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Build Your Own Linux PVR
linuxwrangler writes "A few weeks ago Russell Pavlicek, Infoworld's 'Open Source' columnist mentioned a personal linux video time-shifter (PVR) he built. In response to reader requests he has now posted a page describing the project." Escaping the monthly fees of TiVo is a good motivation -- and the total cost here isn't bad either.
It's curious that there's no reference to Freevo.
MythTV works quite a bit better than this one does. Check it out here.
XMLTV should od the trick.
The recording rate of the TV capture card appears to max out at 15 frames per second. If I were intending to archive these programs forever, I'd probably invest in a better card. But for timeshifting shows like the evening news from France (for my wife) and The Red Green Show (for me), 15 fps is adequate.
15 FPS, I'd hardly call that adequate for 30 FPS NTSC television, but to each his own I suppose.
Use vcr
/dev/video
Here are my settings: (works very well)
[defaults]
quality = 100
keyframes = 15
audiobitrate = 128
framerate = 29.97
audiomode = stereo
resolution = 384x288
codec = DivX 4.0
norm = NTSC
source = Television
grabdevice =
freqtab = us-cable
While the main appeal to most people to purchase a TiVo is its timeshifting ability, there is far more to its featureset than just the way it pauses live TV. Anyone who thinks that TiVo is just a digital VCR hasn't really looked at one closely enough to understand the flexibility that it grants you.
"And I don't like the concept of having my destiny linked with the fortunes of the supplying company. I don't need a US$300 doorstop if the TiVo company should someday fail. Hey, if Enron and Worldcom can end up in the toilet, you have to allow for the fact that no one company will be around forever."
I think TiVo has stated that should they go under, they'd supply the current users with some facility to allow the units to continue to function.
"It should also be capable of creating images that can be burned on Video CDs (VCD)."
This is an ability I know someone has hacked into their TiVo. In addition, the new version of WinDVD allows you to view a stream at 1.2x the speed of broadcast, letting you shave down a 60 minute program to 30 minutes or so (after eliminating commercials).
"My God...It's full of ads!" -Fry, about the Internet, Futurama
Plus it's progressive scan, so actually losing 75% of the original 60 frame interlaced NTSC source. This system was definitely designed by a computer guy, not a video guy (as honorable and deep a form of geekhood as any).
:).
He really wants something that can do interlaced capture, like MPEG-2 or some of the higher profile versions of MPEG-4. I believe this is supported in the current CVS of Xvid, at least experimentally. MPEG-4 would give a LOT smaller file sizes than MPEG-2 at the same quality.
Or, since VCD is his goal, he could capture straight to ffmpeg in a VCD compatible profile. Or use SVCD MPEG-2, which would be higher quality, and could still fit a half-hour show on a 800 MB CD-ROM.
Windows Media 9 has great, free, integrated capture that can do interlaced, but that'd be hardly Linux friendly
My video compression blog
"You could hack the program a bit and add a button that lets you Zap a show to a standard DVD-R."
I know someone who's currently archiving all of his TiVo's shows to his computer and subsequently to VCD/DVD. It takes a bit of know how, but it's already been done for TiVo units.
"You could use NFS and make a similar pc with a WiFi card in it, but minimal hard drive and a TV out card and have the view your recorded shows on any tv. Or start watching it in the living room, pause and go to the bedroom to finish."
I actually do this now, with video and remote sender/receiver units (total about $80), eliminating the cost of
The flipside of the advantages of the homegrown solution is that TiVo has welcomed users hacking their units. This hacker-friendly mentality has snowballed into a large community of customers doing who-knows-what with their units (i.e. getting Caller-ID info on their televisions through the TiVo).
"My God...It's full of ads!" -Fry, about the Internet, Futurama
DirecTivo units, as well as MS's UlitmateTV, can do this now. The disadvantage with the former is that DirecTV is required. I'm not sure about UltimateTV, because, really, I'd rather not...
"My God...It's full of ads!" -Fry, about the Internet, Futurama
TV scheduling data for your cable system is already available on your cable feed ... its called "guide plus" and its available in the same scanline that carries closed caption text. This data is used in some TVs and DVD players that support "guide plus".
If you search google for more info, there are a few resources out there with technical details on how to read this data.
The data includes time, duration, genre, category, and show information.
Skiers and Riders -- http://www.snowjournal.com
Instant TiVO.... Oh wait, for Linux .....
Try, http://gatos.sourceforge.net/ or ftp://ftp.xig.com/pub/3Ddemos/extras/README.xvamp
... Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed...
So if you can't really use a TiVO without a subscription
You can if it's an old enough TiVo. You just need to: A) find one that originally came with 1.3, B) find a 1.3 image you can put onto the drive.
It makes you wonder if these comments were actually posted BY Tivo
No, they were posted by people with a clue.
I would love to purchase or build a PVR. But I have absolutely no interest in adding to my monthly bills
Then you have several choices.
1) Build your own/buy a HTPC solution. Understand that, currently, it's simply not as good - the UI is poor, the scheeduling isn't as good, and it's not as easy to integrate or be used by others. On the upside, it'll be a lot easier to rip digital video for archive purposes than a TiVo (but not a Replay).
2) Buy an old TiVo from eBay, get an image, deal with the annoy screens.
3) Buy a new TiVo, purchase a lifetime subscription. For $250 it's done. You're looking at a sum-total cost of $450 at this moment for a basic TiVo ($200 for the box, $250 for the sub) and that's it.
4) Buy a new DirecTiVo (if you have DirecTV), and if you have the TotalChoice Premier package then the $5/mo fee is waived.
5) Buy a ReplayTV -- the cost of the subscription is included.
In any of the above situations your monthly bills have not changed.
All these comments saying it isnt as good as TiVO are totally off-topic and are just clogging up the discussion
No they're not. If you believe that build-your-own is as good a solution as a TiVo, you're wrong. It's not. The example given in this article isn't even a good implementation -- you can build one that does a helluva lot better job, but it's still not as good.
If you want to talk about paranoia regarding TiVo/Replay "watching you" then that's another thing (not that I buy into the level of paranoia that concerns people). If you want to talk about worrying about the company folding, that's a valid issue as well. But whining about increased monthly fees is just bullshit - it means you haven't done your homework and are talking out of your ass.