DVR-type Device

[childeroland]

Does anyone know of a hard drive you could hook up to your DVD Player or TV like a DVR? I want the storage but not the monthly subscription fee.

[Pesimisticus]

I have a netbook connected to my TV with an external hard drive and DVR software. It records anything I tell it to.

[childeroland]

Sounds like what I'm looking for.May I ask?
Does this software work with a PC?
And how big is your external hard drive?
And where could I find this DVR software?

[Pesimisticus]

Sounds like what I'm looking for.May I ask?
Does this software work with a PC?
And how big is your external hard drive?
And where could I find this DVR software?

My external hard drive is 500GB, but I only record a few shows a week, so it is plenty large enough.

I use a PC with Linux, however, the software will also work on Windows. It's http://www.gbpvr.com/ This software is free, but there is also a commercial program called SageTV, but it is $80.

Good luck!

[childeroland]

I've been looking forward to getting rid of my DVR. Thank you!

What kind of connection do you use to hook a TV into a PC?

[benbradley]

http://www.mythtv.org/

[childeroland]

Thanks for the link. Do you use this? Have you found it worthwhile?

[Ruv Draba]

Try here (http://www.byopvr.com/).

[childeroland]

That link also leads to a list of tuners I'll need to choose from, which is an enormous help. :):Thumbs:

[cbenoi1]

I bought a Philips DVD Recorder / Hard Disk a few years ago. Nowadays, you can buy something equivalent for the price of the hard disk alone. Toshiba, LG and Panasonic make them. It's your own TiVo; you record your favorite TV shows on the hard drive and you can burn DVDs. No need for a PC.

Otherwise, you need a tuner card for your PC. Having worked for AMD/ATI in the past, I can attest the ATI TV Wonder series is pretty darn good.

-cb

[childeroland]

Can those store as much as a cable DVR?

[benbradley]

Can those store as much as a cable DVR?
The storage amount of these things depends totally on the size of the disk drive that's in it. I recall from seeing Tivo years ago that these things can record in different levels of "quality" (and on Tivo you can tell what level to record each program) so that if you go for lower quality a recording will take less space. But 1-terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) drives are well under $100, and I'm guessing a terabyte will store a solid week's worth of "DVD-quality" video. It's the same storage amount as 50 to 250 DVD's. Check out hard disk drive prices here:

http://www.pricewatch.com/

About mythTV, no I haven't used it (I'm not much of a TV watcher and have yet to own any of these things). It's based on Linux and is very much a "do it yourself" thing. If you can buy some DVR off-the-shelf as in post#10, you're surely better off doing that (unless you WANT to learn how to assemble these things from scratch).

[childeroland]

I'm not that technically proficient, I'm afraid, though I could probably wing it if I had to--and most of these programs appear fairly self-explanatory. I had no idea terabyte hard drives went for so cheap--I'd been worried about the cost!

[cbenoi1]

The one I have has a 160GB drive in it. I can store 25-odd 1-hour TV shows on it. It's enough for me to store the week's shows, watch them offline during weekends and record on DVD stuff I really liked. Your mileage may vary.

-cb

[BigWords]

I had no idea terabyte hard drives went for so cheap--I'd been worried about the cost!

They can be bought for as little as £60 in the UK, though those tend to be non-brand makes. Plump for something with a name that you recognize, despite them costing a little more. I've had two "own brands" fail on me, both within six months of purchase.

[childeroland]

I've had that problem with a certain brand of DVD Recorder, which is why I hadn't looked at them initially, but that was a few years ago.