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Need Pro and Cons of buying a PVR or building one.

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Desslok

Diamond Member
The hot deal on the Replay 40 hour PVR is what started this idea. Has anyone here built their own PVR?

Pros of building it
1.) Have most of the parts on hand. Would only need a TV capture card and a hard drive.
2.) No need to have to buy the subscription since I have DirectTv and I already have a guide via it.
3.) Networking would not be a problem.

Cons
1.) Ugly computer case in the TV room
2.) Most likely a little bit louder than the Replay


Any Pro's and Con's you guys can think of will be appreciated.
 
Pros -
1. It'd be easier to play mp3s / dvds on a homemade box
2. Easy to export files to your format
3. You can get a nice home theatre-esque case, but you're going to pay for it. (maybe this should be a con)
4. Easily expandable

Cons -
1. The software, imho, isn't there yet.
2. More expensive
 
Originally posted by: fuzzy bee
Pros - 1. It'd be easier to play mp3s / dvds on a homemade box 2. Easy to export files to your format 3. You can get a nice home theatre-esque case, but you're going to pay for it. (maybe this should be a con) 4. Easily expandable Cons - 1. The software, imho, isn't there yet. 2. More expensive
Click to expand...

Thanks Fuzzy. Yea those cases are around 150-200 last time I checked.
 
friend of mine serves up the files on his replay over his network and watches them on his computer
 
As a PVR, there isn't a good reason to make your own. Mainly because the software just isn't there. I've thought a lot about making my own and it just wasn't worth it.
 
Originally posted by: pulse8
As a PVR, there isn't a good reason to make your own. Mainly because the software just isn't there. I've thought a lot about making my own and it just wasn't worth it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info guys.
 
In terms of software, I think that MythTV shows the most promise and functionality. It still has a long way to go but, it seems to have a strong community following it. You might want to check out some other options such as Freevo, and Snapstream.

Case-wise, you can always go with a Shuttle SB51G, like I did. It is small, portable, quiet, and with a new faceplate pretty slick looking.

If you don't want to go with a SFF machine, check out these cases
Cooler Master
LMP cases

Not only can you record TV, playback DivX's, mp3's, pictures, you can play games, surf the web, do anything that you normally do on your regular PC.

It may have not been cost effective but, It was a fun project for me, plus I can pick it up and go to a friends place to watch movies and more importantly, play games. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: ElFenix
friend of mine serves up the files on his replay over his network and watches them on his computer
Click to expand...

i do the opposite, we have a file server that extends the storage space of all the replays in the house.
 
Originally posted by: Ameesh
Originally posted by: ElFenix
friend of mine serves up the files on his replay over his network and watches them on his computer
Click to expand...

i do the opposite, we have a file server that extends the storage space of all the replays in the house.
Click to expand...

How'd you do that? I've got a ReplayTV coming and I'm trying to figure out the best way I can use it. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: pulse8
Originally posted by: Ameesh
Originally posted by: ElFenix
friend of mine serves up the files on his replay over his network and watches them on his computer
Click to expand...

i do the opposite, we have a file server that extends the storage space of all the replays in the house.
Click to expand...

How'd you do that? I've got a ReplayTV coming and I'm trying to figure out the best way I can use it. 🙂
Click to expand...

I'd like to know too. Just got a 5040 last night.
 
Originally posted by: dquan97
Doesn't the All-in-wonder feature a PVR? I thought I saw that on an issue of Maximum PC...
Click to expand...

Yeah, but it's buggy. For instance, when I pause live TV on mine, occasionally after a while it will only show one quarter of the screen. Not quite ready for prime-time. Also, a lot of the third-party PVR software doesn't support the AIW series.
 
If you want a PVR, buy one.

But here's the caveats:
TIVO=if you buy a TIVO set only, they suck. I don't know about ReplayTV, but all Tivo's except for the DirecTV/Tivo Combination recievers do NOT copy directly from the bitstream--therefore qulaity is diminished.

