The VCR is a dinosaur. Enter the PVR, like a VCR, but a lot smarter and it records your TV shows to a hard drive. So what? So, that means you could then save the recordings to a DVD. It also means you can skip ahead instantly, unlike a tape.Want one? You can buy a PVR-in-a-box, buy a cable box with one built in or build your own into a computer - even turn a laptop into a PVR. Unfortunately, the TV industry are as paranoid about the PVR as the music industry is about file sharing. What this means is that commercial PVRs started out having awesome features, but due to pressure from the TV industry - those features are being removed. Unless you build your own. Just thought I'd warn ya.........
More info here, here.
1 comment:
It depends on if you go LINUX or Windows based. I am adding to my Win-based PVR all the time -- at this point, on components the box is at C$1500. But you can build a box for C$650.
The key is a TV tuner card that will do the processing right on the card itself, then the PCs processor is freed up to do other things. The Hauppauge cards are my pick. In my box I have a Hauppauge PVR 150 card and 500MCE card. The 150 comes with an IR Blaster used for satellite or cable boxes will change the channel automatically. The 500MCE card is a dual-tuner card which takes one coax cable input and branches it to the two onboard tuners. Not for use with a sat/cable box.
You should have 1GB RAM, and the more hard drive space the better, especially if you are supporting multiple tuners to record multiple shows simultaneously. Another thing if you are supporting multiple tuners would be to go to a P4 or comparable AMD chip instead of a Celeron and go with at least a 3.0 GHz.
A Video card with TV out (Radeon 7600 or above) is preferable, especially if you plan to output to a TV. Sound card with the appropriate outputs for the exceptional stereo, but if you are not big on hi-fi stereo sound then use a radio shack Y-connector 8 mm to RCA outputs.
Applications to use...if you are on Win-based I would suggest Beyond TV. It costs but you get a good product for the price. Plus they offer a companion link product to stream live or recorded shows to any other network-based PC in the house (wireless or cabled). For Linux based systems, I hear that Myth TV is very good - but make sure you have the patience, and understand the Hardware compatabilities before building and installing the software. The software is free but how much time do you want to spend with setting up the application.
Good luck.
-Spiffiness
P4 3.2GHz, 1GB RAM, 150GB HD, Hauppauge 150 and 500MCE, Shaw Cable Digital Box, ATI Radeon 9600 TV OUT, Beyond TV 3.74 and Beyond TV Link 3.74
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