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Journal Iamthefallen's Journal: Ask the dot - DVRs and Windows Media Center 21

Journal by Iamthefallen

We just got DirectTv last week and I opted to not get their DVR as it required a 2 year commitment and $5 a month. Being a cheap bastard I'm looking for another DVR solution and am curious what everyone is using?

I'm still running Windows 2000 at home and need to upgrade soon as most games seem to require it. So I'm eyeing Windows Media Center that could work as DVR solution as well.

Any thoughts from the population of Slashdot on MCE? What are other DVR solutions?

(My impression of MythTV is that it requires too much Linux knowledge/setup time, none of which I have enough of. But I'd appreciate thoughts from those experienced with it)

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Ask the dot - DVRs and Windows Media Center More

Ask the dot - DVRs and Windows Media Center

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  • I am not a heavy user, so a relatively simple solution works for me. I bought an ATi All-In-Wonder Radeon 8500DV card a while back. It has cable in, and the TV tuner, and whatnot. Tons of features, and it came with a remote control and a decent software bundle (for Windows). This was something like three years ago, though, and I'm not up on the latest versions.

    I don't watch a much TV (four or five hours a month, maybe), and there is not much on TV that I am attached to, so this meets my needs for shows
  • but that costs money.

    i'm sorry for just making the equivalent of someone asking for a great windows app and responding with how you should buy a mac. at least now i understand a bit of the mac fanaticism a little better.

    in other news, if you have something all set to run the hardware already, i saw something on the front page [slashdot.org] about mythdora [g-ding.tv], a combined fedora core/myth tv distro aimed at making myth tv easier to use. not sure how well they accomplish that, but it might be something worth checking out.
    • Those that have TiVo seem to swear by it, and I did look at it earlier today but $12.95 or some such a month is a bit much for me. It may well be worth it, but I'm cheap :-)
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by subgeek ( 263292 ) *
          i read the directions. i just thought that incarnation might not have the things he didn't like.
          • Comment removed based on user account deletion
            • Well, like I said, my impression is that MythTV is a biatch to set up without 1337 linux h4x0r skills, especially if you have any driver trouble. But, KnoppMyth sounds like it may be a good solution.

              When I was young, I liked tinkering with stuff, not that I'm old and wise in my mid-twenties (27 is still mid right?), I just don't have the patience for it. I just wanna come home, open a cold one, and watch whatever games I missed over the weekend.

              I'm not opposed to paying some money for hardware, I get to kee
              • Comment removed based on user account deletion
                • Well, I need to get an OS upgrade anyway as Windows 2000 is starting to not be supported anymore. So I'd either get XP pro or Windows MCE anyway, really it depends on the DVR thing. For hardware I've got everything but the Tuner card, although I'd probably have to add another hard drive fairly quickly, but I'm sure I have a couple of those around too.

                  Part of it too is that we're in a tight situation financially until Tammy graduates, and I'm hesitant to add any new monthly expenses, but between Christmas bo
      • I second the TiVo. I don't even have cable, and I still love it.

        mmmmm.... TiVo.....

  • MythTV (Score:2)

    by Tet ( 2721 )
    My impression of MythTV is that it requires too much Linux knowledge/setup time, none of which I have enough of.

    That certainly used to be the case in the past, but isn't really any more, particularly if you go for one of the purpose built MythTV distributions like MythDora [g-ding.tv] or KnoppMyth [mysettopbox.tv]. It's now pretty much a case of stick the DVD in, boot from it and wait until it's set it all up automatically for you.

  • MythTV isn't too bad anymore, and I read on \ . this morning that there's a new Fedora-based distro of MythTV called MythDora. I haven't tried it yet, but I am planning to. It's easy to spend $1k+ on a linux box to do the same job as a TiVo, so it's basically a matter of figuring out what spare parts you have that will work, how much $ you want to spend on it later on, and how many fun things you plan on doing with it.

  • My understanding (second-hand) is that if you get KnoppMyth [mysettopbox.tv] almost all of that Linux specialized knowledge is not required, though you are limited somewhat in your tuner card choices.

    I am not anything even resembling an expert in these matters, however.

  • Snapstream + a tuner card or dongle. You'll probably still need to get a DirecTV box for it, to change channels, though. The software should be capable of sending the IR commands. Oh, you may need an IR cable, also :)

    Or you could buy an HDTivo... :) It's supposedly obsolete, but I don't think DirecTV has actually switched over to the new format, yet.
  • It came on my new computer, I run it, I have no problems with it. It isn't user intensive, which is fine by me. I wish it had a bit more control for skipping through programs, since all it seems to have is "fast forward", and "faster forward" unless I am missing something. So, I can't exactly grab the little bar and drag it all the way to say the end of a show, but must faster foward through the entire episode to get there.
  • http://www.team-mediaportal.com/ [team-mediaportal.com]

    It is still in the beta stages, but it is the best ive found so far, with mythtv being way to hard to configure, and all other windows software not having all of the features i want.

    As far as the OS goes, I couldn't care less for windows media center. It doesn't really offer much IMHO, and then there is that "activate windows every month" thing.

    You will need a tuner card. I recommend one with hardware encoding.
  • I use DVB WebScheduler on my PC (which now has four digital tuners) and it works great for me. The PC is just recording TV shows - I watch the shows I've recorded on my Mac Mini (using Front Row to drive it) and for live TV I use EveTV and a USB tuner on the mini.

    For someone wanting to have an all-in-one solution, I would recommend MythTV - just keep your fingers crossed and hope that the latest live CD actually detects your hardware properly. Last time I looked at it, it kinda worked - mostly. But of cours
  • An alternative to TiVo is the ReplayTV. But... access to the channel guide is for pay.

    They just announced a new version, ReplayTV PC Edition [replaytv.com] which also needs a Hauppauge WinTV/PVR tuner card.

    I really like their standalone boxes, but then I'm willing to pay dollars per month for access to the guide.

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