I don’t know why, but it seems like this TV season suddenly has a rediculous number of things on that we want to watch, many of them at the same time.
So, the plan is to build a PVR and/or HTPC box (“HTPC” seems to usually mean that it does a lot more than just a PVR, but it gets tricky and I don’t know if this would count yet) to do Tivo-ish things, and more. Getting a Tivo would be easier and probably cheaper, but doing it myself has some big advantages:
- I can burn recorded shows off to DVD or, if I re-encode to a smaller codec like xvid, CD. Tivos don’t let you copy the encoded files off of them. There are some hacks and workarounds, but last I checked they’re tough to do on all but the oldest versions.
- Nobody can put restrictions on what I record. Tivo has recently forced a new software update that lets them put restrictions on recorded shows, such as automatically erasing it after a certain number of days. No other PVR software does this, and even if it does get added there’s still open source PVR software like MythTV where anything like that can be stripped out if I want to.
- The box I build will be able to do all kinds of other things. Pop a wireless PCI card in there and it will be able to access music, video, and photos on my main computer over the network. Set shows to record over the web when I’m not at home. Add as many tuners as I think I want to record multiple shows at once. Do anything that a regular computer can do. Some people use boxes like these as scalers to get high-quality interpolated high res for their HDTV sets or projectors. That’s not going to do anything for me with my small non-high def TV, but it’s a biggie for some people.
- Commercial skip. Tivo doesn’t offer this, probably in an attempt to keep the broadcasters as happy as posisble (along the lines of the restrictions they just added.) Pretty much all other PVR software supports automatic commercial marking and/or skipping.
I think there were some other good reasons, actually, but I can’t remember them now. On the downside, it’ll probably wind up more expensive than a Tivo and will definitely be more work to set up. For many people just getting a Tivo is the smarter way to go.
I’m planning on posting about the building process. What components I chose and why (mostly done already), and then talk about the progress as I go along. Mistakes that you don’t want to make if you want to build one. Maybe I’ll have some weird obscure problems and figure out how to fix them, and then other people having the same problems can Google them and find me and all is well in the world again. You’re welcome.
[...] In my first post here about building a DVR I went over the reasons why I’m building my own DVR instead of just getting a Tivo. I’ll wait here while you read that one. [...]
Hi, I agree with all your points about why it makes sense to build a PVR instead of buying a Tivo. It’s definitely going to be an interesting and reward project. It’s also good to see that you don’t cite hardware or subscription costs as a reason to build your own PVR.
However, I chose to buy a Tivo, because I don’t have the time or inclination to put a Myth box together, set it to work with my Dish receive, and track down resulting bugs or hiccups and updated. I have read that Myth has come along ways and is a great project. I’m just not convinced that I can trust it to work reliably without any administration time. I love my TiVO particularly because it’s always working, receives software updates automaticaly, and basically “just works”.
Getting video off of the Tivo is not difficult with TivoToGo. It’s also not hard to unencrypt the video if you have a Windows P and get the DirectShow Dumper utility.
You can enable 30 second skip on TiVo by pressing Select, play, Select,. 3, 0, Select. Perfect for jumping past commercial. TiVo’s also offered programming your tivo box over the web from their site since the Series2 came out.
Also, with HME apps and the Galleon project (http://galleon.tv/) you can play music from another PC, view pictures, get weather, and tons of other things.
I use sagetv software to automatically skip my commercials and the output is unencrypted mpeg video that can be burned to DVD with the commercials edited out. So when I watch tv, I don’t have to hit 5 buttons on the remote for every commercial, it just doesn’t show me any commercials…EVER. Oh…also the software is cheaper than a TiVo (79 bucks) and doesn’t require any monthly dues…EVER.
David,
Yeah, I’m running Sage TV now also. Skipping the commercials is quick enough for me (one long jump and a few short jumps to get to the end of them) that I never bothered with the automatic commercial skipping feature.