DVR to PC

[dudehere]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but how do I get my recorded DVR programs to my computer. I have some of the UT games PVR'ed and I'd like to put them on DVD's for viewing later.

Thanks....

 

[wherzwaldo]

You could buy a capture card for your PC and just run A/V cables to it. There are some pretty good priced ones on Newegg.

If it's a Tivo, you can hack it so you can transfer them over your home network. Google "tivo hacking" or something. It supposedly works, but if you're not good with computers it may be over your head. Or you could wait for TivoToGo, which is currently in beta testing. I'm a beta tester and it's pretty cool.

 

[mhayden]

If you're going to buy a capture card, just spend an extra couple hundred bucks, dump the TiVo and build your own PVR without any subscription fees. Much less restricting, much more powerful, much more enjoyable.

 

[Bob Wills]

For 99% of the people I know with DVRs, going from a standalone DVR to a home built system with as much flexibility and as many features would be quite the undertaking.

The main question is...what kind of DVR do you have?

Your easiest solution will probably be to take the video capture card route. Very painless and unless you have specific requirements, it probably won't set you back more than 200 bucks.

 

[Bob Wills]

Oh, and the other likely option is a standalone DVD burner. Probably quite a few threads from the past, but feel free to ask if you can't find any answers.

 

[zork]

What kind of set up does JCDenton use? His captures are the shiznit.

Or another way of asking, any reviews of particular capture cards or particular pros and cons of the setups that people might be currently using and what they might be changing to at some point?

 

[linux]

In reply to:

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[mhayden]

Exactly... if you can build a computer and know how to setup your entertainment center, building your own PVR isn't difficult at all... and it's a pretty fun project.

The one I'm currently working on sports:

180 gigs of storage space for recording TV with no subscription fees

capability to send over wireless to my regular PC for DVD burning

all of the major game consoles emulated with a frontend

live internet news feeds

email access

web browsing

a neat little frontend for picking what movie you want to watch

picture-in-picture

capability to record one show and watch another

picture viewing from both PCs

mp3 music playing from both PC's

etc... It really is a neat little system, and doesn't really put that big a dent in your pocket to build compared to TIVO + subscription rates + the ever expanding restrictions that TIVO is putting into place.

 

[wherzwaldo]

mhayden,

What OS are you using for your box? I've been considering building one, and I've heard that WinXP Media Center 2005 is a pretty good platform.

 

[Bob Wills]

You can get a Tivo for $50. $5-$12/month after that. It's a waste of time and money for a good portion of even the 1% out there that have the ability to build a system with all of the same features. It's also not only cheaper, but now much easier to modify a Tivo for video extraction. So, yes, building my own PVR was a fun project. Practical and cost effective, no.

 

[mhayden]

XP Media Center is actually only available on the OEM PC's that are the "Media Center" PC's... Not sure if there's a pirate version floating around the net, haven't really had the desire to.

I'm currently using MythTV on WinXP. My rig isn't near done yet, but it's getting there. Funny thing is, I don't even watch that much TV, I just needed a new project

 

[YChang]

Bob...can you give us your blueprint of your own personal built TIVO? That sounds interesting.

Does it look as aesthetical as a normal TIVO or other electronic appliances?

 

[Pitcher]

When does Sony's Cocoon come out? Or will it?

 

[wherzwaldo]

I've actually found some OEM versions of XP MCE 2005 on eBay for $125-175. I guess those are illegal though.

MythTV looks pretty sweet. I'll have to do some more looking into it.

 

[linux]

Why waste 175$ when you can use that money for hardware? A HDTV turner card is worth that much money.

The Link

It is not as if you can whine that you cannot play games, use MSoffice, or it is not user friendly.

I looked into the whole multimedia PC and came close the only thing is that I have 0 time to dedicate, and well no HDTV.

You can get small cases that look like sterop equipment too.

 

[BNB]

The time warner 8300HD dvr's have firewire and SATA ports. Hopefully they will activate those ports pretty soon. They activated the firewire port on the 3250HD (non dvr) box.

 

[ajax]

How do you get the programming for the homemade DVR? Some other subscription service? Screen scrape?