Has anyone has any experience with one of these? I am looking to pick one up to watch and record TV to my hard drive with. Any suggestions on the hardware side and also the software?

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Stargate Gurus

I've used a Happauge WinTV tuner at my previous job.

Some general questions/comments:

1) Are you building your new DVR from scratch?
2) Are you building your new DVR from an existing machine?
3) Are you locked to any one Operating System.
4) Is your tv signal analog or digital?
5) Do you require a remote?

Okay the Happauge tuners are nice because they have a built in MPG encoder. This is a hardware encoder, which frees up your processor to handle other work which not as intensive.

Hard drive space, and your choice of encoding settings affect how long you can record. So obviously, the larger the drive the better. I would even recommend 2 hard drives. One small one for your operating system, and a large one to save your video. You could partition a single drive, but.. and this is a big but, you will still have your computer working the single hard drive for both the OS and the data. It's a personal performance issue.

Now, you can use the software that comes with a tv tuner cord for recording and playback. Most of the time the cards come with windows software. If you are not tied to windows, Linux has 2 options. One is Myth (Knopp myth is ready to go, pretty much), the other is Freevo (comes as an installable package (several formats) as well as source code. The call is all yours what to do. I plan on building a nice DVR from scratch before long and I am planning on Freevo, with a Happauge tuner.

Your signal is important. Don't buy an analog only card here in the US, as September 1, 2009 is the deadline for the switch to pure digital. Having an analog only card will require a converter box. You can purchase tuner cards that have both analog and digital, as well as FM audio tuners. Some have remotes, some don't. Just look around. But like i said, the hauppage (spelling stinks) has a hardware encoder. You may find some other tuner card brands with that, I'd not recommend a card without it.

Open for discussion from other sources.

Thanks for your response! I will start off by answering some of your questions.

1) Are you building your new DVR from scratch? No

2) Are you building your new DVR from an existing machine? Yes, I have updated my main computer with a portable HD, and I am thinking a RAM upgrade too.

3) Are you locked to any one Operating System. Yes Windows XP Home Edition

4) Is your tv signal analog or digital? 99% Sure it is analog although I do have a digital box, not too sure what you are asking though.

5) Do you require a remote? Doesn't really matter to me but I am looking for the most cost efficient way.

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Stargate Gurus

Hmm... do you just want your regular channels 1 2 3 4 [and 5 if you're lucky] or Freeview?
What's the signal strength like in your area?

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Thanks,
Ash
CF Founder
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