Technical > Audio/Video Chat > Make your own TiVo

Make your own TiVo

There are a lot of ways to do this Alot will depend on who your cable provider is, what they still provide via analog vs clear QAM vs encrypted QAM.

I went this route:

HD STB from Vz (1080i video output, 5.1 audio over optical)
Hauppauge HD-PVR (connected via component/optical to HD STB)
Media Center PC (connected to HD-PVR via USB)
SageTV PVR software (free guide, software costs $80)
WHS with 7 TB of disk (file server, backup server, and sometimes media streamer over the Internet)
Gigabit LAN

»www.flickr.com/photos/46393384@N···55/show/

My setup isn't cheap but it isn't high-end either. I like it because it's full HD, I can record everything I get normally from Vz FiOS, and it's DRM-free.

A lot of folks are looking forward to the Ceton and SilconDust CableCARD tuners that will work in any Windows 7 system. But DRM will come into play there.

reply to Dude111
The wife hates the DVR from Armstrong so instead of going back to DirecTV, I'm trying to find a good DVR option. Some of the TiVo sets I've looked at look really good, but with the monthly fee, it puts the price too close to DTV. Someone suggested using WMP; maybe, but if I'm going with a PC option, how does SageTV compare with WMP or MythTV?
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RIP my babies Buttons 1/15/94-2/9/07, Beamer 7/24/08, & Bows 12/17/94-10/11/09

WMP as in windows media player? Or do you mean WMC, Windows Media Center?

All three, WMC, SageTV, and MythTV, will provide very similar functionality.

Which one you choose will be somewhat dependent on what you plan to record (SD and HD?) and the source (OTA or cable, and if cable what if anything is not encrypted)

I wanted full 1080i HD on a Windows platform so I went with my set up above. At the time, only SageTV would work with an HD-PVR and only HD-PVR provided for full 1080i recording. There are advantages and disadvantages with my setup but it works for my DVR needs.

reply to Dude111
My mistake, WMC was recommended to me. I need to work with Armstrong and the cable card that was recommended was about $300 for a four tuner card. If they all provide similar functionality why would you pay $80 for SageTV when MythTV is free?
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RIP my babies Buttons 1/15/94-2/9/07, Beamer 7/24/08, & Bows 12/17/94-10/11/09

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reply to tim_k

reply to Dude111
I'd be surprised if we saw CABLECard support for MythTV anytime soon. CableLabs, the owners of the CABLECard technology require a pretty exorbitant licencing fee to develop hardware/software using their tech. Microsoft is happy to subsidize this fee for companies developing for their platform, but Linux/MythTV has no such sugar daddy. Most likely, if it happens, it will be similar to how DeCSS was done for DVDs (ie, someone cracks the encryption). The only problem there is that given the current copyright legal climate, including a circumvention of CABLECard encryption would be begging for a lawsuit.

In the end, its not really a big deal. You can get a great picture/sound using component outputs from your cable box using the Hauppauge HD-PVR (mentioned above). This also lets you access on demand and interactive content, unlike CABLECard.

I don't follow this super well but I read over in the SageTV forums that the new FCC regulation no longer requires that software have the same/any level of certification for devices that are already certified. If that's the case, that's very good news for 3rd-party software PVR developers...

reply to Dude111
I you have to build from scratch and require a cable-card compatable system (encrypted QAM) a Tivo-HD with lifetime subscription is still cheaper.

Plus the Tivo user interface is so simple even my wife can use it.

EDIT: Forgot to add that using Tivo Desktop or the built in web interface you can transfer programs to a PC. Then use Video Redo to remove commercials and burn them to DVD or convert them to mpeg.