Build Your Own Tivo LOCKED
by Locked Thread
This thread is locked. New replies are not allowed.
First off, I'm tired of forgetting to tape Psych.
So I'm looking at buying a TIVO vs. making my own. The monthly fee is the main reason to avoid buying a TIVO - we have enough bills and already pay the cable company over $100/month for the privilege of having internet and TV - another $10 - $15 seems ridiculous.
Ideally whatever solution I get should be easy enough so that Lauren doesn't have a problem using it.
I can get my hands on a white box/older upgradeable PC, and I've checked out a couple of different options so far.
MythTV - Linux Based, runs on Ubuntu but seems to involve a lot of command line based work. The advantage is that it's free.
Beyond TV - Runs on Windows, which automatically makes it easier than MythTV. However, it does require an investment. With a TV Tuner card, it costs around $150.
SageTV - Seems similar to Beyond TV. No real advantages that I could see.
Anyone have experience on these systems/input?
AI Summary
45 Comments
Build your own TiVo, literally: http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/09/29/nero-liquidtv-tivo-pc-brings-tivo-interface-to-the-pc/
Latest update : Last night, my video card (Nvidia 6200 AGP 256MB )died on me. Meaning that although stuff is probably still taping, I can't get any output to the TV. I popped in the old graphics card the computer came with, and tried to get my normal one working ... no love.
I think I'm going to uninstall all NVidia drivers tonight, send the card back for an RMA, and try to get my old one working in the interm. Very frustrating, mostly because I've been using XBMC lately (XBox Media Center for Windows) and there's a program to control it from the iPod Touch that I was looking into. Also I just added a 300GB drive for $50.
XMBC has come a long way, huh? I set it up for my bro on his Xbox back in the day, and it was pretty slick. It's great they've got it going cross-platform now. You like it?
yeah. it's on my xbox too but because my xbox was never online (no ethernet to my living room, and too cheap to buy the wireless adapter) it didn't serve much purpose to me.
now that i have it for my media center pc, i get it. it's awesome for managing tons of video files and monitoring folders. I even see how it works over the network.
i do see some probs with it that aren't as good as the xbox version. like, when i pause it, get something to drink and come back, the video is jumpy and pixely (not a word, i know) when I unpause it. not sure why. maybe the newest alpha fixes that. i'll try it soon.
OK, at the request of Ian and Brian I've taken some pictures.
This is the interface for Beyond TV (sort of like Tivos, I imagine). I picked this one because it's easy enough for anyone (Lauren) to use. You can see all the shows we're watching - Lost, the Office, etc. Notice the time I have left to do HD recordings vs. regular (SD) recordings. HD takes almost 9 GB/hr!
Here's the physical Windows Desktop. XP was recommended over Vista due to some DRM restrictions (I haven't looked into it much, I just know it's an issue), and plus XP doesn't require as much computing power. This box only has 1GB of RAM so that is an issue. Looks ok, this picture doens't really do it justice. I set the icons and text to be large, and it's running at 1360x780 (720p).
Here's us watching the Office. This picture doesn't do it justice (my apologies) but it looks really good. Here's Ryan.
Next up is the whole entertainment center set up. Notice my Xbox and Wii (hard to see) on the left, in the middle our cable box, Media Center PC, and on the right we have a bookshelf Stereo. On the cable box (hard to see) there's an IR blaster set up to the back of the PC, which can change the channel on the cable box at will. Works really well, although takes a while to figure it out initially.
Here's zoomed in on the PC. I have a wired mouse and keyboard connected, for the times I need to do something in front of the box (rare - i usually use logmein from my laptop). It's more there for typing things into YouTube to search for videos. The remote I have can control the mouse, but it's not something you want to spend a lot of time doing. Also, on top of the PC is the "eye" for the remote, called the Firefly.
Here's the HDHomeRun Tuner (notice the HDTV lettering on the top). THe back (You'll see in a second) has two co-ax inputs, an ethernet port, and a power plug).
