Author Topic: Best DVR option? (Read 701 times)

rabbidrabbit · « **on:** December 20, 2006, 02:21:28 PM »

OK,

We lost power for nearly a week and now my Tivo is toasty. It is the old series 1 with life time transferable warranty so maybe a series 3 is my best choice. What about Mythtv? Other options?

Any ideas on an integrated home entertainment option?

Ripsnort · « **Reply #1 on:** December 20, 2006, 02:24:03 PM »

I'm very happy with Dish TV and their DVR.

Chairboy · « **Reply #2 on:** December 20, 2006, 02:35:22 PM »

I use a ReplayTV at home and love it. I'm planning on setting up MythTV on a spare computer to try out in the near future because it will do the automatic commercial skipping (fully automatic, no interaction required, like my ReplayTV) and can record HDTV over firewire from my Comcast box (local channels aren't encrypted).

If you have a PC you can use for an experiment, and it's at least a ghz and has video capture, it might be worth a shot. The Mythdora ISO is a neat way to get all set up by just burning a CD and letting it install itself.

rabbidrabbit · « **Reply #3 on:** December 20, 2006, 02:39:54 PM »

live on a lake with lots of tall trees... = dish not so good option.

I hated the DVR interface on Comcast. Is it better? Even if my box is a hulk its worth quite a bit with the lifetime service.

The question is what is my best multiroom multimedia option. I like the Tivo interface and it does offer a (slingbox) multiroom option. I'm wondering if any opensource options like MythTv are better or if anything else will beat the Tivo option.

indy007 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 20, 2006, 02:42:59 PM »

I took the laziest route possible. I got the one that comes with Time Warner service for an extra $5/month. Worked perfect so far, usb & firewire ports for extra storage, high def capable, etc, etc.

If you want a totally integrated option though, a media center PC is a fun way to go. It can easily function as your Tuner/DVR/DVD player/Home Stereo all in one box. Spend alittle more and you can go with Creative Labs audio kit and have a THX certified 7.1 system for far, far less than you'd pay anything else that's THX certified.

Chairboy · « **Reply #5 on:** December 20, 2006, 02:54:36 PM »

One nice thing about MythTV is that it's designed to serve content to multiple televsions/rooms. The only requirement is a PC, and the playback machines need just about nothing in terms of CPU power because they don't have to encode. I think there are people using 200-300mhz machines as media terminals to feed their TVs and not seeing any performance problems. This is nice (imho) over Slingbox because you might be able to extend your media to other rooms without buying any equipment (if you already have or can get ahold of some cheap computers).

Also, the full interface of MythTV is available on all the remote stations, so you'd be able to do all the weather viewing, web browsing, music browsing, etc from anywhere.

I'm doing my setup when I upgrade my gaming PC (an Athlon XP2400 I think, it's been so long). I'll put the Athlon w/ its memory and a Hauppage card I got from a friend downstairs and have it recording normal TV from my cable box and local HDTV over firewire. I'll use a VGA->DVI adapter to get an HD signal to my HDTV, I'll use the DVD-ROM drive to play movies (the MythTV DVD playback program will do nice things like skip all the "Yarrr, piracy off the port bow" warnings at the beginning of the disk and just start playback immediately). An IR receiver is cheap, so I'll just use my remote that I'm comfortable and probably train it to use my existing ReplayTV commands.

I'll put a cheapo PC in the bedroom if I get around to it.

Another nice thing, I'll be able to playback all the media content on my PC without any extra effort.

Well, that's the dream on paper. When I actually do the project, I'll report back here if anyone is interested to hear how it actually goes.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #6 on:** December 20, 2006, 03:08:54 PM »

Chairboy, according the the MythTV guys.

"For a good MythTV experience, you must understand that MythTV exercises your hardware more than a typical desktop. Encoder cards generate DMA across the PCI bus. The CPU is busy encoding / decoding video. Hard drives are constantly reading and writing data. Building a MythTV system on older / "spare" hardware may be an exercise in frustration and can waste many hours of valuable time."

Later in the same docs:

"A PIII/733MHz system can encode one video stream using the MPEG-4 codec using 480x480 capture resolution. This does not allow for live TV watching, but does allow for encoding video and then watching it later.

