DVR recommendations

cqmman · External Since: Jul 06, 2007 Posts: 1

Hello,

I want to replace my dead DVD recorder with a PC running either
Windows MC, or Ubuntu. Obviously I am leaning towards the 2nd!

My current setup is a satellite feed going into my Sky+ box. Then a
scart connection from there to my existing (dead) DVR. There is then a
video output direct to the TV, and also an output for Audio to the
home cimena system.

What I was thinking was this:

Ubuntu 7.04 workstation running on:
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150
AMD Athlon 64 4600+ X2 Dual Core Socket AM2,
Motherboard: Asus M2N-MX Socket AM2,
USB 2.0 Internal Card Reader (3.5"Black),
1394 PCI Adapter Card - Firewire,
built-in nVidia GeForce 6100 graphics,
Samsung 250GB Serial ATA II 8MB cache,
Kingston 1GB DDR2 667 PC2-5300 240-pin,
built-in audio,
ASUS WL-138g PCI adapter
Oh, and a DVD-RW

Is that hardware going to work (specifically the wireless card and the
TV card)?

In terms of software, what should I be using? MythTV? I don't need to
TV listing because I will have them on the Sky+ box, so this is really
just for recording to harddisk before cutting to DVD, or perhaps
sharing over my internal network to watch elsewhere in the house.

Will sound or video quality suffer over an existing DVR (say a
Panasonic or Sny with integrated disc)?

Cheers

Kevin Snodgrass · External Since: Oct 20, 2006 Posts: 43

cqmman wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I want to replace my dead DVD recorder with a PC running either
> Windows MC, or Ubuntu. Obviously I am leaning towards the 2nd!

MythTV. Search google, lots of info, including at least one LiveCD
called KnoppMyth. (Based on knoppix)

> My current setup is a satellite feed going into my Sky+ box. Then a
> scart connection from there to my existing (dead) DVR. There is then a
> video output direct to the TV, and also an output for Audio to the
> home cimena system.
>
> What I was thinking was this:
>
> Ubuntu 7.04 workstation running on:
> Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150

Consider using the PVR-350. Video out built in.

> AMD Athlon 64 4600+ X2 Dual Core Socket AM2,
> Motherboard: Asus M2N-MX Socket AM2,
> USB 2.0 Internal Card Reader (3.5"Black),
> 1394 PCI Adapter Card - Firewire,
> built-in nVidia GeForce 6100 graphics,
> Samsung 250GB Serial ATA II 8MB cache,
> Kingston 1GB DDR2 667 PC2-5300 240-pin,
> built-in audio,
> ASUS WL-138g PCI adapter
> Oh, and a DVD-RW
>
> Is that hardware going to work (specifically the wireless card and the
> TV card)?

Check the ivtv driver the bttv driver for compatibility. I'm guessing
the PVR-150 will use the ivtv.

> In terms of software, what should I be using? MythTV? I don't need to
> TV listing because I will have them on the Sky+ box, so this is really
> just for recording to harddisk before cutting to DVD, or perhaps
> sharing over my internal network to watch elsewhere in the house.

But MythTV is so much more. I don't use the TV listing (yet) since I
never got around to installing the IR stuff.

And why write to DVD? Stuff some 500GB drives in there and just play
back straight from the PC.

> Will sound or video quality suffer over an existing DVR (say a
> Panasonic or Sny with integrated disc)?

No idea, never used a DVR (or a dedicated DVD player). But my 3
PVR-250s and PVR-350 work perfect.

One question, does your Sky+ box have Firewire output? I read that it
is possible to record via Firewire and will be investigating that on my
Motorola DC62xx STB sometime...

JH · External Since: Jul 18, 2007 Posts: 2

On Fri, 06 Jul 2007 06:19:32 -0700, cqmman wrote:
> In terms of software, what should I be using? MythTV? I don't need to TV
> listing because I will have them on the Sky+ box, so this is really just
> for recording to harddisk before cutting to DVD, or perhaps sharing over
> my internal network to watch elsewhere in the house.

I've been using a DTV1000-T (DVB-T) and an old AthlonXP 2500 as the main
recording box for the last 6 months. MythTV is really very good but there
are a few niggles with the whole DVD recording thing. Having saved a
programme to disk, MythTV allows simple editing/commercial removal etc.
The resulting transcoded file must then be replexed prior to burning to
DVD. All quite simple when you get into it, but large files, 10GB+, take
time to deal with and require lots of space. If the mpeg2 file is sourced
from DVB, audio sync problems will have to be addressed at the replex
stage.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the resulting DVD material, at worst you
can expect broadcast quality discs. The problem is that of time and effort
required to create that disc, it's just not like stuffing a tape in a VCR
and letting it record.