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Replacing Your Tired Old DVR

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the still-like-my-tivo dept.

An anonymous reader wrote to mention a C|Net article about a possible replacement for the DVR. Called RS-DVR, it allows customers to record shows on centrally located business-owned servers. From the article: "One uncertainty is reaction to Cablevision's service by programming networks, which have bristled at some of the cable industry's previous attempts to record shows on their systems before negotiating new broadcasting rights. Cablevision argues nothing will be recorded on its network unless the viewer orders it from the remote control--an important difference from other failed experiments. Earlier controversies had centered on Time Warner Cable's aborted Maestro service, which had proposed to automatically store programs on its network so viewers could order up just about any show that had been previously broadcasted." There are a number of possible media ownership issues here, I think. Personally, I'm happy having the shows right here on a hard drive in my home.

5 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. My DVR is MythTV by drewzhrodague · · Score: 4, Informative

    My DVR is KnopMyth, a MythTV Knoppix distro. Why would I want to replace it? No DRM, works great, and I can burn shows I like onto DVD. I recommend this to everyone interested in a DVR.

    --
    Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
    1. Re:My DVR is MythTV by drewzhrodague · · Score: 2, Informative

      Looking back, I wish I got the PVR-500 -- or whichever model it was that has two cable tuners on the one card. THis would have been better -- imagine watching a show while two others are recording... I managed to get a PVR-150, an old 750Mhz machine, and an NVidia card with TV out (which was a low-end card, not a nice one). The PVR-150 came with a remote control, which took prolly half an hour to figure out how to setup with lirc. Otherwise, I've been just psyched to be able to watch old ST:TNG reruns whenever I want. If you have a nice livingroom, I'd suggest a nice chassis for the machine. I have a tower tucked behind a corner, which works fine, and isn't too obtrusive. It also gives me something to tuck the wires behind =_)

      --
      Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
    2. Re:My DVR is MythTV by fatray · · Score: 2, Informative

      oops! I clicked Submit instead of preview. Anyway that's the link to the myth hardware page (http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-3.html#ss 3.1). I would suggest going to at least 512M and to get a faster processor than you really think you need to allow for growth, addition of HDTV, etc. You will also probably want to reformat some of your recordings and that is happier on a faster processor. I use a athlon xp 2800+ and it is OK.

      I think most people will want 2 capture devices--watching one thing and recording another is normal, right? That makes the Hauppaugge very attractive.

      You will need more disk capacity than you imagine. Set up with LVM and it is easy to expand.

      If you prefer Fedora to Knoppix, look here: http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/fcmyth.php

  2. Re:Overreacting a bit, I think by SydShamino · · Score: 2, Informative

    I dunno, my DVR was free with a 2-year satellite committment, which has since run out, so it's all mine.

    And if I wished to torture myself with last night's episode of American Idol, and for some reason I hadn't programmed my own DVR (or told my cable company to record it for me), I'd look for it on iTunes for just $2 once, not pay $10 a month.

    --
    It doesn't hurt to be nice.
  3. Re:mp3.com by matthewd · · Score: 2, Informative

    IIRC, my.mp3.com gave subscibers access to a library of CDs that they had ripped after you "showed" them that you had that CD. Somewhat like a music storage locker where you didn't need to rip and upload the content. On their system, there was one copy of each song. "Oh, you've got that CD? We'll let you stream it from our server." You put your CDs in your computer and their app identified them and granted you access. At least one of the legal issues IIRC was that mp3.com's ripping of the CDs was not covered under fair use.

    The server based DVR is supposed to record a separate copy of each show for each customer. If 1000 people want the latest episode of "The Sopranos", then 1000 individual copies are made. Inefficient, but good if you're invested in hard drive manufacturer stock. So it is different in the sense that the users are initiating the copying, and they each have their own individual copy.