PartyN

Is there a software product for PC's that will work similar to TiVo?

It doesn't have to have all the TiVo features, just let me tell it to record X-channel at Y-time for Z-length. More like a VCR. It seems like a TV-tuner card and some software to record in .mpg. .avi, or .asf would do it.

Thanks in advance for your help!

MontanaXVI

you hit the nail on the head, a tuner card...most come with some sort of software that lets you do just this.

my TV Wonder comes with ATI's software center which lets you have a guide just like your home TV to see whats on etc and you can use it to program what time to record, along with different settings on ecord quality.

I am not happy with my TV Wonder VE and am looking for an AIW or something

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nothingx

If you're a really hardcore hacker (and I hope you are ) you should check out Freevo and MythTV. Both are Linux applications that turn any old* PC into a TiVo unit. They're totally free too. All you need is the video capture hardware, like one of those WinTV cards available from BestBuy and Buy.com for a little over $100. Real TiVo units run a Linux kernel, which makes these projects extremely cool to me.

Oh, and there's some comercial Widnows products out there too. Can't think of the names of them off the top of my head though.


* Your processor needs to be pretty quick if you're going to do any realtime compression and decompression. It's best to get one of those video capture cards that will do the MPEG2 compression in hardware so that you can free up your CPU.

JohnnyRoyale

One warning. If you have digital cable, I'm not sure the TVWonder can be tuned to a specific channel, I think it's setup for analog cable only.

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BulletCatcher

You'd be correct. The TVWonder can tune up to 155 channels but it's straight analog. Also the quality of picture can vary widely between channels. I can receive some channels full screen that are as clear as watching on a regular TV but others become seriously distorted and snowy if the screen size is set higher than medium (about 1/2 of the monitor size).

PartyN

Thanks to everyone for the great advice. I have a line on a Leadtek WinFast TV2000 for $69US that looks like it will do the trick. Even burn a copy to CD or DVD.

I like the idea of building a TiVo from an old computer, but without digital cable, the TV2000 should get me started at low cost.

http://www.leadtek.com/multimedia/wi..._expert_1.html

sailor

What he said. I built a PVR from MythTV a few months ago--it works great. Definitely not something to do unless you are looking for a project, but it was fun--and works well to boot.

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Cocktopus

I've been thinking about doing that with hauppage dvr350. What card and distro did you use? Any advice?

sailor

I used a cheap WinTV Radio off of eBay, and used a prebuilt distro called KnoppMyth, which is basically a Knoppix install customized for MythTv--basically, its Debian.

As for advice, be patient, and know how to work a message board, you will probably be frequenting them for help. Its a lot of fun though.

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phunktastic

I have my comp turned into one

Using Gentoo Linux, Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250, and MythTV. Works great! Not too hard to set up, just follow instructions.

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Cocktopus

Thanks for the info, I'll check it out