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[xian]

Should I :
buy a basic Hauppage card and use MC as my PVR (it can do all that, right? Pause, record, etc?)
buy a smarter card that comes with PVR software
buy TiVo and give up on the PC approach?

Answers on a postcard please...

[TimB]

Buy a TiVo its so much more!

-=Tim=-

[crowfan]

I totally agree.

I tried going the PC route and it was a hassle. Plus, it's really just a big dumb digital VCR. TiVo is smart and can track shows/handle conflicts/etc. PC-based software just isn't there yet.

Now that HMO is included for free, you can so easily integrate it with MC! My vote is for TiVo, hands down.

Enjoy

crow

[rocketsauce]

Also, I believe that you can get 10% more off of a new TiVo until the end of the month. Plus, the monthly subscription for a second TiVo just went down to $6.95/month (from $12.95). Buy the one with the most capacity you can afford.

If you're still thinking about a pc-based pvr, this site might be helpful:

http://www.byopvr.com/

Rob

[rjcrum]

TiVo....beyond a shadow of a doubt.

[skeeterfood]

SageTV 2.0 looks pretty promising (http://www.sage.tv/) for a PC based TiVo like solution.  For about $180 (packaged with a tuner and remote) + a computer with a big hard drive (you've already got that right ) you've got a subscription free service...

I personally have a Panasonic ShowStopper (OEM'ed ReplayTV) today and I love it, but I'm considering going the SageTV route in the future, since the ShowStopper unit ties me to a land phoneline and a new broadband unit requires a monthly fee or $300 lifetime subscription + its cost...

-John

[paulr]

I use SageTV 2.0 with a Hauppage PVR 350 and love it.  I believe it does everything a TiVo does, plus more.  Not having an additional piece of hardware is a bonus too.

- It will, if you turn the option on, learn from your preferences and automatically record shows for you (I don't use this option).  
- When scheduling recordings, you can set it to record 'new', 'new and rerun' or 'rerun only'.  
- It will automatically handle conflicts and reschedule shows when necessary.  It also allows you to set priorities for shows you want recorded - when possible it will shift the recording of a lower priority show to a later date in order to capture the higher priority show.  
- There's no monthly fee.
- Can import videos from other sources into its library
and more...

[rocketsauce]

paulr,

from http://www.byopvr.com/Sections+index-req-viewarticle-artid-5-page-2.html

I read this about the PVR 350:

...BUT there is a caveat regarding the display of menus/OSD through the TV out on the 350. This functionality is NOT quite totally supported across the board yet (only CVS versions of MythTV with special IVTV/xfree86 patch (linux) driver, Beta GB-PVR (windows), and Beta SageTV) support displaying OSD/desktop through the PVR 350's tv out). To clarify, the TV out on the PVR 350 works fine with all software but it will ONLY show the source material, you will not see the on screen displays (OSD) or menus or your desktop... which makes it hard to interact with you PVR if you can't see the menus.

Have you found this to be a problem or is it even still a problem?

Rob

[xian]

But if I had a Hauppage 350 card, SVideo out from the PC itself and MediaCenter, could I not do everything that TiVo does?

[TimB]

But if I had a Hauppage 350 card, SVideo out from the PC itself and MediaCenter, could I not do everything that TiVo does?

Not in my opinion.

-=Tim=-

[kiwi]

Do any of the computer programs allow you to control a cable box?  i have digital cable and I believe that i need to use my cable box to get those channels.  I am assuming that one would have to purchase the IR transmitter.

kiwi

[paulr]

Have you found this to be a problem or is it even still a problem?

Rob,

If I am not mistaken, the guys over at SageTV worked out *most* of the kinks in 2.0.  There were some issues with there being 2 different versions of the PVR 350 card (I think those have been resolved), and some people were having difficulty with the OSD on Intel motherboards.  Looking through their message board, it seems that some still have some lockups with Intel MB's, but there are some new Hauppage drivers that are supposedly helping.

I have not yet finished my HTPC, so I am running SageTV and my PVR 350 on my 'normal' PC at the moment and it's not hooked up to a TV.  So, I can't really say one way or the other except by watching the threads concerning the issues on the Sage forums.

[rocketsauce]

Thanks paulr.

I've had a 40 hour TiVo since the beginning of the year. I've really been wanting to add a larger hardrive, but I can't decide if I should just wait and build my own pvr instead. I guess I've got a little research to do.

Rob