Here's the wires (ick). I shove this into the back of the entertainment center, so they're not generally visible. It's a little awkward to see, but let me describe. I have a wireless LAN PCI card at the bottom. Above that is the Hauppage 150 Tuner card (connected to the cable box via S-Video), above that is my AGP 256MB graphics card (note the DVI port - got a DVI to HDMI cable for that one). Above that is my LAN port, connected via cross-over cable to the HDHomeRun.
Here's a similar shot. In this one, you can see the Software Encoded Capture card that Sony included with the PC. However, I never got it working and just left it in there. One day I might look into it.
Lastly is the Firefly Remote and the remote from our Samsung TV. The Firefly uses RF, and the Samsung remote uses IR, so no love there for making everything universal. Still, the Firefly can work well as a mouse (i might have mentioned that already) and I can re-program the XML files for the mouse to make the extra buttons do what I want on the computer (open Windows Media Player, open iTunes, open VLC, etc.) I didn't do that yet because it hasn't been a big deal.
The Samsung remote (that came with the TV) is actually pretty good. I set it up to control pretty much all our other stuff - the DVD player, the cable box, even my XBox!! (use RCA code 0017 for that, if my memory serves). The XBox control is AWESOME, especially since I have XBMC set up on that, and it's working as an upscaling DVD player. (Note - that's not really necessary because I can play DVDs through my media center PC at 720p, but I didn't want to overtax the Media Center too much if I didn't have to.
SO - that's pretty much it. I do have a co-ax 4 way splitter behind the PC that I didn't show - got it from RadioShack for 10 bucks or so. 2 of the co-ax's go to the HDHomerun, one goes to the cable box, and one goes to the TV (so you can watch TV completely without the Media Center if you want - which is what Lauren does most of the time, if she just watches normal TV).
That's it! Hope you enjoyed this!
dude, you have way too much time on your hands!
actually, i do this when it's raining and can't go outside. plus this project started in August of 07 (see my initial post), so it's been over 6 months of work , mostly 10 minutes/week.
i meant all the pictures and everything, the most recent stuff
hey this rocks man! great pics and very informative.
thanks!
come over and build one for me. i'll give you ten... no, twelve dollars.
i said doll-hairs!
Ok, so the latest update on this project.
I added the HDHomeRun, which allows 2 simultanious programs to record in HD using the cable line (note - NOT the cable box). The HDHomerun actually has a network port, so it can send the recordings over your network to your media center PC - but my living room isn't wired (we live in an apt) so I used a cross-over cable and connected it to my PC directly (good idea, right?)
I gotta say, it works like a champ. HD Recordings are HUGE (almost 9 GB/hr) and I've got a total of 3 tuners (2 in the HDHomerun for ABC, NBC, CBS, etc in HD, 1 in the PC for recording from the cable box via S-Video). So I was rapidly running out of hard drive space, because my wife likes to save things. So I added an old 160GB IDE drive I had, and the software nicely added 18 hours of HD recording to my estimated allowance. (Note, I formatted the 160GB HD in 64K clusters, as recommended by some people online).
Everything's working well, although I am sure I am consuming a lot of power. My total investment into this project is ... probably over $400, but there are no monthly fees, we can keep/transfer to ipods/do whatever with our recordings. But it's been great, we watch a lot of stuff through the Media Center PC and it looks awesome, and I'll probably get a couple more years use out of it. After that, I'll get an inexpensive PC (core 2 duo for a couple hundred bucks?) and set that up instead. Who knows.
this sounds awesome.
Very nice, Dan! Can you post some pics of the setup?
yeah, i definitely will. turns out our TV (Samsung 32 inch) is only 720P, which is why 1080 wasn't working right.
I don't think they make 1080 32 inch TV's, screen size is too small to see an difference.
I'll take some snapshots tonight of Lost or the Office or something.
I want to see pics of the hardware setup too!
yeah, that's what i wanna see too
I never bothered to update this forum with what I did. It's been quite a legnthy process, and fortunately my wife has been quite patient.
I had gotten a Sony Vaio PC from a brother who didn't need it, it's a 2.6 P4 with 1 GB RAM, 120 GB HD. It had a software encoded capture card, which I never got working.
