Want to build a home brew DVR...

[MTboatguy]

I am tired of paying the darn satellite company their stupid fees for a DVR, I have the machine, now I am looking for the capture card that had TV outputs in addition to inputs and remote control capabilities, has anyone done this? If so, what card are you using, I am going to be setting this up on a Windows 7 Ultimate machine with a P4 2.8 ghz 4 gigs memory and a 1 terrabyte HD. So I know the machine can handle it, just need to get the last piece of the puzzle and there are so many cards out there, it is very confusing.

Thanks in advance.

 

[kei9th]

Re: Want to build a home brew DVR...

if i recall correctly dish network charges to record to hard drive. i dont know who you have but dish network wants money. i dont know if its monthly or a one time fee but i know i have to pay a fee. i also would like to record to hard drive but, another bill to watch tv im getting a little pissed. you find out something id like to know.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Want to build a home brew DVR...

if i recall correctly dish network charges to record to hard drive. i dont know who you have but dish network wants money. i dont know if its monthly or a one time fee but i know i have to pay a fee. i also would like to record to hard drive but, another bill to watch tv im getting a little pissed. you find out something id like to know.

From what I am reading, if you set your own system up on a computer, then they don't have the coding to actually charge you for recording, currently we have been using their DVR which of course is tied into their system, hence we get charged. Now I also have a DVD recorder in the system, I can record directly to DVD from the Satellite with no extra charges, so I am assuming by replacing the DVD recorder with the media center computer, we would still be able to do this without extra charges.

I will be sure to let you know what I find out.

I do have Dish.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Want to build a home brew DVR...

they don't have the coding to actually charge you for recording, currently we have been using their DVR which of course is tied into their system, hence we get charged. Now I also have a DVD recorder in the system, I can record directly to DVD from the Satellite with no extra charges, so I am assuming by replacing the DVD recorder with the media center computer, we would still be able to do this without extra charges.

I will be sure to let you know what I find out.

I do have Dish.

Do you mean you get charged for recording anything off your satellite service, or do you mean you get charged for a PPV movie that you select ....and then record?
I have always thought that our cable and sat guys up here get you every which way.(and they do)

This is one even they haven't pulled....yet :facepalm:

 

[rogerwa]

Re: Want to build a home brew DVR...

This could get difficult due to the satallite box.. You will need to attach your capture card to the output of the satallite box and if you want automated recording, will need to setup an ir blaster to change the channels on the sat box prior to recording the output stream. I am not familiar with what you are using, but you need to know what is coming out of the sat box. Analog or digital as that will determine what capture device you use.

Also, what software were you thinking about using? If you want to stay on MS OS take a look at BeyondTV as a DVR application. I am running my own homebuilt DVR running Mythbuntu with three HD tuners and 2.5tb of disk. It is fully remote controlled and sits in my entertainment center as a dedicated HTPC.

Depending on what stream you are capturing will drive what card would be best. For an NTSC or analog stream you will want on-board encoding so that you don't bury your CPU encoding the analog signal to a digital file (I used the Hauppauge WinTV 150 or 500). For an ATSC or digital stream, these are pretty simple as they just capture an already encoded stream to disk (I would recommend the HD Homerun).

 

[Tahorover]

Re: Want to build a home brew DVR...

Have you been here:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/home-entertainment-pcs/

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Want to build a home brew DVR...

You need to go here:

http://www.mythtv.org/

 

[sprintst]

Re: Want to build a home brew DVR...

I ran Mythtv for years and have recently switches over to Windows 7 Ultimate.

I have a Hauppage PVR-350 card that takes the input that has been split coming out of the cable box. I have a set of cables that take output out of the cable box and sends one set to the pvr-card in the pc and one set out to my Denon receiver. When I record the pc records anything coming out of the cable box and can play it as another source into the receiver.

I need to switch to a better video capture card that can record in true hd but the setup works rather well and switches channels to record, etc. The Windows 7 setup was as easy as could be and picked up the video capture card and installed drivers with no problems. I also have a wireless remote and keyboard so I can use the pc to browse the internet on the big screen led.

MythTV was great but you do have to do some manual entires into the Linux side for it to pickup addresses, etc for the Hauppage card and any other new devices you add. I wanted to dumb it down a bit and just let the pc install the software for me versus fighting looking for drivers etc on the linux side.

Both work well but it depends on where you are comfortable on the tech side of things.

 

[duke33]

Re: Want to build a home brew DVR...

Good info. Thanks.

 

[CheckFire]

Re: Want to build a home brew DVR...

Have you looked to see if your ISP provides news groups ?

If they do , you can use some indexing sites and software to grab
the shows you want.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Want to build a home brew DVR...

Thanks for the idea, but you guys do realized this thread over a year old, the situation has been solved quite a few months ago.

Thanks again.