Is this possible?

[irishScott]

...to build my own TIVO? I was just brainstorming ideas for my next long-term project, and had decided on some kind of media center PC. I'm just wondering if anyone knows which features of TIVO can NOT be replicated due to corporate/copyright restrictions, etc.

As far as software goes, I'd like to program my own. I realize the complexity of this, but I intend to complete this portion of the project over the next 2 or 3 years in my free time. Operating system would preferably be some form of Linux, but I suppose I can work with Windows (I'm trying to keep costs as low as practical).

The only real hardware issues I can see are comptability with Linux (which can be easily circumvented by using Windows) and (my largest concern) finding a TV Tuner card that's open/well documented enough so that I won't have to rely on proprietary software. I know that the nature of said cards may well change in the comming years, but are there any companies known for open hardware that I should watch?

Note: Card will preferably include a remote, so that adds yet another layer of complexity.

I'm also conerned about the proprietary nature of HD. Admitantly I don't know much in this area, but I know enough to consider it as a potential hurdle.

As for knowing when shows are on, I was hoping I could work out some sort of web feed with a tv scheduleing website.

Desired end result: TiVO HD without the service charges, as open and cheap as practical.

 

[Markbnj]

Well, the software piece of it can, I think, be had from MythTV or GB-PVR. They essentially do the same thing TiVO does, although I am not an expert on the complete TiVO feature set.

 

[jkresh]

IrishScott, you can do this now with HD as long as you can accept QAM (unencrypted cable, basically cbs/nbc/abc/fox/pbs but not hbo/showtime..., or ATSC over the air) if you want to deal with full digital cable and all the hd channels then the only option on the pc is ati's occur card (it takes a cable card), which is only available with certain oem systems and may or may not ever be available for sale separately.

 

[irishScott]

Originally posted by: jkresh
IrishScott, you can do this now with HD as long as you can accept QAM (unencrypted cable, basically cbs/nbc/abc/fox/pbs but not hbo/showtime..., or ATSC over the air) if you want to deal with full digital cable and all the hd channels then the only option on the pc is ati's occur card (it takes a cable card), which is only available with certain oem systems and may or may not ever be available for sale separately.

Hmmmm. Just read up a bit on the Ocur. Guess I'll have to stick with QAM for the time being. Worst case scenario, I end up buying ATI's card and slapping it in if/when it becomes retail.

I'm probably going to buy a good portion of the hardware in a few months so I can actually test the code I write. In any case, without knowing what TV-Tuner I'm using, the only real programming I could accomplish is the GUI

From what I understand, I don't exactly need cutting edge hardware for this kind of thing (excluding the TV-Tuner and/or GPU), so it shouldn't be that expensive.

I'd buy an HD, but I'm waiting for prices to fall on the 1 TB drives. I'll probably be running some form of Linux from my pendrive.

 

[jkresh]

If you plan on working with hd, and especially if you plan on converting to divx/xvid/h264 instead of keeping it in mpeg 2 streams (all broadcast hd is currently mpeg2, I believe there is talk of moving to h264 or some other mp4 derivative like blueray/hd-dvd but nothing has been done yet) then processor speed/number of cores is important and a quad core might be a good idea (and or a card with built in hd decoding (geforce 8600, ati 2600)).

 

[irishScott]

Originally posted by: jkresh
If you plan on working with hd, and especially if you plan on converting to divx/xvid/h264 instead of keeping it in mpeg 2 streams (all broadcast hd is currently mpeg2, I believe there is talk of moving to h264 or some other mp4 derivative like blueray/hd-dvd but nothing has been done yet) then processor speed/number of cores is important and a quad core might be a good idea (and or a card with built in hd decoding (geforce 8600, ati 2600)).

Ah. I was looking at the NVIDIA 8600 series for the GPU, with one of the mid-range Core 2 Duos for the CPU. (Still in the early research stages. I've been out of the hardware loop for the last 3 years)

Also, is encrypted HD decrypted at the cable/FiOS/SAT box, or within the TV itself? If it's decrypted at the box, couldn't I just simply intercept the signal between the Box and TV? Just seems a little too easy if that's true...

 

[irishScott]

Originally posted by: Markbnj
Well, the software piece of it can, I think, be had from MythTV or GB-PVR. They essentially do the same thing TiVO does, although I am not an expert on the complete TiVO feature set.

Sounds nice. Just glanced over the MythTV webpage and it looks very promising. I still want to try and program my own code (for the hell of it), but it'll definitely be a nice reference.

 

[irishScott]

bumpity

 

[jkresh]

It depends on how you connect, if you use component it is decrypted at the box (but there arent many options for component in on the pc). If you use dvi/hdmi then its at the tv, for firewire its not encrypted but only some channels go through (ie most should work but premium (hbo/showtime...) wont)