DIY HD DVR Recommendations

[fredweston]

I rarely watch broadcast TV, but my wife recently asked me to get a DVR from our cable company (Bright House). I looked up some info on their website, and it appears that they charge you $10.00/mo for a HD DVR. Since a DVR is probably something we'll want for the forseeable future, it made more sense to me to buy one vs rent one. I looked up some info on Tivo, but it appears their monthly fee of ~$12.00 is more than the cable company wants to rent a DVR.

I have an existing Core 2 Duo Windows PC with a wireless KB & Mouse hooked up to my TV that I use for web browsing, gaming, watching movies, and streaming music, so I'd like to do something that would utilize this same PC, which rules out MythTV or other Linux DVR software.

I read positive reviews of the HD Homerun network-enabled HDTV tuner, but saw that it doesn't have any analog tuning support, so does that mean I'd need an analog tuner in the PC as well if I wanted to be able to record non-HD shows? Most everything we'd want to watch is available in HD, so this isn't a huge issue. What sort of software should I be looking at in terms of scheduling and recording programs from the HD Homerun? Would Windows Media Center be the best way to go, or are there free or low cost alternatives that run on Windows and work better? Ideally, I'd like something that would record shows in a format that I could easily watch on other computers in the houe as well.

 

[lilfleck]

Low cost? Not at the moment. All this stuff is new and HTPC's are still in its early growth stages.

I have been looking into the same thing; next best thing is the Hauppauge HD-PVR. Right now, it is a little bit too expensive for me.

 

[fredweston]

I'd have to disagree with that... HTPCs have been around for at least 4 or 5 years. The HD PVR product you mentioned doesn't have a tuner, so I'd have to have a cable box hooked up to it to record anything. I'm looking for something I can connect directly to the cable feed to record shows.

 

[lilfleck]

There isn't anything out there that I'm aware of that will act as a tuner and record HD.

As for the HTPC--yeah they've been around for a few years, but there was never big demand for them because most of the media wasn't in HD. Now with HD becoming the new media standard and HDTV's becoming the standard, more and more people are wondering how they can get their HD content from their computers onto their TVs.

If HTPCs weren't in a more advanced stage, there would be much more product support. There would be HD tuners that would fit your needs perfectly. Believe me, I'm all for new products supporting HTPC's, that means more competition and lower prices for us!

 

[Wolfshadw]

Right now, the only way (that I know of) to record HD content from your cable provider is to purchase an OEM system that includes a slot for your cable companies CableCard. I recently saw an announcement (here in the forums, somewhere) where a deal was proposed to stand-alone CableCard slot cards would be made available to us DIY'ers sometime next year. Cost will probably, initially be prohibitive, but it will essentially replace the TV Set-Top box. At this time, we can only assume that it can record HD content.

-Wolf sends

Edit: Here's the link to the announcement: http/www.tomshardware.com/forum/271002-31-cablecard-homebuilt-htpc

 

[fredweston]

Guys, the HD Homerun that I mentioned in my first post will tune and record HD just fine. It'll only record clear QAM or ATSC HD content though. For scrambled content Wolfshadw is right, you need a cablecard.

 

[lilfleck]

Ahh, thats an interesting find. But it ONLY records HD content... that means for the non-HD channels, I can't record? sad... Then in 2010, when cablecards are released, this stuff will become obsolete? Very disappointing.

 

[fredweston]

Ahh, thats an interesting find. But it ONLY records HD content... that means for the non-HD channels, I can't record? sad... Then in 2010, when cablecards are released, this stuff will become obsolete? Very disappointing.

Cablecards are out now, per FCC mandate. My cable STB has a cablecard in it which is what decodes the encrypted channels. As far as finding a way to hook a cablecard up to a PC, the only thing I've found so far costs about $300 with no guarantee it'll work, so I'm sticking with a cable co DVR for the time being. I called the cable company and they were very edgy when I started asking about cablecard, I think they've been trained to try to avoid renting one to you if at all possible. It's sad, if the cable companies would just be open about their policies and establish clear pricing instead of all this smoke and mirrors stuff, the industry overall would be a much better place. Instead of trying to do everything in their power to prevent me from getting a cablecard and ditching their STB, maybe they should just come out and say, you can have a cablecard, we'll support it and won't treat you like a second rate customer for it, and it'll cost you $XX.XX.