MythTV or other DIY DVR's (geek stuff)

[Rusted]

Any of you guys messed around with MythTV or any other version of a DIY DVR? I think I have enough computer parts laying around to put together a DVR, the fastest spare CPU is a ~733mhz, so that may be the wink link. Anyone have experience of what works and what does not work? The only part I am missing is a tuner card, and I was looking at the hauppauge 250 since is should work with linux and windows.

 

[mbryson]

I know nothing but am interested.......(showing my 'geekness')

 

[Herzog]

Wow... I'm going to look into this. Great idea.

 

[Rusted]

Start here, just like I am a web wheeler, right now I am a wanna be web tivoer

http://www.mythtv.org/ (for info on mythtv)

http://www.byopvr.com/ (a forum for information)

http://www.hauppauge.com/ (for a WinTV-PVR-250)

Other cards will work, but these seem to be the one the rest are compared to. you can find cheap cards but they don't have built in hardware mpeg2 encoding. If you have a fast cpu that may not matter. With a slower computer you will need a built in mpeg2 encoder like the 250 or 350 so it is not such a CPU intensive process

Also I built a Fedora 4 box, then followed the instructions here ( http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/ ) for setting it up. I am not real strong with Linux, but I got it working pretty quick. I have the software running, and the menus are easy to navigate, I just need the hardware now (I think that is all I need).

I still need to figure out how to get the xml feeds to load so I have the tv guide services, and I want to figure out how to keep it from recording the comercials. In the software there is a check box to configure that part, but from reading it sounded like there was a big setup for that

Well now you are all caught up with where I am. If anyone has some experience or can field some Linux questions I will be sure to say thanks when it is working



PS if you find better info post it up.

 

[Meat_]

I've had an ATI All In Wonder ever since they first came out (Rage 128 16MB), I currently have a 9800pro AIW. I use the ATI software to cap though, I've tried other programs (not the one you're talking about) and didn't like any of them.

I generally cap in full 8Mb .mp2 then either burn to dvd or convert to DivX/Xvid depending on what I want to do with it.

 

[Bone Down]

friend and I have been messing around with one with twin 250GB HD's, bought a sweet case that looks just like a rack stereo case with remote.

Also to make things fun and to surf the net via TV if desired, remote keyboard and mouse as well.

so far my buddy is messing with it more than I am, but once the working combo is figured out, I will build mine.

I will let you know once we figure out the winning combo.

 

[DevinB]

Why not just buy a Tivo? I got the unit (ha ha, I said 'unit') for $3 (after shipping) and pay $7/month for it. And last night I upgraded to a 200 gig hard drive for five times the original storage.

 

[Herzog]

Why not just buy a Tivo? I got the unit (ha ha, I said 'unit') for $3 (after shipping) and pay $7/month for it. And last night I upgraded to a 200 gig hard drive for five times the original storage.

I'm a DVR idiot so I have some questions. My parents are looking into getting Tivo or something similar. Is it a subscriptions service, or can you plug the thing into your existing service and record at will?

 

[Caleb]

I'm a DVR idiot so I have some questions. My parents are looking into getting Tivo or something similar. Is it a subscriptions service, or can you plug the thing into your existing service and record at will?

most (including Tivo) are subscription based. If you build a MythTV setup or something similar then it will only cost you the hardware costs. They can then plug that into their existing service and record. I use two different setups at my house, the Dish Network service for $5 a month and I have an encoder I can hook-up to my mac that will hook-up to either my cable service or my satellite service and costs nothing.

 

[Herzog]

most (including Tivo) are subscription based. If you build a MythTV setup or something similar then it will only cost you the hardware costs. They can then plug that into their existing service and record. I use two different setups at my house, the Dish Network service for $5 a month and I have an encoder I can hook-up to my mac that will hook-up to either my cable service or my satellite service and costs nothing.

Is it the type of subscription that you can pretty much get anywhere, or do you have to be within certain locations? So as long as you have cable, you can get tivo?

I'm thinking about building myself a MythTV setup as well.

 

[Caleb]

anthoer thing, the hauppauge 250 or 350 are good cards...my bro has two 350s in his homebuilt tivo but just recently they both died (they were both a couple years old and have been used in his tivo continously for that entire time). Something to consider is if its hooked up to one of your main tvs then you will want the ability to watch one thing while another is recording (trust me on this) so you have to either get two tuner cards or get something like the hauppauge 500 which has dual tuners on it. Also, just make sure you have TONS of hard drive space, you'll be surprised how quickly you can eat-up your storage. The Hauppauge cards tend to be the best supported in the MythTV, also if you go with Windows Media Center they are supported very well in there too.

 

[Caleb]

Is it the type of subscription that you can pretty much get anywhere, or do you have to be within certain locations? So as long as you have cable, you can get tivo?

I'm thinking about building myself a MythTV setup as well.

I've never really checked into the subscription but I am 99% sure you can get it anywhere you have a phone line. The one thing I do know about the subscription service is its for the ONE receiver. If your receiver dies for whatever reason and you get a new one you have to get a new subscription. Doesn't sound like a huge deal unless you've paid for the lifetime subscription cause it wont carry over to a new receiver.

