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Specs on a DVR computer for under $400

mindmaniac

mindmaniac

Senior member
I'm in the market to build myself a DVR computer preferably with two tv tuners so I can record at least two shows at once for when two great shows are on at once. It all came about after I picked up a Seagate 300GB hard drive last week to add to my 200 GB Western Digital I already have.

I figure this DVR machine doesn't need to me anything fancy at all, I'll probably keep in in the basement running with a monitor and have it hooked into the home network so I can access the videos at terminals in the house. I would like to run it off of Linux so if anyone has any free programs they use for recording that would be great.

As I said $400 is my max, but I would prefer to go even lower than that. Any help you guys could give would be greatly appreciated.

 
You will have trouble getting a processor and/or pair of tuners capable of encoding two shows at once for that price.

Cheap Sempron system, and a hauppage 150, 512mb value ram, you might manage; assuming you don't need an hdd. Obviously you'll still need a cheap video card with tv-out, but that shouldn't cost too much.

I tend to agree with 'buy a set-top box' here though; you need a little more money to build something that will do what you want.
 
If by "nothing fancy" you mean easy, you can't beat Micro$oft windows Media Center Edition 2005. I have no expirence with linux, so I couldn't help you there...

I'm running MCE 2K5, with a Hauppauge Win-PVR-150 MCE, easiest thing in the world, and you don't have to pay a subscription fee. I use it with the Xbox extender, and It works great.

If you're looking for free (non pirated) "front-end" software, check out mediaportal. I haven't tried it, but it looks promising, and I've heard good things...

Definitly get a Hauppauge (2x PVR 150's or one PVR 500 (dual tuner)) card, unless for some reason you want to try your hand at HD.

If you're on a tight budget (as it seems you are) I would go for something like this (assuming you have to build from scratch)


$30 = cheap ass case w/PSU
$75 = Asus A7v8x-x and Athlon XP 2700+ combo (Onboard sound and LAN)
$60 = 512 mb PC 3200 DDR400 (generic)
$50 = Geforce 3/4 series videocard?
$160 = 2x Hauppauge WinTV- PVR150
$25 = Optical drive of some sort

there's your $400, you've already got the harddrives, and I'm assuming you don't need a Windows XP licensce (or linux if that's your thing). Just use Media Portal as your front end...

Some helpful links:

HTPC News
The Green Button (MCE User Forum)
AVS Forum


 
Computer doesn't make much difference, it's the video card(s) that you get and just make sure it has a decent amount of memory.
 
If you just want to record shows, I'd recommend webvcr+, but I do not believe it has multi-tuner support, so for that I'd definitely recommend mythtv. You can set it up with knoppmyth in a matter of a few minutes (if you have compatible hardware). When recording shows in windows, I always had audio sync problems. Since switching over to linux about a month ago, I have yet to have an audio sync problem.
 
I was going to try this a couple months back but coudln't justify spendin a couple jundred bucks on hardware and software. All I wanted to be able to do was set certain shows to record automatically based on their name. So I coudl type in "CSI" and it would just record every show with CSI in the title. Not sure on the best or cheapest way to do that though...
 
Originally posted by: Goosemaster
Originally posted by: Kilrsat

I'll backup goosemaster here. BeyondMedia + BeyondTV on my HTPC. Pure bliss.
Click to expand...

BTV Link + BTV kicks ass too😀
Click to expand...
Yup, I have one of those licenses as well. Comes in very handy.

I just like pimping BeyondMedia so I get an opportunity to pimp my plugin collection.

 
What would you recommend just for a system with "Set it and Forget it" style recording? I don't care much for pausing live TV and things like that. I can just record it and pause it when I watch it. But I'd like to just have it record shows based on their Title with no intervention from me.

I'm sure they can all do that but if price is a determining factor (not for a computer, just for the software and video card) what would everyone recommend?
 
Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
What would you recommend just for a system with "Set it and Forget it" style recording? I don't care much for pausing live TV and things like that. I can just record it and pause it when I watch it. But I'd like to just have it record shows based on their Title with no intervention from me.

I'm sure they can all do that but if price is a determining factor (not for a computer, just for the software and video card) what would everyone recommend?
Click to expand...



Hauppauge WinTVPVR 150 ($100 retail, can be found for $60-$80)

Media Portal <------Free, open-source, shareware...
 
Hmm, looks like BeyondTV is only $50 right now ($20 off on sale through 3/28/05). And the card can be had for $72 or so at Newegg. I guess that's not too bad for the full system.
 
Just playing devil's advocate here, but a troublefree Series II Tivo (that now allows you to burn shows to DVD and play them on your PC) is now $99 after rebate and a lifetime subscription is $299, which would be $400 and no hassle.
 
$400 > $132

I love the concept of Tivo but don't see the point of paying a subscription fee for something that should be a completely stand along product and not require any sort of outside connection (other than downloading the TV Line up).
 
Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
$400 > $132

I love the concept of Tivo but don't see the point of paying a subscription fee for something that should be a completely stand along product and not require any sort of outside connection (other than downloading the TV Line up).
Click to expand...

agreed, plus, using your computer allows you to take advantage of the latest and greatest features, from open-source, user-created plugins, to ful fleged software upgrades from big name vendors, all without replacing your TiVo box, or waiting for TiVo to do a software/firmware upgrade...
 
Originally posted by: mindmaniac
I would like to run it off of Linux so if anyone has any free programs they use for recording that would be great.
Click to expand...

from what I've heard, its hard to find linux support for tuner cards
 
Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
$400 > $132

I love the concept of Tivo but don't see the point of paying a subscription fee for something that should be a completely stand along product and not require any sort of outside connection (other than downloading the TV Line up).
Click to expand...

That's all the Tivo uses your connection for. That, and you can pick recordings remotely from their website (love that feature...able to schedule shows from work) it'll use the connection to receive that. The reason I brought up the Tivo selection is that my geeks friends switched to it after having to constantly fiddle with thier home made PVR boxes only to have them work only 50% of the time correctly.

Anyway, the Series II Tivo's are fully upgradeable, so they won't have the limitations and upgrade requirements of the series I's, and it's something that just works (and works well) with no hassle and no labor involved.
 
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