Setting up a computer as DVR and cable box

[ChimericDream]

My girlfriend and I are looking at ways to save money on some of our bills, and we thought about cutting our cable bill by about $30-40/mo by dropping a few channels we don't watch and building our own DVR instead of renting theirs (for ~$19/mo). I have tons of spare parts around my house, so the only real thing I'd need is a TV tuner card for the computer.

I was just wondering if anyone here had done something similar and what hardware you've found to work well. The computer this will be going into isn't any kind of monster, but it'll run most things decently. All that will be installed is WinXP and whatever software is necessary for watching and recording TV. In addition, we'll be running the cable into the computer then out to the TV instead of watching on a monitor.

Phew. That was a longer explanation than I expected. Anyways, has anyone here done this before? We know the up front cost will put us over our regular monthly bill, but the cost savings in the long run will really be where we'll benefit.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ranger REG]

Building one? Nope.

Searching for one? Yeah.

Not many DVR have digital tuner (in addition to standard analog tuner). I think it's a conspiracy headed by cable and satellite providers to screw antenna fanboys.

 

[Merkuri]

I've heard good things about the Hauppauge cards, and am currently trying to set up a DVR box myself using an old computer I had lying around and a copy of Windows 2000 I *ahem* borrowed from work. For some reason, though, things are not going smoothly. I have a bad feeling it's my computer, though, and not their card. After talking with both the Beyond TV people (the software I bought for the card) and the Hauppauge folks for a few weeks, Hauppauge determined that my card must be bad and asked me to send it back. I did, and got a replacement just last week, but when I plugged it in I had the same problem (blue-screen shortly after I boot up the computer with the card installed). I let them know about it through email and have not heard back yet. I wanted to put the card in a dedicated box, but I may put it in my primary PC, just to see if it's my old computer that's having problems or the card itself.

By the way, TV tuner cards usually do not include any output ports, just input. If you want to play your DVR'd shows on your television you should make sure you have a video card with a TV-Out port. I thought my Hauppauge card came with output ports, but I was mistaken and they were all just different kind of inputs. Luckily for me, I already had a card with a TV-out port so I didn't have to go out and buy something else.

 

[GlassJaw]

You want to check out some sites like this, especially the forums.

http://www.epiacenter.com/

I looked into doing something like this for a while and built a small box for work as a demo. Bottom line: you better have a lot of time to devote to it. It's certainly for the enthusiast crowd only. Better off just paying the cable company IMO.

You might want to take a look at Vista though. It has a lot of this stuff built-in. Microsoft had some pretty wild stuff running at CES. I asked one of the Microsoft reps about how cable companies will look at this and didn't really get a straight answer. Heh.

 

[Umbran]

My girlfriend and I are looking at ways to save money on some of our bills, and we thought about cutting our cable bill by about $30-40/mo by dropping a few channels we don't watch and building our own DVR instead of renting theirs (for ~$19/mo). I have tons of spare parts around my house, so the only real thing I'd need is a TV tuner card for the computer.

Well, be careful there - I haven't done a full search, but I'd expect decent video cards with TV tuners to run $250 dollars or more. So, you may not see any payback from the scheme for a year or more.

Your current DVR costs $19/month? TiVo will give you better than that with a multiple year commitment. And I won't be surprised if you can outright purchase a DVR for something close to the price of that video card. Some more research might be in order to find the best option for you.

 

[ChimericDream]

Well, be careful there - I haven't done a full search, but I'd expect decent video cards with TV tuners to run $250 dollars or more. So, you may not see any payback from the scheme for a year or more.

Your current DVR costs $19/month? TiVo will give you better than that with a multiple year commitment. And I won't be surprised if you can outright purchase a DVR for something close to the price of that video card. Some more research might be in order to find the best option for you.

Well, our current DVR is $14 by itself, since the version with the HDD is also the HighDef version (sux, since we don't have an HDTV), and there's also the "basic" box that is another $4-5/month that we can't take back to them. So we're essentially paying almost $19 for the one box we use and the one that already comes with our cable plan.

We are also looking into buying a standalone DVR unit, since it will probably wind up costing around the same amount. However, the main reason I wanted to go the PC route is that I'd like to be able to keep recorded shows and transfer them to my primary PC for burning onto DVD, and I don't think most DVR boxes have ethernet out. (The one from our cable company has a jack, but it's disabled by the manufacturer... don't even think there's anything on the circuitboard for it.)

 

[GlassJaw]

and I don't think most DVR boxes have ethernet out. (The one from our cable company has a jack, but it's disabled by the manufacturer... don't even think there's anything on the circuitboard for it.)

This is for copyright reasons.

 

[DonTadow]

This is for copyright reasons.

Not neccessarily. Tivo has ethernet, firewire and a list of other ports. I've been told by a marketing rep at comcast that this is because they have not figured out a way to control it and want to "capitalize" on the functionality. WHen I had DVR, my box had everything my tivo box had, but nothing was functional on it.

In anycase, I've done exactly what the OG is trying to do and then some. My project started out as me just wanting a computer in the living room to operate the projector for game. Then we realized the savings all around and had it replace the DVD player and Tivo box in there (I do not believe there is a digital cable tuner program for the computer but i could be wrong.

When building a media system, I'd highly recommend getting a coreduo or core2duo board. This project started out with me using an old athlon board and 1.4 processer with a budget video card. Because of the amount of power it takes to process video, it quickly became evident with me that I needed some new components. Got a geforce 7600gs video card, which handles video well, even when its streaming wirelessly through my network. Also got a 2.2 processer which hasn't given me any problems.

As for the cablebox, we ditched it and went analog in the living room.

 

[GlassJaw]

I've been told by a marketing rep at comcast that this is because they have not figured out a way to control it and want to "capitalize" on the functionality.

Exactly, copyrights.

If the end-user is allowed to download all recorded content to their PC, the service provider will be held libel for copyrights. If they pay licensing fees, they want to pass that cost to the consumer.

Of course there is no model for this currently. If there is, you are essentially looking at a la carte programming, where the consumer chooses (and pays for) only the shows they want.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

My ReplayTV has ethernet. They were way ahead of TiVo in some regards, its a shame they got out of the biz. There is a nice 3rd party java app for it that lets you move stuff to and from your PC, watch stuff from the main unit, etc. And it's free, to boot.

They just came out with Windows software though, that works on XP and Media Center. They have a free eval, too. If it's as good or better than the settop box, I'd think it would be worth looking at. Of course, you need a TV tuner already, but the Hauppage 150s are pretty cheap (<$100).