How Did I Ever Live...

[OUTromBoNado]

without DVR. Holy carp. So, NP and badger gave me their old computer. I put a couple of TV tuners in it, bought BeyondTV, and viola! I now have my own DVR. I've already scheduled all the new episodes of my favorites shows to record. I even found a custom sound pack so it makes sound effects like a real TiVo.

The best part...no subscription fees...evar. Whatever I record goes onto the hard drive as a .mpeg file. Transfer that file to my awesome computer, edit out the commercials, burn the b!tch to a DVD.

I'm going to have lots of fun this football season.

[Tailwind]

Lucky you! Grats!

[Ash]

Nice work, what set up are you using if you don't mind me asking?

[OUTromBoNado]

I've got two Happauge PVR-150 MCEs. One is FM radio capable, but I don't plan on using it. I listen to all my own .mp3s, Internet radio, or Pandora for my music. I have the first tuner connected to my Cox Digital box via S-video and stereo audio. I have the second connected to analog cable. I don't watch very many shows that are on at the same TV, so I doubt I'll record to both, but I wanted to be able to record two shows. For example, I want to record Heroes but watch WWE on Mondays.

I went ahead and took the leap because Snapstream was offering a bundle with one PVR-150, BTV 4.6.1, and a free Firefly remote for $100. I found another PVR-150 for $45 from Directron.com. I also bought a USB-UIRT to control my digital cable box, and just in case I decided to buy a Logitech Harmony remote sometime down the road.

I'm using an old GeForce FX5500 PCI with S-video to composite video to connect to my standard def TV. I can tell a noticable difference in picture quality, both due to the tuners and the video card. But, my TV is a piece of crap anyway. Like I told NP, if I was really worried about picture quality, I wouldn't be watching SD TV.

I wanted this primarily for the TiVo ability with LiveTV and the whole record-watch another live program-thing, and taking my recordings and burning them to DVD. My next step is start taking some old OU games on VHS recording them, editing out commercials, and putting them on DVDs....especially the high-profile games from my Pride years.

However, the first game I mess with will be the 1977 tOSU game that KOCO rebroadcast a couple of years ago....then it's on to the 2000 season! NP and badger get copies of any of my games for giving me their old computer for free.

[rufnek05]

sounds like a nice deal. how do us "not so computer savy" folks do this?

[OUTromBoNado]

Very carefully. What exactly do you want to know? Even after putting the parts in the computer, it took me several hours of tweaking the program/connections to get everything working and they way I want.

For the "not so computer savy" types? If you think you could take the individual pieces of a computer (i.e., motherboard, RAM, CPU, video card, power supply, etc.), open up a computer case and put those pieces in (with or without the help of directions), you could most likely do this. If you can't, I would stay away. It can be an adventure if you don't follow things step-by-step and you aren't real knowledgeable in this area.

Also, don't think you're going to do HD recordings either. HD is encrypted, unless it's the stuff from the local networks...which must be carried unencrypted (yes, even by the cable companies). They are just now starting to get stuff that will enable HD-DVR, but that is way out of my league (price range and knowledge), and I like to consider myself more computer savy than most people I know.

Unfortunately, the future of digital cable/HD cable looks to be in CableCard....which is only going to be compatible with Vista because they made a deal with Microsoft and got DRM crap stamped all over it.

The hardest part of this was not having a monitor and keyboard/mouse to work with. I set my system up so I could log in remotely to do any real work on it, but that was easy. I wish I had a second monitor that I could leave hooked up to it, because you can't really see anything on the Windows desktop through a SD TV..that's why I'm logging in through my LAN.

This wasn't hard for me, but it wasn't easy either. Learning how to install and run Linux was a lot harder. On the other hand, this wasn't simply a plug-and-play and you're done. It took a bit of configuring. However, the program was very good about walking you through it, and BeyondTV has a great support forum. Most of my difficulties involved me doing custom things.

Doing research and finding the right hardware is also a must.

[crawfish]

I've got that same setup, minus one PVR-150.

[BajaOklahoma]

Can I come visit after you finish the copying and editing of the videos - with my laptop and a huge stack of DVDs? :D ;) TIA

[stoopified]

without DVR. Holy carp. So, NP and badger gave me their old computer. I put a couple of TV tuners in it, bought BeyondTV, and viola! I now have my own DVR. I've already scheduled all the new episodes of my favorites shows to record. I even found a custom sound pack so it makes sound effects like a real TiVo.

The best part...no subscription fees...evar. Whatever I record goes onto the hard drive as a .mpeg file. Transfer that file to my awesome computer, edit out the commercials, burn the b!tch to a DVD.

