OT?? - Home made PVR

Colleagues,

As we have discussed on previous threads, it simply isn't possible to buy
the PVR that a number of us want. That is, a Hummy/Toppy with a DVD
recorder/player included. The DVD recorder would allow archiving of stuff
off the hard disk onto DVDs, and would also act as your DVD player.

However, I suspect that you could achieve all of that and more by building
your own, based on a PC running Windows XP or Vista, probably using Windows
Media Centre.*

Has anyone here done that, or knows all about it? What are the issues to be
considered? What kind of spec PC would be required to cope with the
workload. Any issues about the choice of graphics card or sound
chipset/card?

All thoughts welcome.

Steve


*I seem to think you must fiddle with the registry to allow WMP to recognise
more than two tuners (so we can record two and watch a third, or maybe have
a couple of Freeview tuners plus a couple of satellite tuners, too).

Owain wrote:

Steve Thackery wrote:
However, I suspect that you could achieve all of that and more by building
your own, based on a PC running Windows XP or Vista, probably using Windows
Media Centre.*

Or Linux and MythTV...

Or a MacMini, Toast and EyeTV, plus as many USB DVB-T sticks as you care
to add.


Peter

"Steve Thackery" wrote in message
news
Colleagues,

As we have discussed on previous threads, it simply isn't possible to buy
the PVR that a number of us want. That is, a Hummy/Toppy with a DVD
recorder/player included. The DVD recorder would allow archiving of stuff
off the hard disk onto DVDs, and would also act as your DVD player.

However, I suspect that you could achieve all of that and more by building
your own, based on a PC running Windows XP or Vista, probably using
Windows Media Centre.*

Has anyone here done that, or knows all about it? What are the issues to
be considered? What kind of spec PC would be required to cope with the
workload. Any issues about the choice of graphics card or sound
chipset/card?

All thoughts welcome.

Steve


*I seem to think you must fiddle with the registry to allow WMP to
recognise more than two tuners (so we can record two and watch a third, or
maybe have a couple of Freeview tuners plus a couple of satellite tuners,
too).

I remember reading a review of this Antec case
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/129280...roduct_reviews and some guy had
Win Media Centre, twin digital tuners, two 250GB SATA drives and a DVD
burner in it. He reckoned it was brilliant but for some reason, I can't find
it now. Anyway, it's do-able.

John

In message , Steve Thackery
writes
Colleagues,

As we have discussed on previous threads, it simply isn't possible to buy
the PVR that a number of us want. That is, a Hummy/Toppy with a DVD
recorder/player included. The DVD recorder would allow archiving of stuff
off the hard disk onto DVDs, and would also act as your DVD player.

However, I suspect that you could achieve all of that and more by building
your own, based on a PC running Windows XP or Vista, probably using Windows
Media Centre.*

Has anyone here done that, or knows all about it? What are the issues to be
considered? What kind of spec PC would be required to cope with the
workload. Any issues about the choice of graphics card or sound
chipset/card?

All thoughts welcome.

Steve


*I seem to think you must fiddle with the registry to allow WMP to recognise
more than two tuners (so we can record two and watch a third, or maybe have
a couple of Freeview tuners plus a couple of satellite tuners, too).


http://www.nebula-electronics.com/in....asp?Code=0603
--
Ian

"Owain" wrote in message
...
Steve Thackery wrote:
However, I suspect that you could achieve all of that and more by
building your own, based on a PC running Windows XP or Vista, probably
using Windows Media Centre.*

Or Linux and MythTV...

Owain

Or GBPVR from http://www.gbpvr.com/ - much better IMO

"Steve Thackery" wrote in message
news
Colleagues,

As we have discussed on previous threads, it simply isn't possible to buy
the PVR that a number of us want. That is, a Hummy/Toppy with a DVD
recorder/player included. The DVD recorder would allow archiving of stuff
off the hard disk onto DVDs, and would also act as your DVD player.

However, I suspect that you could achieve all of that and more by building
your own, based on a PC running Windows XP or Vista, probably using
Windows Media Centre.*

Has anyone here done that, or knows all about it? What are the issues to
be considered? What kind of spec PC would be required to cope with the
workload. Any issues about the choice of graphics card or sound
chipset/card?

All thoughts welcome.

Steve


Exactly why I started using a PC - there is nothing else that comes close to
all the features it offers.
You don't need anything remarkable to run a HTPC -all you need is one or
more DVB-T tuner cards / USB devices. So long as one of the cards is
Hauppage with their 45-button remote control, as this remote is then used to
play all your media & can be customised to run anything you want. Then for
the software I use the FREE gbpvr media center from http://www.gbpvr.com/
It's a fully functional media center so not only do you get the usual
time-shift, record one watch another etc, but you can also watch all your
videos (XviD, DivX , DVD, WMV etc), play all your music,
view photos...
The EPG has series link, so you can easily record a series. I also use mine
for high-def content (720P) - some countries already get high-def DVB-T. UK
lagging behind in this respect! The PC does a good job of upscaling
everything - Freeview looks much better from my PC than through the scart,
on an LCD panel.
You can connect to GBPVR from any other PC and set recordings & view your
media. gbpvr supports any number of tuners, only limit is physical slots and
processing power (though cannot imagine why you would want to record more
than two channels and watch another!)
Resulting MPEG2 recordings can be easily edited / transcoded or saved to
DVD. And all files can be
shared on a home network.Hardware used seems to start at Celeron 1Ghz and
Nvidia TNT, but if you are going to use High-def 720p then you would
definately need a newer card that does hardware H264 acceleration. I would
have a browse through the forums at gbpvr to get a feel for it.
GTS

Great advice - many thanks, everyone.

Steve