I got Beyond TV with a Hauppage PVR-150 card. It took me a while to figure out how to get the PC to show on the PC - I ended up getting a 256MB AGP Graphics card that works well. I'm not sure I've got 1080 - I think I'm getting 720p to the TV, because the 1080 setting looks terrible. The card cost around $50, so that worked out.
The PC wasn't on my network, since my router's in the spare bedroom and the PC/TV is in the living room. I got a Linksys PCI wireless card, which I don't really like but works OK. $45.
I got Beyond TV installed and working, set up the capture from the cable box to the card. It uses an IR blaster to change the channel on the cable box, which took a LONG time to figure out. The IR blaster's range is about 2 inches, so it has to be RIGHT on the remote control sensor on the cable box. Plus, it has to be set to the right code. It's a long process, but works ok in the end. However, cable boxes only give SD out (Firewire's a possibility but extremely difficult) so I'm getting 480p out of the cablebox into my Media Center. TV looks OK - Lost looks good, but it's definitely not HD quality. Each hour of TV takes up 2 GB of space.
Once I got everything up and running, Lauren and I got a new TV - 32inch Samsung. It looks good, but now I needed all new connectors and whatnot. I got a DVI - HDMI cable, so I ditched the RCA cables I had been using (This got me to the 720 I mentioned earlier).
So now, I want to do HD recording. The cable box isn't going to give me that (I can record an HD channel in SD, but can't record an HD channel in HD) so I am using the cable line that comes into the house with a splitter. I just got an HD Homerun, and I'm going to hook that up into the coax, for a total of 3 tuners at once. It'll be good but since my 120GB HD is half full now, and I'm not even recording HD - I'm going to need a bigger HD. I'm thinking around 250GB, maybe more if I can swing it.
This has turned into quite a project. It's been really fun, so far, but a little frustrating at times.
i have been thinking about doing this but right now i just don't have the time, even though yes, it does sound like a fun project!
eh, you could do it much faster than i did b/c i'd just tell you the mistakes i made and you'd skip over them.
investment - a PC with decent graphics card, DVI to HDMI cable
Beyond TV or Sage TV plus Tuners - $200
it can get expensive, quickly
when you have time can you list all of the hardware you need, or is that it?
well, what are the specs of the PC you have? Will it be solely dedicated to this project (media server)? Does it have DVI out? XP or Vista? Large Hard drive (over 200GB)? And do you have an HDTV? (If not, you need much less stuff).
If you have an HDTV, you would essentially need one package that includes dual HD tuners, remote control, and software. Link is below. It's $200 but pays for itself after 20 months. or, it pays itself off instantly if you don't tell your wife how much it cost. It works by connecting to your PC via crossover cable, so there's no internal components heating up your PC so it'll be cooler and quieter than with a hardware encoded internal card.
Very cool, Dan. I'm impressed you got all that going!
What exactly does the HD Homerun do? Does it accept CableCards for cable HD? Or is it for OTA or Sat?
BTW, I love my TiVo HD.
HD homerun gives you the ability to capture HD recordings from the QAM signal (essentially, your cable line has HD without the cable box - you can get stations 2.1, 4.1, 7.1, etc in HD for the major networks). The HD homerun lets you record those channels.
It will not let you record 702, 704, 707, etc, in HD. Which is only a point of interest because you can get the major networks without the cable box, but NOT TBS HD, RUSH HD, etc.
It's hard to explain over this forum.
I'd have gotten a Tivo HD but didn't want to pay $10/month or whatever it is. looking back, that might have been a better way to go, but I've been using my media center PC for watching Netflix "instant" movies (basically streaming, it looks good), Hulu (also looks good), and YouTube. So that's good.
So, I have a Series 2 TiVo that I'm not using anymore. 40 hours.
Anyone want it? You'll have to pick up the monthly fee, of course. But if you want it, you can have it. Just pay shipping or meet me to pick it up.
no
lol
<3 you
Alright, this is strictly my opinion based on my own circumstances, but this is what I have at least come to understand in terms of entertainment "systems" for my own personal use.