A developer states that his AMD1800+ system can almost encode two MPEG-4 video streams and watch one program simultaneously.

A PIII/800MHz system with 512MB RAM can encode one video stream using the RTjpeg codec with 480x480 capture resolution and play it back simultaneously, thereby allowing live TV watching.

A dual Celeron/450MHz is able to view a 480x480 MPEG-4/3300kbps file created on a different system with 30% CPU usage.

A P4 2.4GHz machine can encode two 3300Kbps 480x480 MPEG-4 files and simultaneously serve content to a remote frontend. "

Just FYI.

EDIT: Keep in mind the above assumes you do not have a hardware based encoder/decoder card. If you do, then it reduces the load on the CPU.

Chairboy · « **Reply #7 on:** December 20, 2006, 03:12:20 PM »

Exactly, and the Hauppage I'm using _does_ have a hardware encoder.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #8 on:** December 20, 2006, 03:15:57 PM »

Be sure the thing you build is not using a VIA based motherboard. VIA's DMA implementation hurls chunks. No overlapped DMA operations can happen without corrupting data.

Quote

Originally posted by Chairboy
Exactly, and the Hauppage I'm using _does_ have a hardware encoder.

That's fine, I ws just concerned about your original post being misunderstood, about the requirements.

rabbidrabbit · « **Reply #9 on:** December 20, 2006, 03:20:00 PM »

FYI,

I called Comcast and they are offering theirs for $6.99 per month. The problem with a Cablecard is you can not get any on demand programing or pay per view. I would not be able to hand then their box back for the $5 per month since my son loves on demand PBS Sprout.

I have the extra PC power but am wondering if the open source is all that yet. I'm going to have to spend a fair amount on hardware which might be nearly equal to the Tivo cost once I get remotes etc.

So, I have a flaky Tivo but it has a pre 99 full lifetime transferable warranty which has to be worth a few bucks. I could buy a series 3 for about $550 and keep the lifetime subscription which I paid ~$150 for 7 years ago or I could take the Ebay on the old box and go comcast and wait for Tivo/comcast and not fork the coin up front.

Or Myth it.

Thoughts?

Eagler · « **Reply #10 on:** December 20, 2006, 04:57:38 PM »

love our old series 1 tivo (lifetime) and have come to appreciate the dvr's our cable company provides. they can record two different channels or record one while watching another.
I have a HD and a regular dvr, both Scientific Atlanta series. I do not have to pay for them as I am an employee of the cable co.
what is wrong with your tivo? it is usually just the hard drive, I have replaced mine before. not hard. I had to download the software for a couple of bucks but pretty easy to get it up and running again.

rabbidrabbit · « **Reply #11 on:** December 20, 2006, 05:05:12 PM »

I wish mine had dual tuners and HD...< The OS is probably messed up but I finally got it to whipe the preferences so maybe if it finishes that it might work. I don't think its a hardware issue but don't know for sure.

Vulcan · « **Reply #12 on:** December 20, 2006, 06:12:34 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Chairboy
I use a ReplayTV at home and love it. I'm planning on setting up MythTV on a spare computer to try out in the near future because it will do the automatic commercial skipping (fully automatic, no interaction required, like my ReplayTV) and can record HDTV over firewire from my Comcast box (local channels aren't encrypted).

If you have a PC you can use for an experiment, and it's at least a ghz and has video capture, it might be worth a shot. The Mythdora ISO is a neat way to get all set up by just burning a CD and letting it install itself.

Hey chairboy, that mythdora stuff looks interesting. I found its website, but is there anywhere that has some recommended guides, for things like hardware and remotes it supports (I've got some spare PC's kicking around).

Skuzzy · « **Reply #13 on:** December 20, 2006, 06:20:29 PM »

Here is some hardware information Vulcan. Dunno if you have already seen it or not.

bj229r · « **Reply #14 on:** December 20, 2006, 07:46:27 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Ripsnort
I'm very happy with Dish TV and their DVR.

Same here:aok --wish it had network out that I might copy stuff straight to pc, without having to capture it