TIVO/PVR...buy or build my own?

[ArvinC]

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

I am considering building a TIVO/PVR using a SFF chasis as my starting point. In doing research, it doesn't seem like a really difficult project, but it's not as easy as building a "standard" PC. My worries come from the fact that there are many places where the hardware and software are not as optimized as the ready-made units.

Anyone have any experience building a PVR and what tips can you give? More importantly, would you do it again?

Thanks for any info!

Arvin

 

[coolred]

Its easier to use a Tivo then a home built PVR, but most of the good PVR apps, MCE, Beyond TV, Sage TV are good and not at all hard to use. Its really not much harder to build a PC PVR then a standard PC. It requires an extra PCI card with a TV tuner, and thats abotu it hardware wise. I started building mine cause I didn't want the monthly fee of tivo. But then I managed to snag a free tivo in a best buy price match, so now I use the Tivo. Although the PC worked fine, its just easier to use the PC. IMO at least

 

[bupkus]

Does MS's Media OS improve playback performance? With XP there was just too much stutter.

 

[DGath]

Tivo will be cheaper, but if you want gratification, MythTV is the way to go. Once my PCHDTV 3000 (linux only HDTV card) comes in the next few days, it's off to start building. If you aren't comfortable with Linux and weasy about jumping in, go with BeyondTV as I've heard it is the best windows based PVR aside from MCE 2005. I'm a long time user of MyHTPC so I'm excited for MeedioTV when it comes out (in beta right now).

But if you want to go the Myth route and looking for pointers, go with either Fedora Core 2 w/ Myth guide or for something easier, go with Knoppmyth, a stripped down linux distro that makes setting up Myth VERY easy, pending you have compatible hardware (check forums).

I've been using my computer for a TV/PVR for years, but never really found something that really did it for me. Have a good feeling my Hi-Def Myth box will take care of that.

I know you can hack Tivos and ReplayTVs, but they just don't excite me. I wanna be able to build it myself, manioulate it, recycle the components for other systems, upgrade it, and not have to worry about monthly fees.