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Build Your Own DVR

Posted by timothy on from the no-build-mine dept.

prostoalex writes "If you have an old computer that had been laying around for a while and are ready to spend a bit on hardware to make into a Digital Video Recorder, this article from Make magazine contains a step-by-step guide on building one. The author spent $150 on TV card and $70 on BeyondTV PVR software." (And with a Linux-friendly capture card, MythTV would save the builder $70.)

6 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. More than $70... by jmcneill · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The author spent $150 on TV card and $70 on BeyondTV PVR software." (And with a Linux-friendly capture card, MythTV would save the builder $70.)

    Lets not forget the license fee for Windows XP -- that's significantly more than $70, I'm sure.

    1. Re:More than $70... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Had you read the article, you would have learned that he had an "extra" license for Win 2000, and that is what he used. He mentioned upgrading to XP, but said that he didn't.

  2. The idea has some merit, but... by holyshitholyshit · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1. an old computer is going to be a big hulking mess compared to a DVR

    2. the DVR will use much less wattage

    3. the DVR doesn't cost much more anyway

  3. PC-based DVRs have massive drawbacks... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1. an old computer is going to be a big hulking mess compared to a DVR
    2. the DVR will use much less wattage
    3. the DVR doesn't cost much more anyway

    Amen, thank you.

    If I could get a DVR for the price of TV card + the software, and no more hassle, I'd buy one.

    In fact, it would solve the problem of getting digitised programs off a standalone DVR. However, as this would require leaving my computer all the time (wattage, noise), and more importantly, restrict what I can do with it (bad enough if you use Windows and want decent recording quality- means you can't run game X when your favorite program is on; I run Linux, and not being able to boot into that at will is a killer, straight off, for me).

    The 'old computer' is, as you say, still going to be bulky and noisy (and ugly), and quite honestly, if you want analog recording, you're going to need a pretty decent machine to capture at full resolution. The only machine I can dedicate to this (I use my laptop as a wireless X server for my main machine) is my old Pentium-233. *Way* too slow...

    So, buy a new PC. Cheap one? Still noisy, bulky, and power hungry; and no cheaper than a standalone box, if slightly more flexible.

    Shuttle-type case (nano-ATX where the *hell* are you?); getting expensive, and I'd have to start questioning the merit of not just getting a standalone DVR.

    For me, the latter are likely to come down in price to mass-market breakthrough price by the end of the year; the main problem is getting the video off them. But that in itself isn't enough to persuade me to spend more on the 'cheap' option of a new PC.

    On the other hand, maybe I just don't care enough about TV to consider the ultimate flexibility that a new nano-PC based solution would give to be worth the money. I'll wait for my cheap off-the-shelf box and use my VHS recorder in the meantime.

    1. Re:PC-based DVRs have massive drawbacks... by The+Vulture · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Some people like the simplicity and cheapness of a commerically available DVR. Some people prefer to build their own. I say, to each their own. Building a DVR isn't for everybody, and it can be quite expensive.

      My reasons for building my own (using MythTV):
      1. I can put in multiple tuners. Two tuner units came out six months ago at best, if my memory serves me correctly. I've been using two tuners for over a year now, and I now have three tuners in my machine (a PVR-250 and a PVR-500). This is very convenient when there's three shows on at the same time that I want to watch. (A typical Tuesday night at the moment has Law and Order: SVU, The Shield and Masterminds all on at the same time, 10PM). The scheduler in MythTV can accomodate that fairly well with only one or two tuners, mind you.
      2. The user interface on a lot of the DVRs that come from the cable companies is awful. It's slow, full of ugly colors, and unstable
      3. I use my MythTV machine as my file server as well. So, I was going to have the PC on 24/7 anyway.
      4. MythTV plays back DVDs also, not many DVRs currently do that.
      5. I have complete control over the unit. I can skip commercials at will. I don't have to worry about my DVR expiring shows on me (except when I run out of disk space). My demographics aren't sent to some company. My DVR doesn't pop up ads on me.

      I picked MythTV because it met my needs. If a Windows program worked well for me, then I would have used that, just to make it simple.

      -- Joe

    2. Re:PC-based DVRs have massive drawbacks... by kfhickel · · Score: 5, Interesting

      wrong, wrong, wrong.

      The power of a PC based DVR (I use BeyondTV myself even though I have a linux server in the house too), is not that you put one next to every TV. That would be "stupid". Instead, you put one in the basement where you don't care if it's noisy, then you put a $90 MediaMVP box from Hauppage on each TV, and wire it to a switch.

      Compare that to putting a TIVO on 4 TV's, even if you get the box for free, it's $1200 for the lifetime guide access (which is free with BeyondTV), and then more money if you want the home networking option so that you can move programs from one TIVO to another.

      Now, my setup cost more than $1200 (but not that much more), but then my BeyondTV machine is also my X-10 house controller machine, is a 3.2ghz p4 hyperthreaded with 1gb of 800mhz dual channel ram, a 100gb 7200rpm disk for the OS and 4 seagate ata133 7200rpm 300gb drives in a stripe set for the data volume. It's also my backup server. And I can watch any program from any TV in the house.

      I've got right aroun $1500 in the machine, including the OS and software licenses and 4 MediaMVP boxes for a total cost (not including network switches, etc) of $1820 (I got a deal on the MVPs) for 4 TVs, and I could have another TV for free if I put the server next to a TV.

      4 TIVOs would cost more like $2000 (200/box plus 300 guide fee) and would have a lot fewer features and much less storage, and some amount more for the networking option.

      So....