Topic: Free TiVo: Build a Better DVR out of an Old PC

[spott]

Nothing new, just a new article... anyone here have one of these get-ups?

http://www.makezine.com/extras/4.html

[Ed.]

i did this when i first got my ati all-in-wonder back in the day.  however, its hard doing it with only one computer.  i think as soon as i build another computer, i'll make my current puter a dvr/media station.

seriously, i think computers as media stations will soon become the norm over the next couple of years.

[dnsacks]

I'm putting one together right now out of a new dell 8400 p3 with 512 mb of ram.

I'm building it to run windows media center edition (MCE) 2005 as mce integrates many of the functions you want really well.  From what I've read, you want a bit of horsepower on the machine to be sure it's not going to hiccup.

I've got mine networked into my upstairs pc so it can share all of the music content I've stored on it (around 500gb right now), etc.

One thing I've read is to keep the dvr setup as "clean" as possible (i.e. don't put any programs onto it that aren't absolutely needed in order to avoid conflicts/instability, etc.).  Mine will basically end up running with the mce software to control video recording, playback, pausing live tv, etc. (using a $90 happague pvr-150) and foobar2000 to handle playing back my shns/flacs.

I'm currently stuck @ properly configuring the video output to the tv (via a dvi connection, I have a 4:3 hdtv monitor) -- using a program called powerstrip to fix overscan issues (can't see the edges of the windows desktop on the tv).  Not hard to do, but I've not had the time to sit down and get everything straight.

Next step will be to throw in a HDTV tuner card (under $150) and start watching/recording over the air hdtv digital tv.

[rustoleum]

I put some time into building mine this weekend:

Laid down Win2k on a PIII-750 w/ 512 MB.

Dropped a couple hard disks in. 

Put a Voodoo 3 in to output directly to a 40" TV via S-Video.

Put a Hauppage PVR-150 in and tested it with a Hi8 camcorder transfer... so far so good.

Then I go to install the IR Keyboard and mouse so I can basically hide the computer and surf the web through the TV from the couch across the room and the driver install killed Win2k... now the damn thing won't reboot with or without the wireless keyboard!

I left this as the last step because I figured installing an IR keyboard would be cake.  Couldn't freaking believe it.   

I'll be running the "Repair" function of the Win2k Setup this evening to hopefully save me from having to reinstall the OS.  Fingers crossed.   Should be pretty sweet once everything is ironed out. 

[dnsacks]

rustoleum -- You should give xp-mce (media center edition) a try -- VERY nice interface for the tv.  Also can skip the keyboard/mouse and access everything through a mce remote (around $30).  McE is built around xp/sp2 and so far has been VERY stable.

[hzgone]

rustoleum -- You should give xp-mce (media center edition) a try -- VERY nice interface for the tv.  Also can skip the keyboard/mouse and access everything through a mce remote (around $30).  McE is built around xp/sp2 and so far has been VERY stable.

I'm going to give this a shot tonight, need to get a nice tv card but i'm going to load the os tonight.  where can you get the remote

[dnsacks]

www.pcalchemy.com -- they sell the mce remote (both the microsoft-branded version and the oem philips model -- MS model is a few $ more, but allows you to re-program the volume buttons to adjust volume on another device (home theater receiver).  Def worth the $ if this is something you'd want to do.

Pcalchemy also sells the hauppague (sp?) pvr-150mce for a real nice price ($64) -- the pvr-150mce is the same as the "normal" pvr-150, except it doesn't include software apps (since it is marketed for win-mce use) and includes a built-in fm tuner (which is accessible via mce) which the normal pvr-150 doesn't include.  NOTE, you'll also need to install dvd decoder software to make this card operational under mce.  I picked up the nvidia dvd-decoder software from pcalchemy.com when buying the pvr-150 -- cost me an additional $10.

[hzgone]

+T thanks for the info

[Ed.]

i got a remote with my ati all-in-wonder, which i think works with all ati cards.  i think they sell them seperate for around $30 on the ati webby.

[admkrk]

just out of curiosity, since i'm aways from getting to this point.   how would all this work w/ a dvb card?

[rustoleum]

I appreciate the advice (+t to all), but I'm back on track.  I downloaded updated drivers from the web site and my IR mouse and keyboard are working as expected. 

I believe MCE is an XP-only program, right?   While I haven't ruled out going to XP, I am trying to get this to work with Win2k at the moment, as I'm more comfortable with it.

Also - I got a remote with my PVR-150... pretty slick little toy.

At this point I'm trying different combinations of mpeg decoders and LiveTV software packages.  GB-PVR looks to be the way to go, but I have not gotten a successfully working installation yet.  I get glimpses and flashes of success that seem to indicate it has the video quality and feature set I want, but it crashes a lot and when I left it last night it was really messed up.  There are a lot of settings in that package, though, so I believe with the right config settings it will work great.  Hauppauge's WinTV works great, but the video quality is not quite as good as the  television.


What are you guys using for PVR software and mpeg decoders?  Are there any options besides MCE (as I believe it is XP-only) that you'd recommend?  Are you using ffdshow or similar software to tweak the decoder output?

Thanks
Rusty

[hzgone]

I'm going to be installing mce 2005 today, but i don't have my pvr card yet so i will let you know how it turns out when i get it