zzrich Posted May 27, 2008 Share Posted May 27, 2008 Hey guys. I am getting so tired of my cable company charging me every month for my dvr and the service that goes with it. Although it works very well, I need to cut some bills. My wife is the only one that uses or wants the dvr. SO today I thought to myself, why not build my own dvr/htpc ? I would have used windows 2000 as the os, but my disc is scratched beyond use. So I am currently installing win98. And I am using Soporific's Win98 Autopatcher which has made windows 98se run much better and way more stable on my other machines. Whats really cool about this project is that I will be using hardware that would otherwise just be collecting dust.Here's the hardware :ECS nforce3a MotherboardA64 3200 VeniceAti 9800 proKworld tv/capture card 512mb or 1gig geil ddr40080gig WD hard drive (maybe two of them)500w psuAre my specs too low ? Or just about right.This is my first time building a pc for this purpose. I need to make the system fairly easy to use for my wife. I have heard of using Linux for a htpc, but I am unfamiliar with it. The tv card has its own software and a remote, but if there is better dvr software please let me know ! (either free or low cost) Thanks guys ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thydreamwalker Posted May 27, 2008 Share Posted May 27, 2008 check out Windows Vista as it has DVR applications in its system files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contradude Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 i don't think you are doing bad... I was using ATI's Multimedia Center under 98SE with a P3 800 and a AIW 9200 and using it as a PVR... I had problems time-shifting, but that was because of slow processor. I think you'll be happy with your setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlugFiller Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 Incidentally I'm also building an HTPC currently. I'm using Ubuntu Linux.Don't get me wrong: I've made very long posts about why Linux could never replace my 98SE for my desktop computer, but an HTPC isn't a desktop computer, it's a dedicated system, so a dedicated OS is a good idea.As for making a comfortable PVR, MythTV comes to mind. Much simpler than trying to rig something up in Windows.As for myself, I have special needs, so I'll probably code up a little something myself based on VideoJack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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