TIVO or Media Center PC

[gadget]

I've been trying to talk my wife into getting TIVO instead if using the vcr for recording. She doesnt want to spend the $$$$ for the monthly subscription. I've been looking at building a media center pc with a tuner card. I've been looking at the Hauppauge pvr-250. Is it worth me trying to build a machine for this, or just beg and plead for the TIVO?

[GroovyDude]

I used to have two PVR-250s and Beyond TV running on a P4 2ghz. Worked great, but even with a remote that controlled everything but powering on the computer, my wife wouldn't touch it. I think she was always worried she would break it somehow. When we got DirecTv, we started using the receiver's dvr function. It's not as good as Beyond Tv's, but it is slightly more convenient. My rig is now powered off, but I haven't unhooked it since I can still use it to record stuff off my DirecTv PVR if I need to.

If you decide to build a media pc, I wouldn't get any less than a 2ghz cpu. If you get a card with a hardware Mpeg encoder, such as the PVR-250, you may be able to get away with a 1ghz since the encoding happens on the card.

[FozzyBear]

Don't have an opinion on which is better..... BUT, I would say watching TV without the DVR is hell.

In fact, we will watch something else on the DVR, while a show is recording, JUST so we can skip through the commercials later.

[GroovyDude]

Don't have an opinion on which is better..... BUT, I would say watching TV without the DVR is hell.

In fact, we will watch something else on the DVR, while a show is recording, JUST so we can skip through the commercials later.

Agreed. I rarely watch live tv anymore. You don't know how many times I'll walk in on a conversation about last nights show or some new movie preview that aired and I'm totally clueless. I'm usually running about 3 weeks or more behind the live tv schedule.

[Drayu]

We use our DVR function in the cable box. Sucks sometimes b/c the HD is SMALL and you can't transfer shows to anything other than a vcr, but it does the job. I would look into the cost of a PC vs the Tivo and present it to your wife that way. You may be able to get away with a little more power from your PC if you present the cost of TIVO and monthly cost :D That is what I would do, and then build a gaming rig to play on my HD TV :D

[gadget]

We use our DVR function in the cable box. Sucks sometimes b/c the HD is SMALL and you can't transfer shows to anything other than a vcr, but it does the job. I would look into the cost of a PC vs the Tivo and present it to your wife that way. You may be able to get away with a little more power from your PC if you present the cost of TIVO and monthly cost :D That is what I would do, and then build a gaming rig to play on my HD TV :D

Thats what I'm trying to do ;) A prepaid subscription for 1 year and the box is $179 ($14.5? a month). We just had twin boys in January so we both dont get to make it down to the computer room to often, it would be nice to have something upstairs in the living room to use.

Is there a big quality difference usinin a media pc over the TIVO?

I would go with a DVR cable box, but i dont want ot have to give my cable company any more money than i have to.

[Drayu]

I would assume the video quality is the same, depending on hardware specs. I would also assume that you have more control with a PC than TIVO in the area of upgrading and adding storage. As for the controls, I have heard TIVO is great, not sure what the PC equivalent would be, maybe some others can help you out there.

[GroovyDude]

With the media pc you can burn your recordings to DVD if you want.

[APOC]

You can actually transfer you tivo recordings to your pc over your network(there are wireless adapters if you have wireless so no need to run cords) and there is supposed to be a way to burn them to a DVD ive just been to lazy to try it. I love my tivo, ive had it about a year now and havent had any problems or complaints.

APOC

[gadget]

We'll see what happens. I just ordered the Hauppauge pvr-350.

[Stryker412]

We'll see what happens. I just ordered the Hauppauge pvr-350.

Too bad I saw this late. I would've told you to get the Nvidia DualTV. It's a dual tuner card and works extremely well in XP MCE. I also have a MD-130 for recording HD.

I can watch all of this through my XBOX360 MCE interface (if you have one).

[sir_digalot]

the problem with media center is i have not found any way of getting the HD to the PC to record, i.e. my sattelite has component output and hdmi, but i see no way of getting the hd system to my machine, but i did not want to pay for a DVR from direct tv when we setup the system so now i can either record in standard def on the pc ( not pretty on HD) or fork out for the hd dvr... the only hidef input cards i have seen are the other side of a $1000

[Stryker412]

the problem with media center is i have not found any way of getting the HD to the PC to record, i.e. my sattelite has component output and hdmi, but i see no way of getting the hd system to my machine, but i did not want to pay for a DVR from direct tv when we setup the system so now i can either record in standard def on the pc ( not pretty on HD) or fork out for the hd dvr... the only hidef input cards i have seen are the other side of a $1000

You can try these:

http://www.digitalconnection.com/Products/Cables/SCVM3R.asp

This is the card I have:
http://www.digitalconnection.com/Products/Video/mdp130.asp