[BC] Tuners and PVRs

[Broadcast List]

This is easy.

Buy a Apple MacPro, and as many Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus or HD HomeRun
receivers as you want to record simultaneous channels.  Actually, you
CAN use the EYE TV Hybrid TV tuner but it moves some of the internal
processing out to software on your computer.  Then again, it will
work on a laptop, which may be good for on the road recording.

Of course you can use lesser computers, depending on how far you plan
to take it.  If you want to record six stations at once you need a
fairly powerful computer.  If you only want to record one, you can
get by with an old G3 or G4.  If you plan to have a busy machine on
Thursday night, you should consider hardware RAID 5 for both speed
and reliability.
<http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/250plus/ product1.en.html>

If you want to record a whole lot of channels at the same time, just
beef up the computer.

My current plan is to buy a dual - quad processor MacPro (8 core),
basic, low end machine, and add to it on my own.  I plan to put
plenty of memory in it (it will take 32 Gig, though it is not a
supported configuration) and I plan on hardware RAID 5, with the
largest big drives I can find at a reasonable price.  I still need to
figure out what drives to install.

If you don't want to use Mac OS X.5, go with some sort of Unix.  You
don't want to use Windoz for a DVR for several reasons, but the
biggest is the DRM in Vista will likely come around and bite you in
the future.  Micro$oft is putting all kinds of DRM into the OS in
order to roll out some future business enterprises, which include
music and movie "rentals."

As for scheduling the recordings, use TitanTV.  <http:// 
www.titantv.com/>  It works well with the Elgato tuners on the Mac.
Their web site has information on computer tuners and how to set it
up, including Windoz.

Because you have "built it yourself" you WILL have an Ethernet port,
and you can download video over the Internet, and rip and serve up
DVDs if you wish.  It will all play well with Apple TV so you can
ship your DVR video all over your house using Ethernet or WiFi.  You
can also view it on the road using a SlingBox.  <http:// 
www.slingmedia.com/>  I have yet to buy one of these, though I plan
to soon.

ONCE I have a SlingBox running, I am hoping to get someone in Las
Vegas to exchange broadcast video with me.  I want to be able to
watch Las Vegas TV in the DC area (or when I am on the road), and
will "trade' the service with someone there.  We will see.

Comcrap -- er, Comcast now has many digital channels using ClearQAM.
The Elgato HD HomeRun decodes those channels off cable without a
cable box.  I find this interesting and hope to try it out soon.

If you want more information, contact me directly.

--chip

From: "Harold Hallikainen" <harold at hallikainen.com>
>To reduce the number of boxes sitting under the TV, I'd like a 
>DVR  with ATSC tuner that will drive this TV. We don't have CATV or 
>DBS, but,  instead, use an outside yagi antenna on a rotor. It'd be 
>nice if it also had an Ethernet interface for showing online video 
>and for configuration through a web browser (instead of having to 
>navigate numerous menus through an IR remote control). It also 
>should have a DVD (perhaps high
>definition) drive to, again, reduce the number of boxes.
>
>So, what do you guys suggest for such a box? Or should I build my own?