The only issue we've (my bro and I) have had with MythTV is some formatting issues. The menu systems dont all fit on the screen TV screen, not a huge issue and it may be corrected by now (this was all about a year and a half ago) and MythTV is by far the cheapest solution

 

[Bone Down]

I am not sure about the others, but I don't want to pay another service, just to record shows and have them track every thing I TIVO, remember Janet Jackson’s famous wardrobe failure?? I recall an announcement within moments of that occurring that stated that particular part of the super bowl had been rewound and previewed some several million times.

I don't like people tracking everything that I view, it is bad enough with computers and charge cards tracking you everything, so I would like to keep it to a minimum.

My thoughts on this was I could have a full on home entertainment unit that I could serve up MP3's on the network so that myself, my father, and my kids could all listen to music in their rooms and manage their own music lists on PC's and MP3 players.

I can also dump in 5 300GB HD's and start converting my DVD collection into MPEG4 and have a full on digital DVD library.

Using the Linux route I can add other options such as FTP server so that I can do large file sharing with close friends and relatives.

More options with the DIY than the off the shelf brands, I can also add a DVD +/- r/rw and not be limited to what the off the shelf manufacturer has to sell me.

By building it myself, when things go wrong I can fix it myself, and not have to send it in somewhere, or better yet find out that it is out of warranty and then have to buy another one.

With the TV guide service I can record my shows for later viewing, I can surf the net from my couch if I want to look something up real quick.

And the software is free on the net, and you build it out of off the shelf pc hardware.

Once my friend and I figure out the winning setup, we will both build dual processor units with at least 1GB ram or more.

I think with all the off the shelf DVR's coming out that do not require a monthly pay service Tivo's days are numbered.

 

[DevinB]

For Tivo, it has to be hooked up to the internet or a phone line. Every couple of days it has to call home to update it's TV schedule and update any new software that comes out. Tivo can be plugged into your cable without a subscription, but it will have to be manually set to record, like a VCR. With the subscription, you can set season passes and wishlists. A season pass is where you can tell it to record a certain show, and it will automatically record it, regardless of the time or channel it's on. As far as I know, the satellite DVRs won't do this, you can only set a time and channel. A wish list is where you can look up any one actor or subject, and anything that fits the description will be recorded. For example, if you type in Charlize Theron, anything with her name will be recorded, whether it's a movie or on Oprah.

 

[Brad J]

As far as I know, the satellite DVRs won't do this, you can only set a time and channel.

Actually my DVR does.

 

[Bone Down]

For Tivo, it has to be hooked up to the internet or a phone line. Every couple of days it has to call home to update it's TV schedule and update any new software that comes out. Tivo can be plugged into your cable without a subscription, but it will have to be manually set to record, like a VCR. With the subscription, you can set season passes and wishlists. A season pass is where you can tell it to record a certain show, and it will automatically record it, regardless of the time or channel it's on. As far as I know, the satellite DVRs won't do this, you can only set a time and channel. A wish list is where you can look up any one actor or subject, and anything that fits the description will be recorded. For example, if you type in Charlize Theron, anything with her name will be recorded, whether it's a movie or on Oprah.

Yah the newer DVR's do this as well recording a whole season and the by the actor route as well, and the Myth TV does this too, and your correct some are still having issues with satellite, with digital cable they have the TV Guide service, im guessing same idea as Tivo.
I want to be clear I am talking stand alone DVR's not the ones that come with your satellite service package.

I am talking about DVR's such as this one (Pioneer DVR-533H-S) and others like it, here is a quick list with reviews. for those of you not wanting to build your own, but would like to know more about what options you have out there.

I have to admit though, Tivo did do the ground breaking on this, until I heard of Tivo the whole DVR thing for TV shows was not really a big deal.

 

[Caleb]

For Tivo, it has to be hooked up to the internet or a phone line. Every couple of days it has to call home to update it's TV schedule and update any new software that comes out. Tivo can be plugged into your cable without a subscription, but it will have to be manually set to record, like a VCR. With the subscription, you can set season passes and wishlists. A season pass is where you can tell it to record a certain show, and it will automatically record it, regardless of the time or channel it's on. As far as I know, the satellite DVRs won't do this, you can only set a time and channel. A wish list is where you can look up any one actor or subject, and anything that fits the description will be recorded. For example, if you type in Charlize Theron, anything with her name will be recorded, whether it's a movie or on Oprah.

The satellite ones can do the "season pass" type thing, I can set it to record Simpsons and no matter the channel it will record it. I can't set it to a certain actor though.

I'm with Bone Down though, why pay for another service contract, our lives are ran by service contracts when its so easy to build it yourself. I should also mention that the $5 for the dish DVR is for the extra receiver not the tivo function.

 

[Herzog]

I have a box that I currently use for network accessed media storage... problem is that it's only a 333mhz w/ 128Mb of RAM, so I can't really expect to use that as a DVR as well... I guess I'll start collecting more parts for a DVR.

Thanks for the info guys.