My PVR setup

[reefkeeper]

I put together my own PVR (personal video recorder) with the following hardware:

Athlon 2000 XP CPU
512 Mb RAM
40 Gb Main Drive
250 Gb Slave Drive
D-Link USB 2.0 / IEEE1394 card
Midsize ATX case lying around the office

Hauppauge PVR350 Hardware MPEG-2 encoder
Nvidia card with SVHS out (older 4000 series)

Windows XP Professional
Snapstream Software

Harmony Remote SST-659

Motorola DCT2244 Digital Set top box

The reason I didn't go with a Tivo is that I didn't want to pay the monthly subscription fee of $12.95 or the lifetime (of the Tivo - if it breaks or you want a better TIVO, you need a new lifetime subscription fee) subscription fee of $299, and although the cheapest Tivos are $199, they only have a paltry 40 Mb of hard drive space. In retrospect, these are the two things I would have done differently in assembling the hardware:

1. I would have used the cheaper PVR250 instead of the PVR350 card. I purchased the PVR350 since it has video out to the TV, but with the Snapstream software interface, the output actually goes out through the AGP video card with its SVHS output instead of the PVR350.

2. I would have used a larger Main Drive. I originally installed a smaller system drive thinking I would store all the video on the larger slave drive, but the Snapstream software can specify multiple drives for its library.

The only problem I've encountered with the system is that although the PVR receives the analog channels (cable feed is split to the PVR tuner before it hits the set top box) under around 100 without any problem, the signal has to be passed and decoded through the set top box for channels 100+. No problem for my wife and kid who get their cooking shows and cartoons on the lower channels, but the Outer Limits is on channel 160 of the Sci-Fi Channel. The workaround is to have the PVR get the program feed from the set top box after the signal's been decoded, but then the PVR has to talk to the set top box to set the channel. There are some direct serial interfaces between a computer and the DirecTV set top boxes/tuners, but with other set top boxes you need the computer to send a signal through an IR transmitter in order to talk to the box. I've spent hours trying to get this to work with this transmitter with no positive results. They've now told me that my Motorola DCT-2244 box is a General Instruments box and to use those built-in IR codes, but I haven't had the desire to go through the process again for now.

The most amazing thing about the PVR I built is the Snapstream software. It has a great TIVO-like interface that I and my wife finds very easy to use. Snapstream will also play divx-encoded files and compress the shows you've recorded in MPEG-2 format to divx during offpeak hours- cutting the file size by 1/2 to 1/4. A very cool feature is that the Snapstream software on your PVR machine at home periodically checks your log-in area at Snapstream.net to see whether you've selected any new programming for it to record. This means you can select a show from any browser in the world and Snapstream will grab that info and record the show for you!

After recording a few weeks worth of shows, I'm wondering if there's a way to view the shows alphabetically instead of in chronological order since it's easier to find a show that way sometimes. I've also noticed that sometimes the recorded show freezes. This has only happened with Dora the Explorer and no other show.

The cable and satellite companies will start including PVR functionality in their set top boxes/receivers, and computer and mainstream electronics companies like Matsushita are starting to build PVRs, but I wanted to build something now, and I've been pretty happy with my setup. I think the best thing about my homebuilt setup is that I can easily add additional hard drives for more programming storage and once HDTV becomes more prevalent, it should be easy to swap in an HDTV compatible encoder card.

One interesting thing I recently read in Forbes is that the PVRs coming out of Taiwan are using the Windows OS and more powerful chips while the Japanese are using Linux and chips that don't need to be as powerful - resulting in less expensive PVRS.

Snapstream looks like they'll be offering a media center interface soon, but presently, the main thing I use my home entertainment system for is cable programming and movies, so I don't need a media center to manage music, pictures or other media files.

I can't wait to use my PVR to record the Tour de France this summer!