Aardvark PVR Project (HTPC/TIVO)

[haytona]

Personal Video Recorder

This is a page that has just had an update (about 30mins ago) and makes an interesting read.
PVR Project (http://www.aardvark.co.nz/pvr/)

I haven't done any of this but it interests me and I was just wondering about other peoples experiences/comments on this article.

[Grrr!!]

I like the idea but all this advantage pimping is making me sick.

If I were to do the project I'd use this hardware:

SN40 Shuttle Cube (nForce II IGP/MCPT) - Provides motherboard, sound, video, cool small case, cooler and firewire.

TV Out add-in for shuttlecube

Leadtek TV2000XP TV Tuner - TV/FM tuning, TV In.

Duron CPU

256MB RAM

An 80GB (or greater) 5400RPM HDD

DVD/CDRW combo

Wireless mouse/keyboard.

Connect the lot to a projector or a large TV, and some nice speakers.

I really don't see that point of using a high end CPU for this kind of task. One of those VIA EPIA boards could probably do the job fine.

[Agent666]

the only advantage to a faster cpu is that you will be able to encode to another format at realtime without dropping frames...... which is what I thought the whole idea of this setup was to encode tv on the fly to a compressed format.

[haytona]

but what about the software?

[paul rhee]

my current HTPC is consist of :

Athlon XP1800+
MSI KT7-266PRO Ru2 (KT266A + RAID)
60g Seagate Baracuda
256mb DDR ram
ATi Radeoun 64 DDR ViVo
Leadtek XP2000 TV
Lian Li PC 6039A
Wireless KBD/MOUSE
6X Samsung DVD

- near perfect sky decoding
- Games
- PSX emulator
- Divx Box
- MP3 BOX
- DVD Player
etc..

[Grrr!!]

Originally posted by paul rhee

- near perfect sky decoding


So what software are you using for sky?

A pm might be a safe option ... mods don't like people talking about illegalities on these fora.

[Gremlin]

make that two PM's I'm curious if nothing else.

PVR Software two good options

www.snapstream.com
www.showshifter.com (my fav atm)

or just buy it all premade for possible less than whats reccomended in that article http://www.digitalpowerhouse.biz/evolution_info.htm approximate price NZ$ 1500