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PC based DVR?

1K views 20 replies 11 participants last post by  BottleRocket 
#1 ·
Anyone built their own DVR? Kinda toying with the idea... im with Uverse for like $60/mo but the apt complex offers cable for free w/HBO etc. We got the channel lineup and it has everything we watch... only thing that sucks is ill lose the DVR. :(
 
#7 ·
I use Windows Media Center with an ATI USB Wonder tuner that I paid $20 for off woot. It works great. I can pause/rewind/skip commercials on live tv. It downloads the tv schedule and I can schedule to record.
where do they download the schedule from?

I knew I should have kept my spare computer. :(
 
#10 ·
With Windows Media Center, you enter in your location and it brings a list of possible cable providers. You select from the list and it provides the channel lineup.

I have a HAVA monsoon multimedia box that I use for a tuner. It ties in with Windows media center for DVR funtions or it can stream live over the web. That way if I'm out of town and want to catch the local news or what ever, I can just watch any channel with their software.


They are supposed to be coming out with a new box, but I haven't seen any updates lately.
http://www.monsoonmultimedia.com/
 
#11 ·
If you want to really do it right, keep an eye here:

http://www.cetoncorp.com/index.php

Single card, one Cablecard rental (usually around $3/month), 4 tuners. Setup a Windows Home Group to share out the recorded TV and all computers in the network can watch them (the home group gets you past the DRM). Any XBox 360 on the network can be used as a media center extender. For my home, that makes it work in all rooms (every room has either a computer or xbox, so this arrangement just makes sense for me).

I'm looking into making this a fall project, to give time for the card to be released and get some hardware reviews before I pull the trigger.

For the question about guide data, WMC gets it from zap2it. In my office right now I just plug the coax into a TV, so I use the zap2it website as a TV guide to see what's on.
 
#13 ·
You'd be surprised. From the PC piece, it's as simple as adding a card and one piece of software (the new divx, includes mkv support). It prompts to create a home group, so nothing there. It prompts you when it sees the xboxes on the network, so nothing there. Having the cable company come out for the cablecard is the same as a Tivo, so nothing unique there.
 
#14 ·
Slingbox?
 
#17 ·
Im using Fios... I just havent found another box that I have really liked as much as a Tivo at friends houses. I dont use the recommendation features or anything...just really like how fluid everything is. My first tivo box lasted 5 years and still works but I updated.

I think their prices are a little high, but I get the old grandfathered prices so taht helps.
 
#19 ·
I don't usually read it, but I may pick it up just for the article (I've been keeping an eye on the reviews of the card, which have finally begun trickling now that their supplier has sufficient stocks to begin mass production).

If the FCC would just chill out and not try to force things, it would be a very interesting time for the HTPC. We have very powerful, cheap computers that can handle multiple HD streams. We have a single card that can use a single $3/month card to decrypt 4 simultaneous HD streams (my TWC-supplied DVR can only do two). We have a $49 dongle that turns our iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad into a full-featured touch screen remote. The XBox 360 is cheap (the non-slim Arcade can be had for around $100) and works perfectly as a media center extender (change channels on the central HTPC, modify recordings, etc). Other Win7 boxes can view recorded TV via home groups. I know where my toy money is going for a while!
 
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