TiVo vs HTPC vs Comcast DVR

[Pliablemoose]

Buy a dual tuner Tivo, hack with a large HD.

 

[shilala]

I like my htpc.
I can upgrade/scale it to anything I want, no fees, and it works great.
With a dual tuner it does things that I can't even understand.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: LikeLinus

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
comcast DVR sux. or the one they brought to my house does anyway. it's major crappy. i have to power cycle the thing every 3 or 4 hours because it freezes. major pain in the @ss.

You got a bad unit. Get another one, don't just live with it. That isn't normal.

i've called them 10 times the last two weeks. they were scheduled to have someone come out, they gave me a 4 hour window, i fvcking waited the 4 hours and they had someone call me about 5 minutes before the 4 hours were up asking me for directions. i had an appointment to go to, so i took a shower and left. they claimed they had someone at my door at 1 pm, but that's bs because i left the house at 2 pm.

also, comcast internet was screwing up a lot. i just decided to cancel all comcast digital services, just going to stick to comcast basic until i move into my house early next year, then i'll get directv. i dont' have a clear line of sight where i'm currently living.

comcast sux.

 

[tami]

anyone here have an HTPC? if so, what are the specs? links would be appreciated. we're looking to build.

thanks

 

[RossMAN]

tami,

I bought the following HTPC used from another forum member for $200 shipped. I'm actually going to use this as my main computer, not an HTPC. I'm not a gamer so the slower CPU is fine with me. Compact, quiet and cheap is what I was looking for.

Antec Aria case with power supply
MSI KM4M-V MicroATX Socket A (AMD) motherboard
AMD Sempron CPU (2400+)
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9500 AGP Video Card (w/ DVI)
PCI FireWire Card
256MB RAM

I'm probably going to build the following HTPC next month (these are NOT the lowest prices, just used as a point of reference)
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=150999
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80725-R
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80098-21
http://www.legitreviews.com/article.php?aid=159
add a hard drive, etc.

It should cost me around $600 or so.

 

[tami]

sweet, rossman... i just want something to hook up to my TV for tv-out, mostly. i'm primarily interested in something that would have a good video card and wireless internet since it would be controlled remotely. the case and mobo combo is probably the primary focus for me though.

 

[RossMAN]

Here is a good HTPC site I'd recommend checking out

http://www.htpcnews.com/

 

[shilala]

I use an HTPC with Windows MCE.
My wife also has MCE on her computer and watches shows I've recorded and stored on my computer.
There's a brazilian options with MCE, I like it better than Sage and Beyond.

The only thing that sucks is that some things such as hbo shows can only be watched at the computer they are recorded and stored at (at least until I figure out how to fix that).

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: tami
sweet, rossman... i just want something to hook up to my TV for tv-out, mostly. i'm primarily interested in something that would have a good video card and wireless internet since it would be controlled remotely. the case and mobo combo is probably the primary focus for me though.

Then I would buy an XBOX 360 seriously.

 

[sswingle]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
tami,

I bought the following HTPC used from another forum member for $200 shipped. I'm actually going to use this as my main computer, not an HTPC. I'm not a gamer so the slower CPU is fine with me. Compact, quiet and cheap is what I was looking for.

Antec Aria case with power supply
MSI KM4M-V MicroATX Socket A (AMD) motherboard
AMD Sempron CPU (2400+)
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9500 AGP Video Card (w/ DVI)
PCI FireWire Card
256MB RAM

I'm probably going to build the following HTPC next month (these are NOT the lowest prices, just used as a point of reference)
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=150999
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80725-R
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80098-21
http://www.legitreviews.com/article.php?aid=159
add a hard drive, etc.

It should cost me around $600 or so.

Ok, so in both of those systems, what actually captures the video?
I have a standard ATI TV Wonder, I haven't tried, but I doubt it does HD. What do I need for HD?

 

[GamerExpress]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
well considering the comcast DVR is free and does pretty much the same stuff as the others ... i would go with that one.

It's not free. $10 a month last I checked.

 

[tami]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: tami
sweet, rossman... i just want something to hook up to my TV for tv-out, mostly. i'm primarily interested in something that would have a good video card and wireless internet since it would be controlled remotely. the case and mobo combo is probably the primary focus for me though.

Then I would buy an XBOX 360 seriously.

i'm not so sure if an xbox 360 is what i'd look for... it costs more than i'm willing to pay.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers

Originally posted by: RossMAN
tami,

I bought the following HTPC used from another forum member for $200 shipped. I'm actually going to use this as my main computer, not an HTPC. I'm not a gamer so the slower CPU is fine with me. Compact, quiet and cheap is what I was looking for.

Antec Aria case with power supply
MSI KM4M-V MicroATX Socket A (AMD) motherboard
AMD Sempron CPU (2400+)
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9500 AGP Video Card (w/ DVI)
PCI FireWire Card
256MB RAM

I'm probably going to build the following HTPC next month (these are NOT the lowest prices, just used as a point of reference)
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=150999
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80725-R
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80098-21
http://www.legitreviews.com/article.php?aid=159
add a hard drive, etc.

It should cost me around $600 or so.

Ok, so in both of those systems, what actually captures the video?
I have a standard ATI TV Wonder, I haven't tried, but I doubt it does HD. What do I need for HD?

Forgot to mention I have 5 TV tuner cards mostly Hauppauge and 1 HDTV tuner.