Home Brew PVR

[Puppysmith]

Has anyone built one? I have a couple of computers that I would like to convert.

 

[bungle]

Yeah, GB-PVR on Win2K. I also had MythTV working to compare. GB-PVR is pretty easy to get going if you have Windows and hardware that's supported (big list, so no worries). I hear getting Myth running with the latest Ubuntu is also very easy. Myth has better support for multiple frontends running off a back end. However, there's a device called the MediaMVP by Hauppauge that is a much easier solution than getting video to multiple TVs, and it's supported by GB-PVR and MythTV, but the GB-PVR support is better. It only does SDTV, though. I believe Sage supports it, too, but Sage is commercial. There's some pretty good forums for the topic, like byopvr.com, and the Myth and GB-PVR forums.

 

[ericj]

The MVP is worthless (or at least a cheezy hack) if you want to watch anything but mpeg2.

 

[bungle]

Not so. I can watch mpeg4, it just has to transcode it first. But hardware SDTV PVR cards record to mpeg2, so the MVP plays them beautifully. Also, it is a hardware decoder, so it uses a fraction of the electricity of a full PC, with better quality, and a smaller footprint. It comes with a remote with no fuss. It plays mp3 and net radio, views pictures, and you can watch live TV with timeshifting. With GB-PVR it is very full featured, especially if your needs are listening to music, managing the recording schedule, and watching recorded programs. There's plugins for Sudoku, the weather, GMail, etc. If all you want to do is watch downloaded AVIs from the internet then it's not as good. The Hauppauge software sucks, too, but you don't need it if you use GB-PVR or MVPMC. With MVPMC you can play FLAC and also play media with UPnP or NFS so you don't even have to have a PC on, just a NAS or something. Hardly worthless.

 

[bebanovich]

I messed around with a bunch of the freebies and some trial versions about 2 years ago. I finally decided (and am now even more convinced) that SageTV was worth the investment - especially considering my wife is using it as much as I am.

Despite its commercial status, it's worth a close look at the software and the accompanying community that actively develops all sorts of add-ons.

Once the fun of tinkering lost its luster, I just wanted something that works and keeps the wife happy. She loves the fact that she can watch from anywhere over the internet via her MacBook.

I like the thread, but shouldn't this be in the lounge?