PVR Wise on PC---i've about tried all of the software, and like many people said, it still isn't quite there yet. Number one---it's laggy especially when you pause. Number two---most of the cheaper setups don't come with Remotes. Number 3--and this is the biggest one for me---you can't record two channels at once.

Personally, I've used Dish Network Dishplayer, and Ultimate TV (a 2nd incarnation of Dishplayer w/ two channels at once), and they were both OK. I used DIsh Player for a year. For the past 14 months however, I've been using DirectTV w/ Tivo, which copies directly from the bitstream....so the quality is not degraded. Although it wouldnt' work if I had HDTV---but I don't. Compared to running a PC as a my main PVR, the Tivo simply can't be beat. I get two channels at once to record on, Pause works seemlessly, and it's easy as crap to skip over commercials---no lag whatsoever.

Now, what I do use a PC for in my living room are two things: #1, I record any movies that I want to keep straight to MPEG-2 format, and when I get time, I convert them to DivX. I also download <cough> movies as well, and use my PC to TV to watch them on my stereo.

Lastly, there's the issue of if you use a cable box or satellite. PVR's you have to buy an add on ir blaster to change the channels for you so you can schedule recordings.

So in summary--PVR PCs right now just aren't up to the task. They're laggy (and that's even on a 1.8 Ghz machine), and the interface can't compare to something like Tivo (or ReplayTV) for that matter. If you've got the bones to spend on a PVR PC, then I'd just go for a boxed solution from Replay TV or Tivo. But like I said earlier, the only way I'd go for Tivo is if you're going to use the DirecTV combination reciever, because otherwise your recording quality is diminished---and yes it is noticiable....b/c I had a standalone Tivo for a little while and took it back after 3 days.
 
Actually, there are a few PVR software out there...you just gotta look for them. Don't remember it offhand, since i've decided to put off making a PVR because my HD is always full of other stuff........

- Edited for spelling
 
Just buy the ASUS Tv tuner from newegg for $70 and you'll have a pvr right there, assuming you have at least a 1.6ghz system with adequate drive space. The capture quality is the best out there, way better than any tivo or replay. Plus, the main benefit of a computer based pvr is you can encode your library of media to divx 720x480, saving huge amounts of drive space but sparing mpeg2 image quality. Even a 100gig hard drive does not hold that much video when you encode a high bitrate mpeg2 high res video stream, so divx comes into play a great deal here.
 
If you intend to use it all the time as an appliance get the Tivo or Replay

Tivo is on all the time, no messing around with geting it to work/drivers/glitches/updates. A PC is not an appliance at this point.
 
I actually have almost completed my PC/PVR. I'm waiting for a replacement CPU from newegg. Here are some brief thoughts:

Pros:
Can be setup to play your old snes/nes favorites
Can add a dvd drive for a dvd/pvr combo
if you have a cdrw or dvdr you could burn your shows.
Upgradable
No subscription
Pride 🙂

Cons:
Expensive!!!
setup time (installing hardware, os, software, etc)

I actually built mine from scratch. and it was pretty freaking expensive. Here are my parts
MSI Metis 266 barebones (check their website)
-integrated network
-integrated 5.1
-small form factor
Athlon 1.33Ghz
512 rm
60gb HD
Radeon7000 w/ tvout
Asus tv tuner
Samsung Dvd/cdrw combo

In total, after shipping and tax, everything here cost me almost $500. If you got a good deal on a tivo w/ lifetime subscription that would run you $300-400 (I think, someone correct me if I'm wrong). But on the otherhand, I do have a dvd/cdrw and I have the added functionality that comes with a computer. I'll find out soon when my cpu comes in, if this was worth it. But imho it's looking good so far. If anyone's interested, I'll post my experiences when I finally finish the setup.

edit: I just remembered. What gave the idea to build my own pvr was an article I read at www.gamingnexus.com. Check out their articles section, it's like the first article. But in there they discuss the software that's currently available.
 
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