home built dvr

[gorbs]

considering a new build and this time i want to try my hand at building a dvr unit to replace my daughters vcr in her room.

anybody here have any success stories with this ?

 

[Spydermag68]

I put a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150. in my computer and it works great running XP. I think the 1600 does over the air HD TV and not compatible with cable boxes.

Cons: The computer has to be on to record, only one tuner so you cannot watch one channel and record another.

 

[gorbs]

thanks , i just want to be able to record shows for later viewing and possible burning. i hate that phone call from work or school in the evening from my daughter asking me to go turn on her vcr for her lol. this way i can show her how to do it ......... well, thats the plan anyway.

 

[weeber]

Originally posted by: gorbs
considering a new build and this time i want to try my hand at building a dvr unit to replace my daughters vcr in her room.

anybody here have any success stories with this ?

I've had one for several years, and can't imagine life without it. On my first iteration, I used a Hauppauge 250 to capture analog cable. Now, I capture everything (including HD) via a firewire connection from the back of my cable box. You've got lots of options to choose from. Personally, I use SageTV (Click), but there's also Beyond TV and even Windows MCE is pretty good.

I will warn you that home-built DVR do require quite a bit of tweaking before they're 100%. If you have decent parts, it works great (mine runs 24/7 for weeks on end without a reboot). But getting it to that point can test your patience.

 

[gorbs]

oh great just what i need more headaches lol. it should be a minimal harware investment as i will be using a dell p-4 desktop we have that is not being used. so a card and maybe a another hard drive then a whole lot of patience !!

 

[cubby1223]

Originally posted by: weeber

Originally posted by: gorbs
considering a new build and this time i want to try my hand at building a dvr unit to replace my daughters vcr in her room.

anybody here have any success stories with this ?

I've had one for several years, and can't imagine life without it. On my first iteration, I used a Hauppauge 250 to capture analog cable. Now, I capture everything (including HD) via a firewire connection from the back of my cable box. You've got lots of options to choose from. Personally, I use SageTV (Click), but there's also Beyond TV and even Windows MCE is pretty good.

I will warn you that home-built DVR do require quite a bit of tweaking before they're 100%. If you have decent parts, it works great (mine runs 24/7 for weeks on end without a reboot). But getting it to that point can test your patience.

What equipment are you using? I haven't played around much, but I can only get network channels through firewire from my cable box. The computer's firewire port is not recognized as authorized equipment, and cable channels set to copy once or copy never will not transmit - only channels with no copy restrictions pass through (which are just the locals).

 

[weeber]

Really, it's not too bad if you only need a basic setup. I just want to give you fair warning that's it's not like a Tivo or VCR. I don't think there is such a thing as a plug-n-play HTPC.

What are you looking to record? Just analog cable?

 

[cubby1223]

Originally posted by: gorbs
oh great just what i need more headaches lol. it should be a minimal harware investment as i will be using a dell p-4 desktop we have that is not being used. so a card and maybe a another hard drive then a whole lot of patience !!

A Hauppauge WinTV PVR150 with analog cable input works like a charm, very easy to set up recording schedules, and very reliable. You just don't get the benefits of digital cable channels.

 

[weeber]

Originally posted by: cubby1223

Originally posted by: weeber

Originally posted by: gorbs
considering a new build and this time i want to try my hand at building a dvr unit to replace my daughters vcr in her room.

anybody here have any success stories with this ?

I've had one for several years, and can't imagine life without it. On my first iteration, I used a Hauppauge 250 to capture analog cable. Now, I capture everything (including HD) via a firewire connection from the back of my cable box. You've got lots of options to choose from. Personally, I use SageTV (Click), but there's also Beyond TV and even Windows MCE is pretty good.

I will warn you that home-built DVR do require quite a bit of tweaking before they're 100%. If you have decent parts, it works great (mine runs 24/7 for weeks on end without a reboot). But getting it to that point can test your patience.

What equipment are you using? I haven't played around much, but I can only get network channels through firewire from my cable box. The computer's firewire port is not recognized as authorized equipment, and cable channels set to copy once or copy never will not transmit - only channels with no copy restrictions pass through (which are just the locals).

I'm Comcast-Atlanta, using their Motorola 6200 (non-DVR). Unfortunately, what cable companies decide to open up via firewire is completely arbitrary and up to them. It sounds like your cable company encrypts everything non-network. Thankfully Comcast doesn't, yet. I'm fully aware that this could change at a drop of the hat, but I'm taking advantage of it while I can.

 

[gorbs]

i have comcast digital through a set top box on my main tv only. the rest of the house only gets the basic cable in analog i guess. i have not purchased any equipment yet but after reading a lot it looks like hauppauge is the way to go for a card. this is my next project to do after painting and a little motorcycle cam tweaking 🙂.

 

[Modular]

Originally posted by: gorbs
i have comcast digital through a set top box on my main tv only. the rest of the house only gets the basic cable in analog i guess. i have not purchased any equipment yet but after reading a lot it looks like hauppauge is the way to go for a card. this is my next project to do after painting and a little motorcycle cam tweaking 🙂.

Welcome to the HTPC world : )

There are many options concerning software. I use GB-PVR which is free and has a huge support base: the GB-PVR homepage The only problem is that the channel listings are no longer free, so it may make more sense to buy Windows MCE or SageTV. There are workarounds for this, but they require a little work to get them going.

Hauppauge is certainly the way to go. But I would say stay away from the PVR-150, not because it's a bad card (I have one in my HTPC) but because in 2008 when all the channels become digital, it will be basically worthless. You should get the HVR-1600, specifically the model that does QAM tuning for 2 reasons.

1. It won't be worthless when everything in the US switches to digital.
2. With a QAM tuner you can get all the "clear" channels off of the digital cable you are currently paying for. This can mean that you will be able to tune in HD channels as well as any extended channels that you can tune from your set top box on your main TV. This isn't an absolute guarantee, but if it works then consider it a bonus.

There's alot to learn, but after that it's pretty smooth sailing.