What is the cheapest way I can make a pvr? I'd like it to be under $300 and able to do these things:

1. Watch Television
2.Record Live TV
3. Live TV Features (Pause, Rewind, Fast Forward, Etc)
4. Interactive TV Listing (With Recording)
5. Record & Watch Different Channels/Record two things at once

I'm probably going to use MythTV, but I've never even seen a Linux machine or built a computer (or anything else for that matter). If you have made a machine with these features please tell me what you used and how much it cost.

First off, MythTV kicks ass; you won't be sorry with it once you get it up and running. It will do everything on your list and much more. To do #5 on your list, you will require an additional video capture card. I think Mythtv supports up to 6.

I think you're not going to do it for that money. I modeled mine after this post by Elliot. Here's what I got, and what I spent:

A7N8X-VM ($95)
AV/S Bracket ($15)
350W dynapower PS ($35)
160 gig seagate drive ($125)
SILENTBOOST A1889-1 RT heatsink/fan ($27)
Athlon 1900+ (free since it was from my old PC)
512 meg crucial PC2100 (free since it was from my old PC)
PVR-250 w/ remote control ($135)
Cooler Master ATC-620-BX1 ($99)

...guess mine was about $530, add another $150 for the chip/RAM.

You can do it cheaper, but it's tough to cut costs on the hardware -- tend to get what you pay for quality wise. As an example, the PVR-250 has an onboard MPEG-2 encoder which is very nice as it frees up CPU cycles on the encoding end. Plus you don't have to transcode anything since it goes directly to MPEG-2. If you don't care about capping to MPEG-2, you can go with a WinTV card (or in your case a pair of them). I can't tell you how those work since I haven't used them. I think you have to transcode the resulting shows to another format (perhaps someone else in here can comment...)

The A7N8x-VM has onboard everything (LAN/Video/TV Out/Sound) which will save you some money.

Decoding w/ the 1900+ only uses 10%-12% of the CPU, so there's tons of cycles left. I suppose you could get a cheaper chip, but why? The cheapest Athlon XP is a 1500+ which sells for $44. For another 6 bucks you're up to a 1900+.

You could save some cash on the choice of case, but the one I got looks like a stereo component, so the wife doesn't complain about it -- in fact, she likes it since it blends in with the rest of the stereo stuff -- that alone was worth the extra money. Here's a nice review of the case for interested parties: http://www.dansdata.com/atc620.htm

You could save some money on the HD I think, but depending on what quality settings you use to capture, that space can fill up quickly. For example, a 60 minute MPEG-2 stream (5000 kbps/7500 kbps max which looks very good on a 32") and audio to 320 kbits takes up about 2.4 gigs.

Anyway, off my soapbox! If you do manage to do it for less, post what you bought and how much you paid for it.

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Retired KM user (R4 - R6.04); friend to LH users.

I agree I'm pretty sure that can't be done for under $300. If you only wanted one recording maybe. the problem is you either have to get a big processor to run two software cards or you can get by with a low end processor if you buy hardware cards. And in either case you will have to have two cards to do what you want.

The cheapest anyone has really put together a complete end to end system was for just under $400. It's in the hardware section, and it only has one tuner card.

I have to add my two cents here!

I have a miro PCTV card that I bought in 1997. Dusted it off, plugged it in, fiddled with options for the bttv kernel mod, and got it working!

Unfortunately I couldn't get things working right with two tuner cards (pctv and pvr350) to record two shows or record one and watch live TV. I'll wait until i'm more of a grizzled veteran before I try the two-card system again.

I'll put the old pctv card in and old AMD K6 bought used for $100 and just see how it works! If it works, great! I'm a cheapskate who likes to see what can be pulled off with cheap old or used HW.

Although I'm in the UK (and therefore dont use $!) I'm sure that $300 is a bit of a short budget for 2 capture cards!

I'd definately recommend going for 2 hardware cards rather than a faster CPU. If you keep the CPU slow you can remove the need for extra fans and therefore noise which can play an important part if its sitting in your living room!

I'd also recommend a 5400RPM hard disk (obviously bigger is better) but the noise and extra power requirements a 7200RPM drive - can also be a limiting factor. 5400RPM is more than adequate to cope with 2 or 3 live streams at once.

For instance, this is from www.ebuyer.co.uk and includes V.A.T....

PcChips M848ALU SKT A SIS 748 400 DDR AGPx8 ATA133 6CH Sound/lAN/USB 2.0 Upto a 3.2+ CPU = £24.66

AMD DURON 1.4 200FSB CPU - OEM = £27.02

Speeze EEA01B2 Hawkstream AMD CPU Cooler - Xp2100+ = £5.87

Crucial 256 DDR266 PC2100 DIMM = £28.01

Maxtor 540DX-4D 80Gb UIDE100 12ms 5400rpm =£45.34
(This would give you enough to record about 35 hours of video @ 2Gb/hr)

You choice of case £25!

Subtotal = £155.90 (inc. vat!) (about $275)

Now add on your PVR card (or two)....
Hauppauge Win TV PVR350 PCI Hardware DVD Encoder = £123.29 ($218)

Obviously you can shop around and get better/worse prices but these are just a general guide (for UK anyway!).

So your looking at around £280 for a single PVR350 unit or £400 for a dual setup.

I have to disagree with that first statement. The HSF I'm using is very quite. I cannot hear it sitting on my couch when the box is about 12 feet away on my entertainment center. The box also has 2 x 80 mm fans in the PS and 1 x 60 mm fan in the case that I cannot hear.

Plus, (at least in the AMD Athlon world). The slower CPUs (tbirds) run hotter than the faster ones (bartons). For example, an older 800 MHz tbird idles around 42C; my new 2800+ barton (2090 Mhz) idles at 34C... both using the same model cooler... this might be different with Intel chips? I haven't used one since 1997.

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Retired KM user (R4 - R6.04); friend to LH users.

My comments were just a generalisation about CPU's in general. I've currently got an old P3-800 running MythTV and that does not have a fan at all (large heat sink) so obviously theres no noise there! Just a single quiet case fan. Although the CPU is runs warm its not near any danger thresholds even when under stress.

You know the actual cost for this PS for BB is like $7

HEH

...what's BB? Best Buy? I wouldn't shop at best buy if you gave me a $10 discount card. Overpriced, under schooled, stocks crap... I'm so angry I can't form a coherent sentence

...that place is for chumps who don't know about pricewatch.

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Retired KM user (R4 - R6.04); friend to LH users.

Well the brand he was talking about "dynamax" is a product released by best buy.

oops, that was a typo in my part. I meant to write, DynaPower. Dyanamax makes high performance exhaust systems for cars and trucks

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Retired KM user (R4 - R6.04); friend to LH users.

Thanks all. I'll start w/ one tuner. I can always add a second one later.


Where did you get a linux computer for $100?! Ebay?