towards Hauppauge 500 so I can record one channel while watching another)
2. Video card with TV out (not sure want I want, but a Matrox G200 TV should be cheap)
3. Need a lot more then the 8 GB harddrive the computer currently has. I'm thinking about 300 GB should do it.
4. Software (Beyond TV, Sage, Windows Media Center, etc.)
5. Remote

I guess I should say that I want to go the PC route instead of Tivo becuase my wife likes to review her favorite shows all at once. So I plan on burning her shows to DVD, so that she can watch them all at once. The only feature that I have not seen is that when you are looking at a show is there any software that will tell you what season and episode number the show is? That would make it alot easier to put the shows in the correct order on the DVD. Does a Tivo even do this? Any advice is appreciated.
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axoid
post Jan 21 2007, 10:18 PM
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I built a system about a year and a half ago with a dual tuner card and Beyond TV and an ATI video card with DVI output on a XP home box. I have a HD TV the has DVI in so the picture is better than with a standard video out port. The only down side is that the tuners can only record analog stations off cable. To record the digital channels (Speed) I had to get a another DVR from my cable company. But I like having the Beyond TV DVR, I often copy shows to other computers and sometimes recompress them for my PSP. I have a 260 GB drive and it can easily record 80-100 hrs of shows. I even have remote control for it.

If you install an HD tuner you can record over the air HD shows.
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z28tt
post Jan 22 2007, 12:13 PM
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QUOTE (axoid @ Jan 21 2007, 05:18 PM) *
To record the digital channels (Speed) I had to get a another DVR from my cable company.


Many of the TV capture cards come with a remote IR Blaster (such as the Happauge PVR-150). Place that in front of your digital box, and the computer can change the channels. Sure, it ties up up that TV, but your wife should understand that 24 hours worth of Rolex is more important that the HGTV how to faux finish a bathroom! Another thing to consider if you've got a Motorola digital box, is that many of them can be controlled by the firewire connection. I've got the Moto 6200/2005 digital HD box, and now need to get a 6 pin to 6 pin cable to try it out. AVS Forums has a big thread at http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=403695. Are there any TV capture cards with a cablecard port? Comcast will give you a card for a whopping $2.50/mo, I believe. Anyways, if you guys just want speedvision, and have Comcast in the area, you can get basic cable for $12/mo (the standard network channels), and the digital sports pack for $8/mo. No more 100 channels of other useless crap for $50/mo! (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
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Posts in this topic
pknowles   Building my own home theater PC (Tivo like device)   Jan 20 2007, 04:05 PM
25thRallySport   i would suggest if you are going with windows to u...   Jan 20 2007, 04:43 PM
CJ-TA   No HD on any of the DIY stuff..   Jan 20 2007, 10:55 PM
axoid   I built a system about a year and a half ago with ...   Jan 21 2007, 10:18 PM
z28tt   QUOTE (axoid @ Jan 21 2007, 05:18 PM) To ...   Jan 22 2007, 12:13 PM
Ynnek888   QUOTE (axoid @ Jan 21 2007, 05:18 PM) I b...   Jan 23 2007, 12:23 AM
BigEnos   QUOTE (pknowles @ Jan 20 2007, 11:05 AM) ...   Jan 22 2007, 02:25 PM
JKnight   As far as I know you can't just buy Windows Me...   Jan 23 2007, 01:18 AM
trackbird   QUOTE (Ynnek888 @ Jan 22 2007, 07:23 PM) ...   Jan 23 2007, 03:21 AM
AndyB   The real value add in TIVO is the season pass mana...   Jan 23 2007, 03:32 AM
marka   Howdy, I've got two Tivos. The primary reaso...   Jan 23 2007, 01:59 PM
pknowles   QUOTE (marka @ Jan 23 2007, 08:59 AM) How...   Jan 23 2007, 02:10 PM
BigEnos   QUOTE (marka @ Jan 23 2007, 08:59 AM) How...   Jan 23 2007, 10:08 PM
marka   Howdy, FWIW, the two tuner tivo we have is the be...   Jan 23 2007, 02:20 PM
CJ-TA   QUOTE (marka @ Jan 23 2007, 08:20 AM) Wou...   Jan 23 2007, 09:52 PM
Sam Strano   +2 But I'm a dumb-ass who understood about 10...   Jan 24 2007, 09:13 PM
rautox   +3 I've been looking at mythtv, xbox mediacen...   Feb 3 2007, 12:46 AM
BigEnos   QUOTE (rautox @ Feb 2 2007, 07:46 PM) +3 ...   Feb 3 2007, 01:50 AM
patred   QUOTE (BigEnos @ Feb 2 2007, 08:50 PM) OK...   Feb 3 2007, 02:19 PM
rautox   QUOTE (patred @ Feb 3 2007, 09:19 AM) ......   Feb 3 2007, 02:56 PM
rautox   QUOTE (BigEnos @ Feb 2 2007, 08:50 PM) OK...   Feb 3 2007, 02:34 AM
pknowles   I ended up buying everything I needed for the comp...   Mar 6 2007, 01:34 PM

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