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Building my PVR

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Sure. PVRs are neat, cause they do mostly what DVRs can do, but will they do everything as smoothly as a DVR does? Is it worth the cost and hassle? That all depends on who is building it.

Getting a TiVo or DVR from a cable service will have a setup fee and probably a monthly cost, but it'll be up and running smoothly in no time. Building your own will take time, but you'll have fun, learn some things, and have an extra computer that can do more than just record TV.

Bare with me if my description is lacking important information. Also - some of the info may be slightly inaccurate.

What I was looking for


After looking at reviews on BYOPVR.com and Mini-ITX.com, I put together a list of what I was looking for:
Materials and Costs


Because I didn't have the cash to drop in a day, I bought all the pieces over a 6 month time span. I picked out the motherboard first, then the other basic PC components. The PVR card was the last thing to purchase, since I wasn't completely sure what I wanted. Yikes! Did I really spend this much? A ton of money, but it's the price of a computer. I don't know what common fees are for a TiVo or DVR service, but monthly DVR fees will probably take 2-3 years to reach my total system cost: With some more time and some willingness to purchase no-name brands from ramdom websites, you can probably get the total price closer to $400.

Choosing a PVR Card


The only vendor whose PVR cards I studied was Hauppauge. They have quite a variety of PVR cards, and settling on one takes some thinking. Thankfully, Hauppauge has a useful table showing the differences between products in their PVR line: Believe it or not, the WinTV-PVR-150 (model 1045) is the same product as the WinTV-PVR-250 but the WinTV-PVR-150 comes with an IR blaster. Watch out for WinTV-PVR-150MCE (model 1042), or you'll end up with FM radio instead of a Hauppauge remote.

By the way - there's nothing wrong with FM radio, but GB-PVR has internet radio access built-in.

Connections


With just one cable signal going to my mini-ITX box, there are a few limitations to my hardware that will let me watch live TV while recording. My options follow:

  1. I can record with the PVR-150, while watching the same channel I'm recording. This would work without splitting the cable connection.
  2. If I split the connection, I can record with the PVR-150, but also watch a different channel on my TV. Of course, I only have one cable box, so I need to decide if I want either the PVR or my TV to see all channels on the cable box.
Setup 1 will limit me to recording anything below channel 100. This will be good but won't let me get all the channels I would like. I won't need the IR blaster, so configuring the system should be straight forward. Setup 2 is better - I'll be able to watch/record from my PVR anything that my cable box can see. Of course, if I want to watch something above channel 100, I'll be forced to watch it through my mini-ITX box. This isn't a problem, because the video quality through my mini-ITX box is great. This setup will require the IR blaster, and take slightly more effort to get going.
Required Software


Off the top of my head, here's a list of drivers and software that I installed on the system. They are listed in their installation order: I probably screwed up the install order. Am I missing anything?

Other PVR software packages are available. Wikipedia has a good PVR software comparison page which compares OS compatibility as well as cost.

Configuring GB-PVR


After I installed GB-PVR, the first thing I ran was the Config program. When you open Config you'll see a bunch of tabs that take you to a myriad of configuration options. The second tab is labeled "Capture Sources" and is the most critical setup section required to get things up and running.

Click the "Add" button to create your first capture source. You can name the source whatever you would like, but you should be fairly specific if you plan on having more than one capture source.

My first setup was the most basic, and my PVR-150 was connected directly to a cable line from the wall (bypassing my cable box). I set the recording source to "Direct Recording Plugin", then specified the settings. My card type was the "Hauppauge PVR150", and the corresponding board number was "Capture Device #1". Because my PVR150 connects directly from an active cable line (no cable box connection), I set the source to "Internal Tuner" and set the tuning to "Cable". Make sure the "Constant Channel" field is greyed out, or you might find that all channels but the one specified are snowy. Select the OK button to save the settings of your recording source.

Next, set up your EPG source. This is the handy-dandy place that GB-PVR's guide will use to tell you what time the next episode of South Park is coming on. I like to use Zap2it Labs. You'll have to register through their website which is mostly interested in your zip code. Your zip code is required to get a list of your local TV listings. After you register, goto the settings button, and punch in your user name and password for Zab2it Labs. Set the update field to about 3 or 4, so GB-PVR will automatically download the up-to-date TV listings every couple of days. Hit the OK button to save your settings, and then update the listings by selecting the "Update EPG" button. This can take a long time (depending upon your excitement level), so be patient! I think my system took a good 15 minutes the first time I updated the EPG.

Before you close up the Config utility, make sure you go to the "Directories" tab to set up the location where you want your recordings to drop into. You may also want to set GB-PVR to full screen mode under the "General" tab.

When you're all done, go ahead and run GB-PVR. If you run into any problems specific to GB-PVR, you may want to check out the GBPVR FAQ. Of course, the guys behind BYOPVR have tons of general knowledge about getting things set up. Good luck!!

Additional Software


Real VNC (www.realvnc.com/) - a remote access program for when you remember to record a show, but don't want to interrupt the person who's watching old-fashioned TV; also good for general system configuration and maintenance.

Software Tweaks


I configured GB-PVR so it would start up in full-screen mode. I also dropped a shortcut for it under "Start-Up" in Windows. This way, if the mini-ITX box is turned off, a simple bush-button-power-on will take me to the opening GB-PVR screen.

Wishes, Bitches, and Complaints


Maybe I still don't have things configured correctly, but I'm going to share my complaints and wishes anyway. Here are some things I still need to straighten out: My wish list:
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