Has anyone made a dvr? I am interested. I am to cheap to buy a subscription to TiVo. But I have plenty of old computers around here.

I heard a series 1 dvr doesnt need TiVo. Is there a way to fix a series 1 to do all the amazing stuff free?

Google - recording tv on pc

http://www.byopvr.com/

Thanks Ice

This is a pretty good site, too:

http://www.htpcnews.com/

nice, ive been thinking about doing this too. but does it have a tv guide like tivo?

there are online sites that will give you your local tv listings. I have not seen something like what you get for a channel/program guide with satellite or cable.\

EDIT:

I take that back looks like Beyond TV has added a Program guide http://www.snapstream.com/products/beyondtv/features.asp

dirtwarrior,

Check these themes out. They are for the Meedio frontend formally myHTPC. This is neat stuff has the MOST flexibility of all the media front ends. Watch record TV, listen to music, picture slideshow etc, etc. Meedio itself is no longer being developed, but the MeediOS crew are reviving it. Seriously take a look at the Addins page for everything you can do.

Forum Link Meedio

http://www.meedio.com/forum/

Forum Link MeediOS

http://www.meedios.com/forum/

Link to Plugins Look for the Themes

http://www.meedio.com/maid/

john

Heard of MythTV?

http://www.mythtv.org/

MythTV is a homebrew PVR project that I've been working on in my spare time. It's been under heavy development for almost four years, and is now quite useable and featureful.

Just wondering Could a person take a series 1 DVD (a dumb dvr) maybe flash it with 1 of the above programs and make it a free smart DVR?

Just wondering Could a person take a series 1 DVD (a dumb dvr) maybe flash it with 1 of the above programs and make it a free smart DVR?

Never had a tivo unit so I can't really speak for that system. I do know that if you have an old box laying around, you could use that fo the dedicated pvr. Do you have the main Meedio program or access to it? When I started looking at alternatives to the tivo (READ CHEAP) I did not want to pay the monthly charge and have someone watching me what I record. I currently have around 60 hours of movies that I have edited the commercials out. And that's not counting all the kids shows I have done for my son. I do believe though that the tivo units were originally designed for linux. Which flavor I am not sure.

john

Yess, they are linux. The series 1 dvr can be had cheap on ebay without HD. HD must be added later. These can be programed like a vcr. How hard would it be to flash it to accept the free programs from above?

Apparently the tivo/dvr units run specialized hardware (Proprietory) that will only allow the tivo linux to run on them. While the tivo's processor is a IBM PPC which would be capable of running linux OS with no problem. You still have all the special hardware that apparently was designed speciffically for the tivo so that a person can't just wipe a tivo and install linux as there are no drivers for the hardware available. Here again just find a box with enough horsepower to run mythtv and solve all your problems. Here's a link for the tivo hardware. Hope this helps.

http://www.9thtee.com/insidetivo.htm

john

A free one that can record multiple channels.

http://www.gbpvr.com/

As far as I'm aware of all if not most HTPC software handle multiple tuners. The problem there is multiple set top boxes per month charge. And what ever else fee wise comes into play. On my personal system I have 1 DirectTV set top box and watch what ever I want. If I need to record something the show is always shown at different time slots so this really is no problem for me. Even Hauppauge includes wintv2K (Watch/Record) with most of their cards which will include a EPG for titanTV which is a free service. There are several EPG services out there that are free Zap2it Labs. This HTPC stuff has SSSOOOOooooo many options that yes it is hard to decide which way to go. I decided a few years ago that building my HTPC would allow me to change thins around if I wanted to at a later date easily.

My Home Theatre System

Ahanix DiVine 5 Case

MOBO: Abit AN7 CPU: AMD 3200XP

RAM: 512 Megs Ram Vid. Capture: PVR 250

VGA: MSI NX6600GT Component Out

DVD Player: Sony DDU1615

OS:XP SP2 APP/SW: myHTPC/Meedio 1.41

DirectTV: RCA 486 Satellite Reciever

MITSUBISHI WS-A55 55" HDTV

Radio Shack 15-2116 Remote with Girder

john