Building my own home theater PC (Tivo like device) - F-Body Road Racing and Autocross Forums

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.

pknowles View Member Profile	Jan 20 2007, 04:05 PM Post #1
Experienced Member Group: Advanced Members Posts: 1,427 Joined: 12-February 04 From: Huntingtown, MD Member No.: 193	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.

AndyB View Member Profile	Jan 23 2007, 03:32 AM Post #2
Member Group: Advanced Members Posts: 38 Joined: 10-November 04 From: Roseville, Ca Member No.: 535	The real value add in TIVO is the season pass manager. Once you got it setup you never have to go back in and select time or channel it. I've gone the previous route of using a media center but could never get it working as good as TIVO does. Easily the best $12 I spend every month as every time I sit down and watch TV there is something on a want to watch (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Just $.02