Anyone here use a PVR?
Do you use a service (eg TiVO, Rogers, etc) or did you just buy a PVR for your computer?
I was originally just going to buy a PVR for my old unused computer, and use it just like a good ol’ VCR, only with better image quality and no stupid VHS tapes to buy. Plus, there’s no monthly subscription fees. Unfortunately, my old computer is too Old and Busted. It doesn’t meet min spec for the PVR drive I found at Futureshop. So in order to even get a PVR drive, I’d need to buy a New Hotness. While I’m certainly not opposed to a New Hotness, it’s a rather large expense just to be able to record TV. Even if I got a stripped-down little nothing, and used it as the PVR system (instead of buying a while nice system to actually use in my office, and making my current 2-year old computer be the PVR bitch), it’s still more expensive than just buying a TiVO system and subscription. You can buy a TiVO box for $400 or less ($70USD from the TiVO site, but I’m not sure how those deals work for Canadian customers), plus $200/year for the serivice, which is still less than a new computer with a PVR drive would cost. At least as far as I can tell. If I’m wrong, please let me know, ’cause that would be great. I won’t even consider the Rogers one, because it’s way more expensive, plus it’s Rogers.
Now, obviously buying a computer with a PVR drive i cheaper in the long run. Subscription fees add up, and it’s one less monthly expense to worry about. It just seems like an awful lot of initial monetary output just to record the odd TV show.
It’s not like I need one to record every episode of the Simpson’s ever or something. I just liked the ease and freedom of being able to record shows at a whim, so I can do other things while they air if I want. I like my shows and want to watch them, but I like other things too.
Join me in the land of no-TV and you’ll need not worry about these silly expenses…. 😉
When you say “PVR Drive” you mean just a TV Tuner card, right?
because that’s all you need. Generally software comes with (or can be found) that will do what you want to do.
If old and busted can handle capturing the raw mpeg stream from the card then that’s all you need. Old and busted can transcode the mpeg stream to some better compression form after it’s done recording.
I’ve been toying with building one for a while but really don’t watch enough tv to keep myself motivated.
There’s also the philosophy of:
I subscribe to cable TV. therefore I already receive tv shows X, Y and Z. So there’s no harm in me downloading X, Y and Z because I’m already paying for them.
The thingy I found was this one: http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10068303&catid=10524
I’m not sure I know enough to try to set up my own without some sort of “kit” like that. Old and Busted is a PII 550 with two separate 8Gig HDs. Whenever I casually think of it, I kinda forget that I got it back in high school, and that even my current good computer is over 2 years old now.
I don’t see anything wrong with downloading shows, since I do pay to receive them, I just hate watching TV (or movies) on my computer. Watching TV should be much more relaxing than sitting at a desk where I do work.
that’s basically what I was talking about.
Hauppauge is one of the good names in the tv tuner market.
Uh, we bought a Rogers PVR; it was $400 and then the subscription was/is a whopping $3 and change a bill (so, around $45 a year). If you don’t actually by the box, the charge is something like 10-20 a bill but you don’t have to pay the $400, obviously.
Maybe not the cheapest option, but it worked right out of the box, we don’t need to think about it much, and it’s worked fantastically well right now. I’m willing to pay a little extra for the convenience, although obviously those more technically adept may find it easier/more fun to be messing around with your computer. But the Rogers PVR really isn’t as bad an option as you’re making it out to be.
Re: Tyler: Oh, so that is what you were talking about? That’s what I meant then. ^_^ My Old and Busted falls short for both CPU speed and HD space, otherwise I would have bought that the first time I found it in the store. I could replace the HD for less than $100 I believe, and have loads of room, but I don’t really have any idea on how to replace an actual CPU, or if that would even have a point since the rest of the machine (fans, parts, OS, etc) would still all be ancient.
Re: Ian: Hrm, really? The Rogers site wasn’t very helpful while I was trying to look that up. That’s admittedly not too bad. If I can’t figure out how to get a no-fees-per-month system set up (without spending like $1000 for a complete new system to run the PVR) then I might seriously consider that, as opposed to trying to deal with an American service that won’t even ship repaired units back to Canadian addresses (even if that’s where they came from to be repaired)
According to the website, the device requires a Pentium II 733 MHz, and you say you have a Pentium II 550 MHz, which is not much of a difference at all. If FutureShop has a generous return policy (which I believe they do), I would be inclined to just go ahead and buy it and see what happens. Don’t even bother buying a new hard drive just yet, since the 10 GB is probably just for saving movies, and not needed for installation and basic testing. In the worst case scenario, you’d need to return it and be no worse off than you started.
Last time I checked, Tivo was not available in Canada.
Pauline and I have [url=http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10072968&catid=22226]this LG HDD/DVD recorder[/url].
It works pretty well (basically like a VCR) and it can record to the hard drive and burn DVDs (although I haven’t had the need to do that yet).
well my link didn’t work, but you get the idea. 🙂
TiVO service is available in Canada, but the hardware needs to be bought/serviced through the USA. http://www.tivo.com/1.6.1.asp#9
Hrm, interesting link. It doesn’t have very good reviews, though, does it work ok?
I have an ATI TV Wonder VE if you want to give that a try to see if it’ll work for you.
Actually…it turns out that isn’t the model I have. I have the LRH-539 (I linked to the LRH-790). So I suppose that one is better. Mine is 250GB HD as well.
Mine works quite well. The major cons are:
* no built in TV guide so you have to program by time/date
* it has to be shut off for the program timer to kick in and you can’t watch a DVD or a recorded show while it is recording something else (although you can watch a DVD and record to the hard drive at the same time as long as it isn’t programmed in advance).
Here’s a forum thread about it if you are interested: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=25941
Tyler: I’d love to try that to see if it’d work! ^_^ Do you still have the specs for it, so I could compare how my machine would run something newer?
Can you have Josh mule it here sometime?
Grant: Thanks for the link!
I’ll put it with my stuff. hopefully I’ll remember to give it to him tomorrow.
I don’t have the specs for it. It’s an ATI TV Wonder VE, so I’m sure that google can give you more info on it.
You didn’t tell Josh to expect the PVR card, and I just assumed he already knew.
So he left it in the back seat of my jeep.
being the lazy SOB that I am, I couldn’t be bothered to walk 3 minutes down the road to give it to him. It has been interoffice mailed.
Hahaha, that’s awesome. ^_^