Homebrew DVR

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I don't think its possible with store-bought technology to build a DVR out of a computer that is compatible with voom. It's possible with OTA, so I guess you could get your networks.
 
I'm using Snapstreams Beyond TV 3 to record V* on my HTPC with an IR blaster to change the channels on the STB. It is working well. The ATI AIW 9600 does a good job although it is not HD the picture quality is excellent. The HD capture cards are new and not a great selection yet. I use the ATI tv scheduler to record my basic cable (no OTA here).

Snapstream
http://www.snapstream.com/Products/Products_PVS3.asp

ATI
http://ati.com/products/radeon9600/aiw9600pro/features.html

MyBlaster
http://www.mytvstore.com/
 
I was really just spitballing. Trying to see if anyone had played with it. I'm sure that recording a hi def show and playing it back at 480i or p would look pretty good still. At least DVD quality, but I'd still like to be able to record and play back in 1080i though.

If the hardware ever comes to fruition, I'd seriously consider building my own DVR instead of buying one. There seem to be so many other possibilities with them, although Voom's design sure looks nice.
 
astrossuperfan said:
well that'll teach me, sorry I gave you wrong info.
Click to expand...

I don't think you really gave wrong info. Technically, as far as my research shows, there isn't anything really available that will allow you to record at 1080i, play back at 1080i, AND be compatible with Voom's guide.

ATI has a video capture card that can record 1080i, but you can only play it back in a 1080i window on the monitor. There is no hi definition capable output. http://www.pchdtv.com/ has a hi def capture card, but it only works with OTA. I believe Hauppauge has an HD capture card but I'm not sure it will do anything other than OTA either.
 
dledeaux said:
ATI has a video capture card that can record 1080i, but you can only play it back in a 1080i window on the monitor. There is no hi definition capable output. http://www.pchdtv.com/ has a hi def capture card, but it only works with OTA. I believe Hauppauge has an HD capture card but I'm not sure it will do anything other than OTA either.
Click to expand...

What product does ATI have that can record HD? I was not aware of any product out there (sub $10,000) that can record and real-time compress HD video. And it only displaying on the monitor not a problem, as most tv's can be driven by a computer with little to no problems. I am currently watching TV on my screen from a PC with an NVidia GeForceFX 5200, running SageTV. Awesome quality, especially from HD sources... but, of course, it is not truly HD (though the DScaler does a really good impression of HD) The only consumer level products I've seen for HD capture are for either OTA only (tuner card that can send the compressed stream directly to disk) or cable/dish boxes with firewire on them that sends the compressed stream to the harddisk. Either of these COULD (in theory) work for an HD TiVo-like device, but neither would work with Voom.

As antoher note, what would REALLY make the computer DVR user happy would be some better way to control the channels on the Voom box than just IR. Serial communication would be perfect, like some directtv boxes have. The delay in switching channels makes surfing impossible from the SageTV box.
 
What products have you seen (even >$10,000) that can record real time HDTV component input and compress it? I would be interesting in reading up on them, I am sure they exist somewhere (TV stations have to use them)...
 
Those are the devices I am talking about, the broadcast systems. I cannot find prices at the moment, but I CAN find at least 4 different models. All are very similar, take in SDI video, encode it, and output the MPEG2 transport stream. Lots have extra bells and whistles, but they are all baout the same. The hard part is that they all take in SDI (a serial digital video format), which would have to be serialized from the component outputs. All of this is a MUCH too costly prospect since the broadcasters already have these things running and encoding it for you, you just have to have access to the MPEG stream. Some of the manufactures i know of are listed below.

http://www.jvc.com/pro
http://www.harmonicinc.com
http://www.tandbergtv.com
http://www.radynecomstream.com
 
I was able to find cards that take SDI and will record the stream compressed to disk. $2500 seems to be the new low price point.
 
Yes, and component to SDI is about $2500 making it possible for about $5K plus a computer with adequate bus bandwidth for the card $4K.
 
I used a MyHD card for about a year, before I upgraded my set to a model with a built-in tuner. Yes, it's geared towards OTA, or at least it was when I was using it. Had several benefits beyond being a good tuner. Performed DVR functions on all OTA HD stuff, and also accepted cable inputs. Passed digital audio out to a rcvr, AND would play DVDs at 1080i...not bad at all for a $250 card.


btw...mine's for sale, if anyone's interested :) :) :)

Lob
 
What on earth can do component to SDI? Just curious. Some kind of transcoder? The WVHS decks that are around can of course record analog 1080i. It's a decent quality, better than DVD but not as good as true digital recording. The new recording solution announced at AVS for D* and E* won't work because the Voom boxes use a 1 chip solution, so the mod can't be applied.

-MP
 
Well, I found the answer to my question... the AJA HD10A. At an MSRP of $2500. Yowsers ;). Even if you have a SDI capture card like the one from PMS Video (another $230) I'm not sure the bandwidth on your PCI bus could support it.
 
If you have $1,000 to burn, check out this thread, apparently they have a solution to connect any HD stb to a PC via a firewire/USB connector. Drawback is you can't view anything realtime, it becomes a HTPC and must be viewed through it.
 
It does not work with Voom. They tried. It requires a hack of the box, and Voom uses a different chipset than D* and E*.

-MP
 
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