I'm going to have lots of fun this football season.Speaking on behalf of all techno-phobes 'd I say that sounds great if I had any idea WTF all that means.If I didn't have my wife to explain the computer to me like she was talking to a three year old,I wouldn't be able to even acess the internet. :D Sad but true.

[SoonerDood]

so now you can DVR teh Amazing Race?

[sanantoniosooner]

so now you can DVR teh Amazing Race?
You just HAD to play the RACE card.:rolleyes:

[SleestakSooner]

Can I come visit after you finish the copying and editing of the videos - with my laptop and a huge stack of DVDs? :D ;) TIA

If this set-up will cause Baja to invite herself over, COUNT ME IN! :D

[GottaHavePride]

Speaking on behalf of all techno-phobes 'd I say that sounds great if I had any idea WTF all that means.If I didn't have my wife to explain the computer to me like she was talking to a three year old,I wouldn't be able to even acess the internet. :D Sad but true.
A tv tuner is just a card you stick in your computer and it lets you plug your cable into your computer instead of a tv. Then you can watch tv on your computer. The other software he bought lets him record what he's watching just like if he had a Tivo, but he doesn't have to pay the subscription fees like you do with Tivo or a DVR from your cable company.

Plus, on a computer you can edit the video files you have saved (to take commercials out) and then burn the whole thing onto a DVD. You can't do that with Tivo. (Well, you can, but it's a pain in the *** and requires basically all the computer equipment PLUS the Tivo, so why even pay for the Tivo?)

[BajaOklahoma]

If this set-up will cause Baja to invite herself over, COUNT ME IN! :D

For DVD copies of the games, I'll forget my manners! :eek: :O

[OUTromBoNado]

so now you can DVR teh Amazing Race?

Exactly. Another reason I wanted it. I have to tape this almost every week because I've got something else going on.


A tv tuner is just a card you stick in your computer and it lets you plug your cable into your computer instead of a tv. Then you can watch tv on your computer. The other software he bought lets him record what he's watching just like if he had a Tivo, but he doesn't have to pay the subscription fees like you do with Tivo or a DVR from your cable company.

Plus, on a computer you can edit the video files you have saved (to take commercials out) and then burn the whole thing onto a DVD. You can't do that with Tivo. (Well, you can, but it's a pain in the *** and requires basically all the computer equipment PLUS the Tivo, so why even pay for the Tivo?)

Exactly.


If this set-up will cause Baja to invite herself over, COUNT ME IN! :D

Heh.

[KC//CRIMSON]

A tv tuner is just a card you stick in your computer and it lets you plug your cable into your computer instead of a tv. Then you can watch tv on your computer. The other software he bought lets him record what he's watching just like if he had a Tivo, but he doesn't have to pay the subscription fees like you do with Tivo or a DVR from your cable company.

Plus, on a computer you can edit the video files you have saved (to take commercials out) and then burn the whole thing onto a DVD. You can't do that with Tivo. (Well, you can, but it's a pain in the *** and requires basically all the computer equipment PLUS the Tivo, so why even pay for the Tivo?)


TiVo has sold a Tivo/DVD burner for quite a while now. I don't have one, but have seen it on their site.

Question. How do you set your computer to record shows while your gone or automatically record a whole season?

[OUTromBoNado]

I don't know how the other DVR computer programs work...but with BeyondTV, when I want to record an episode of say...Jericho...it will give me a few options like, "Record Just This Episode," "Record All Episodes", or "Record All New Episodes." I just tell it to record all new episodes. So, any episode of Jericho that says "New" in the programming guide gets recorded. Beyond TV just adds it to a queue and records at the appropriate time. If the episode isn't new, it doesn't record it.

If I'm gone, I leave the computer running. I don't have a problem with leaving my computer running when I'm not at the house. In fact, my computers are usually on 24/7 except for one or two days a week when I turn them off overnight or for a few hours just to purge the memory. Although, I have two computers in my bedroom (once is the DVR), and my room gets hella hot because of bad ventillation and being on the SW side of the house with no tree to shade it during the afternoon. So, I usually turn my computers off when I go to bed, but turn them back on in the morning.

I can also access all the BeyondTV settings through any computer on my LAN just by using a web browser. I can also view my TV guide settings and tell it to record stuff from snapstream.net (a little thing for BeyondTV users).

I am having a couple of problems though. My cable is split...one line to the digital cable box (then S-video to Tuner Card 1)..second line to Tuner Card 2. This cable is split two more times farther upstream...once at the cable modem and again at another room in the house. The splitter at my cable box is causing me to lose a lot of good digital channels. For those of you in Tulsa, it's anything that's a Starz/Encore channel and most stuff starting around channel 150 on up. I can always unhook the splitter and go straight from the wall to the digital box, but then I lose the analog cable in the second tuner..which defeats the point of buying two tuners.