First off, there's only a handful of shows I would actually really like to watch. Usually it's movies that we watch the most. So all we have is standard cable with the additional channels that 'might' come in (anything above 13).
If I really want to see a show, I want to see it now. I want to see it without setting up something to record it, without hassling with downloads or ripping and burning and figuring out how to stream, dealing with various formats. I'm a geek but media time is not for frustrating me, it's for enjoying it instantly.
Xbox 360. I download the movies and shows I would want to see. I can watch within minutes while it's still downloading. Comes in various definitions. I can stream videos from my PC (even without need of Windows Media Center), music, pictures.
Yes the price is a little hefty on the 360, and the prices are a little bit high for on demand content right now, but you get what you pay for, instant entertainment, and I can justify it simply because I don't watch all that much TV. However there is that chance the show that you want isn't on the Xbox marketplace to begin with, but from what I can tell most major networks are availble. I think if I hadn't won the 360, I would have bought it anyway because it's capabilities improve all the time.
TL;DR
Xbox 360
Pros:
Instant Viewable Media
Games
PC Connectivity (stream mp3, vids, photos)
Pricing adjusted per quality
Hassle free
No commercials
Cons:
Price
Meida content pricing
Show's Availibity
so, a brother in the hall gave me an "old" pc he didn't want.
P4 2.4 ghz, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB Hard drive, Sony Vaio
this is actually the fastest PC i've ever owned
it seems to have a capture card, I have to figure out what kind, find the drivers and see if it's usable. I think, if I can get this up and running, that it would be awesome.
so far I just formatted it and put XP on it, AV next, etc
wow that's a pretty nice pc to get for free
yeah i know right? he wanted me to fix some old PCs he bought, including a Sony Vaio laptop that he couldn't use b/c it wouldn't boot and he didn't have recovery CDs. (mind you, it's got a 2.8 GHz chip, 512 MB RAM) I reinstalled XP, Windows Updates, drivers, it works like a champ. I told him it would take me two weeks to do that and it's been 1 day. haha.
so I got this PC up and working well, it has a capture card in it already but I think I'm going to purchase a BeyondTV package for around $100 - which includes a capture card, software, and remote. (I can use the 2nd capture card to watch something while something else is being recorded, right? Or record 2 things at once?)
also, i think i'm going to put this on my wifi network, so i can take off the .avi files if i choose to and put them on my laptop. Which is better, a PCI wifi card or USB? I remember this debate before and someone saying PCI was better because it's faster, but with USB 2.0 I think that's splitting hairs
with USB you'll take a performance hit because it uses your CPU to do most of the work.
PCI is the way to go if you can swing it, but USB is still fine.
ok PCI it is, I think I'll remove the 56K modem because WHY would i EVER use that? I put a bid on a Linksys PCI wifi card on ebay.
The PC has a built in TV Tuner that I think I'm going to try first, and see how well that works. I can get a trial of Beyond TV that would be perfect, and see how it goes.
MythTV won't be free for much longer, although it'll still be cheap. http://www.schedulesdirect.org/
whose your cable through? Are you using a digital cable box? Can you get one with a dvr?
That's what we did. not as fancy as tivo, but gets the job done. don't have to pay anything extra for the feature, we needed the box when I upgraded to high-def.
we do have optimum. We could get a cable box with DVR but that's the same $10/month that I was trying to avoid. Also, if you ever upgrade your box, what happens to all the stuff you have on your box? Can you take your stuff off and put it on a PC?
I haven't messed around with the box enough, but that seems to be a major negative point, all that stuff is just there on the box, can't really go anywhere else.
yeah, that would suck in a bad power failure i think
Do you plan on keeping a lot of shows saved on your DVR?
hmm. I'd like to at least keep it on my portable USB hard drive. Burning something to DVD every time I want to keep it seems silly. But yeah I'd want to keep stuff, movies or specials or whatever.
Right now i'm super into Dateline "to catch a predator" along with the rest of lauren's family. (I cant' wait to see what this does to the ads along the sidebar now.)