Hi all just a bit of advice please,

I wanna build a PC that works like Tivo and SKY+ to a budget aswell what do u recommend

;)

Well, the software you'll need is called SHOWSHIFTER.

Haven't tried it myself, but I have a friend who was happy with Windows MCE (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/default.mspx) - although don't try and use a pirate version, there's too many online checks... He now uses Media Portal (http://mediaportal.sourceforge.net/) which (in his opinion) is the best of the free packages.

And no, this isn't a "my friend" to pretend I've not pirated it myself - I don't watch tv so it's of no interest to me. I keep nearly building a dvr box to play with the technology, but I remind myself I haven't used a VCR in the last 3 or 4 years :)

take a look at the pinnacle showcase 200 before deciding that a full pc is the way to go.

I want it to everything so a new system is the way to go,it gonna be connected in the living room next to the TV so i can do everything from my sette and will be networked to the other pcs in the next room,

how easy is it to connect to a tv,(sonytv&telewesttv)what sort of tv card will i need to record i have looked at sum but dont seem right sumhow dunno why:confused:

did you even look up the pinnacle? The only thing you won't be able to do with it is surf the web.
And since a tv isn't good enough to display that sort of resolution you won't want too anyway.

What about MythTV?

http://www.mythtv.org/

I keep on looking at it, but I've not seen a compatable Freeview DVB PCI card. But then, I've not looked recently.

I'd want to use it with one of these:
VIA EPIA SP 13000 LVDS Mini-ITX Motherboard.

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=444

Low wattage, TV out onboard and some other stuff.

K.

Originally posted by Cyclone
did you even look up the pinnacle? The only thing you won't be able to do with it is surf the web.
And since a tv isn't good enough to display that sort of resolution you won't want too anyway.
Did you mean the ShowCenter? I couldn't find a Showcase mentioned on Pinnacle's site. If so, it's not quite what he wants, it still requires a computer to stream the video from and then you need an extra tuner card in the computer if you actually want to record anything. Sounds a pretty klunky solution to me...

Not sure I'd recommend myth to someone who doesn't want to spend most of their life configuring it :) It's kind of been caught up by other programs now anyway, hasn't it?

that's the one.
Maybe i'm mistaken, I thought it did recording as well.

If not there's a kiss device which does the same as the showcentre + recording and timeshifting.

The Kiss DV-558 (http://www.kiss-technology.com/?p=558&v=users) does indeed look a nice bit of kit - seems to be a tivo with a bit of network connectivity built in. Just over £300... (for the 80GB version I assume)

I guess my main issue with something like that is upgradeability - it's easy to stick another hard drive in a pc but probably not in a dvr. And by the time you buy the 200GB version you could easily build a pc for the same money or less! Still, it looks a good solution for the "just works" approach :)

The only bit that looks a bit odd is this quote: Please note that original audio CDs, video CDs, and DVD videos cannot be copied down to the hard disk!. Shame if you can't just dump a copy of cds or dvds on there to have an electronic library...