Also, my recordings look good on my other computer, but I can't seem to brighten the picture on the TV effectively. It winds up making the menu interface for BeyondTV blinding and the picture just right. Hmm...maybe I'll save some money and get a better video card...might try ATI.

Craw, I'm looking to you for video card advice in an HTPC. It's gotta be AGP. Currently, I'm using a GeForce FX 5500 PCI....I know it's a PCI card and sucks....but it was free.

Oh yeah, so far, I've got the 1977 tOSU game, 2003 Bama, and 2003 RRS on DVDs. :D

[Frozen Sooner]

A tv tuner is just a card you stick in your computer and it lets you plug your cable into your computer instead of a tv. Then you can watch tv on your computer. The other software he bought lets him record what he's watching just like if he had a Tivo, but he doesn't have to pay the subscription fees like you do with Tivo or a DVR from your cable company.

Plus, on a computer you can edit the video files you have saved (to take commercials out) and then burn the whole thing onto a DVD. You can't do that with Tivo. (Well, you can, but it's a pain in the *** and requires basically all the computer equipment PLUS the Tivo, so why even pay for the Tivo?)

Don't know about TiVo, but with ReplayTV I could just pull the files off the box over my network then edit them with any video editing program.

[OUTromBoNado]

I looked at ReplayTV, but I think they just sell the software now, not the box. But, I'm a computer geek. I'm pretty much mechanically inept, excpet when it comes to working on computers. I enjoy working on the guts of a computer.

[OUWxGuesser]

I still live without DVR thanks to mr bit the torrent.

[soonerboomer93]

with tivo, it's the same as replay, just copy off the tivo to the computer, you do have to use their software. then you can edit and burn. You pay for a tivo box because well, to a certain degree it's simpler then having to dvr everything to the computer, or hooking up/buying a media center tv. I'd rather hand my parents a remote then explain how everything works 15 times.

split it once but go to multiple rooms/locations with the 1 split. you can try an amplifier on the cable line also (put it before you split), but you'll need a decent one (5mhz-1000mhz but look at what the company put in for splitters) to cover the higher bandwidth that the cable modem uses.

No reason to leave a computer off for a "few hours" to purge the memory, windows xp does an ok job of purging what not in use, but if you're really worried, just a reboot will purge anything.

[OUTromBoNado]

Well, I leave it off for a "few hours" just to cool down...mostly my room since it gets hot in here. If I'm not going to be home and not taping anything, then it goes off. Saving energy and all.

[Boomer_Sooner_sax]

Well, I leave it off for a "few hours" just to cool down...mostly my room since it gets hot in here. If I'm not going to be home and not taping anything, then it goes off. Saving energy and all.

Nice to see you don't hate the enviornment, Al Gore!:D

[OUTromBoNado]

It's not so much the saving energy to help the environment. It's saving the energy and saving the money in my bank account, so I can buy football tickets.

[Taxman71]

Does Beyond TV "wake up" your computer to record shows? I have had the PVR-150 for a couple of years and my scheduler quit recording scheduled shows. When it was recording the scheduled programs I would archive OU games on DVD and the kids' programs for road trips.

[SoonerTerry]

I need to do that

[OUTromBoNado]

Does Beyond TV "wake up" your computer to record shows? I have had the PVR-150 for a couple of years and my scheduler quit recording scheduled shows. When it was recording the scheduled programs I would archive OU games on DVD and the kids' programs for road trips.

Yeah, I think it can. If it doesn't "out-of-the-box," I know there are a couple of plugins available that will do it. It also depends on your motherboard and stuff. My HTPC doesn't come out of standby very well. I'm not getting any kind of display back...but I bet that is a problem I could fix.

[Taxman71]

I can attest that when you are able to record scheduled shows, the PVR-150 is worth far more than the $100 or so it costs. Being able to watch/listen to TV while working on the computer alone is worth it. If you have kids, you can save all the Christmas specials, Charlie Brown, kids shows, etc. and save big $$.

[OUTromBoNado]

I was sold on buying an ATI 550 Pro, but read that it had temperature issues. It also performs very closely to the PVR-150 in almost every way. The ATI 550 cost $60-$100...if you could find it. But, I got two PVR-150s for $80.

I finally have my image quality good on the input side. Recordings looks great when I download them on watch them on another computer. I just need to get the output from the video card right. I'll probably save up and get a higher quality video card. Good AGP cards are starting to get pretty cheap.