This is great info. But I definitely think that you're a much bigger hardware freak than me because I was thinking of replacing the COX DVR box I have with something equivalent but with more of a coolness factor. I also wanted something where I could expand and add features to myself. I like these Linux software solutions that can be installed on a pc. Some of the features I wanted to add would be to install apache and build a web interface to feed the box torrent files and it would go download them and display in the dvr list when complete. As far as what it NEEDS to do is just basic dvr stuff. I can't live without dvr even though torrents are a good thing but nothing beats having a show ready to watch right when you get home.
As I buy the hardware and start setting it up I will keep posting to the group to give everyone my opinions on the software or related items. Thanks, ------------------------------------------ Ali Mesdaq Security Researcher II Websense Security Labs http://www.WebsenseSecurityLabs.com ------------------------------------------ -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Winterlight Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2007 1:37 PM To: The Hardware List Subject: Re: [H] Homemade DVR suggestions This assumes you aren't contemplating a "Media Center and strictly want to record TV... and we are not talking HD. The most important thing here is the CPU, and a Intel P4 or above is the only one for this job. For encoding the faster the better. AMD just doesn't do as well with this. For basic recording and editing out commercials 2GB of RAM, and a quick 72K drive works great. You don't need RAID unless you are planning on making your own movies with your own 3D graphics... that sort of thing. Any decent video card will do for TV recording, and commercial editing. I am still using a Matrox G450 for exactly this job, and it works great with a P4 3.4Ghz and 2GB of RAM, a Hauppage TV tuner and USB2 DVR with 1.6TB of drive space in four drives. The great thing about the Matrox is DVDMAX. When enabled on a dual head all you do is play video from any media app and it will output perfectly to your TV. No adjusting ..nothing. Perfect every time. I also use a dual Xeon 3.056Ghz with 4GB of RAM, a AIW 800XT and Raptor drives.... but there is no real difference in the output.... other then encoding speed, of course. For regular TV broadcast recording I use a collection of AIW and a USB2 Hauppage TV tuner. Surprisely there is very little difference between the ATI and the Hauppage. What does make a difference is the souce. Recording from a Digital cable box into the Line In Jacks does a superior job to any PC turner out there. Things like Hardball, Charlie Rose I record on the Hauppage or AIW to watch on the PC or outputted to my TV. Things I want to keep and turn into a DVD I recorde from the Digital Cable box into the In Jacks of the All in Wonder. Just about any name brand PC TV turner will come with it's own remote. They all suck but start there because maybe that is all you will need. One thing you will want is a huge amount of storage space. DVR is a black hole of GBs. Get it now, or get it as you go along, but you will get it. Operating system you want XP PRO or better. AIW only works with XP so you can pick one up used cheap. However, if you want to build a video editing workstation that is second to none then consider this 12k baby! http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2145632,00.asp June 13, 2007 Build a Content Creation Workstation By Loyd Case Creating content is a huge business. Whether it's developing special effects for Hollywood blockbusters, video and PC games, or just the web, productivity is the key. We'll be discussing how to build your own content creation workstation. Along the way, we'll build one very high-end system, but we'll also discuss alternatives along the way to either reduce cost, improve flexibility, or target specific types of applications. The focus today, though, is on content creation. While the system we build may be well suited for CAD (computer aided design) or CAE (computer aided engineering), it's not optimized for those applications. Rather, we're going to talk about 3D content creation, with an added side trip discussing video editing and rendering. Most of the applications we'll be looking at are optimized for multi-threading, and can generally take advantage of multiple CPU cores. We'll also take a look at the effect of using accelerated 3D (versus software rendering) for actual creation and editing. Pure rendering of the final scenes, of course, are software generated. That may change over time, as high end graphics accelerators begin to look more like general purpose CPUs. Today, however, the traditional model means creating and editing interactively, then rendering offline. With these thoughts in mind, let's take a look at the components first, discuss the building process, then talk about performance. Continued... At 01:01 PM 6/21/2007, you wrote: >I am sure some of you guys have made some homemade DVR computers. I am >looking for suggestions for hardware, software, and anything else >related. I have never made one and pretty much have no idea of what's >required except I am pretty sure a HD is needed haha. Not looking to >break the bank but if there were cool enough features I might spend >more if its worth it. Right now I have a cox rented DVR and it >integrates with the channel guide which is a pretty big thing so I >would want that functionality. I also like the idea of accessing the >videos/control remotely like on my phone or laptop. > >Thanks, >------------------------------------------ >Ali Mesdaq >Security Researcher II >Websense Security Labs >http://www.WebsenseSecurityLabs.com >------------------------------------------
