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B04
Premium Member
join:2000-10-28

B04

Premium Member

Sketch Out Basic $0 Home TV/DVR Environment?

With the promise of over the air DTV (though I've yet to get a box) and the economy, I would like to explore how to best approximate or supersede my current home TV setup.

It's really simple; we currently rely entirely on DirecTV's old DirecTivo receivers along with DVD players.

If I were to cancel DirecTV, and I wanted to maintain simplicity at a low cost, what would be a good approach?

Desires:

1. Live TV available to all sets (3).

2. DVR functionality for pausing live TV.

3. Scheduled DVR recording.

4. On screen EPG(s) for Live TV and DVR

Non-essential Nice-To-Haves:

1. Internet streaming such as Hulu, NetFlix, Internet radio, et al.

2. Sharing media across multiple endpoints (watch a show recorded by device A at TV location B).

3. Single unified EPG covering live TV and DVR programs.

4. Non-video media, gaming, etc.

Materials On Hand:

My current DirecTivos won't do OTA, so they become paperweights as far as I know. I do not have a spare P4 or higher machine lying around to serve as a decent media server but could probably put something together. We've got a PS2 and Wii but those are irrelevant as far as I know. There is sufficient coax to run antenna signals to each TV location, and wired and wireless networking is available.

I have been considering getting a couple of refurb XBoxes for $50 and trying XBox Media Center, but for live TV they appear to have murky, streamed support at best (?).

I do not need a huge amount of recording capacity; 2 to 4 hours per set would be fine.

I know there are about a billion programs and devices that allow this, but I'm trying to figure out a very simple and usable design. Something like LinuxMCE or MythTV coupled with the XBoxes? Used laptops without a server? (I'd rather not rely on a single always-on server anyway.)

Anyway, thanks for reading and any suggestions are appreciated.

-- B

rabidmoose
join:2008-12-09
Arvada, CO

rabidmoose

Member

There's a few different ways you could go with this, but first comes an important question:

What's your budget for new gear for this upgrade?
B04
Premium Member
join:2000-10-28

B04

Premium Member

Well, I thought the thread title and body kind of gave that away.

$0 would be best, but failing that I'd rather not spend more than $100 in total, with $200 the high end. Let's assume for the sake of discussion that does not include other items I will acquire including CECB ATSC converter boxes, PCI tuner cards, or a barebones media server or laptop I cobble together. If only 2 of the 3 TVs are serviced, that would be fine. Again, I'm looking for a reasonable game plan more than a laundry list. Thanks...

-- B
russotto
join:2000-10-05
West Orange, NJ

russotto to B04

Member

to B04
Not going to happen. Nothing's free.

The only commercial solution subscription-free solution I know of is the DTVPal DVR. That's $250. A decent mythtv setup will run you more.

rabidmoose
join:2008-12-09
Arvada, CO

rabidmoose to B04

Member

to B04
Well, according to this post at the TiVo forum, it looks like your DirecTV/TiVo boxes will tune OTA without a DirecTV account, and let you pause with a 30 minute buffer. But you can't actually record. At least they wouldn't be totally useless, and you wouldn't be spending any money.

If you can afford it, I'd reccommend getting the DTVPal DVR that russotto mentioned (at $250), and a channel modulator and RF remote extender for it ($80 combined), like the ones I got for myself in this thread (in order to send a mirror of the DVR to the 2nd and 3rd rooms). You can pick up spare Dish remotes for cheap from eBay, etc.

Yes, that's above the budget you mentioned, but you should also consider the money you'll be saving by dropping DirecTV.

Mdoc
Ehh... munch munch... what's up, Doc?
Premium Member
join:2007-03-27
Sterling, VA

1 recommendation

Mdoc to B04

Premium Member

to B04
I wouldn't go OTA yet. I'd take a wait and see attitude. Besides, this DTV thing is delayed again.
B04
Premium Member
join:2000-10-28

B04

Premium Member

Thanks for the replies!

Unfortunately my particular DirecTivos are quite old (e.g., DVR40) and I don't think they have the OTA feature of the model linked above.

How does investing in a DTVPal architecture as described compare to running something like »www.newegg.com/Product/P ··· 15101002 (only $75) along with a cheap old PC? (for example, Geeks.com has a refurb P4, 40 GB, for $89) Wouldn't the latter approach be cheaper and more flexible?

I gather that a single DTVPal can only stream a single recording (or live TV stream) at a time, even though it has two tuners? This would mean I'd want multiple DVR units.

Hmm, at least $500 for two DVRs, so it would take me a year or so to recoup the cost if I canceled satellite. And then I'd be dependent on the good graces of Dish for continued EPG and other functionality. I left them years ago as a provider...

Mulling...

-- B

Thespis
I'm not an actor, but I play one on TV.
Premium Member
join:2004-08-03
Keller, TX

1 recommendation

Thespis to B04

Premium Member

to B04
said by B04:

we currently rely entirely on DirecTV's old DirecTivo receivers
I have a couple of those and miss them a lot! They were a blast to hack. I'm using Verizon's DVR and it just can't compare but the HD is glorious.
I used XBMC for several years and loved it. I didn't use it to record, but for streaming movies and music it rocks! I don't remember ever trying a video format that it wouldn't play. Remember though, you'll need to hack that Xbox either by adding a mod chip or through a software hack that will require a game and some additional hardware so add that to your $50/Xbox figure.
Sounds like a fun project.
B04
Premium Member
join:2000-10-28

B04

Premium Member

Another possible route -- why would I spend $250 per TV for DTVPal when I can get refurb standalone (and hackable) Tivos for $149 or so?

Or perhaps better, some $139 MSI Wind PCs network booting off LinuxMCE or MythTV?

There are so many interesting approaches. I guess that's why I'm asking for advice.

-- B

P.S. I finally found confirmation (?) that live TV works with XBMC as a front end, at least with Myth. »www.mythtv.org/wiki/Xbox ··· Frontend