The ol PVR to tha DVR

So I finally spent a bit of time putting my PVR together this weekend.  Click this link and just skip the boring reading to just see it all.  A buddy and I have been trying to get this thing going for a while and now and I’m happy to say its finally complete.  Oddly enough I’m actually happy with the box.  Its sweet for a hack DIY thing.  PVR stands for Personal Video Recorder and DVR stands for Digital Video Recorder.  They both refer to any device that records tv shows for viewing at a later time.  This ain’t no VCR! (I like throwing in a little hick speak now and then.)  This thing will record every episode of any Tv show and you don’t even have be at the mercy of the TV guide.  Not that I ever was, but still.  My PVR can also automatically detect and skip commercials.  It’s worth reading that last little sentence again.  Never sit through another crappy TV ad again!

This is the first mod/case thingy I’ve ever built so its pretty hack.  At first I wanted to put my PVR into an old TV, but it just ended up being too small.  So I ended up jacking my friends case and using that.  The PVR consists of my old Dell Computer’s mobo (motherboard) and parts jammed into an old school radio.  It was pretty hard to fit all that crap in there.  I put in a bluetooth adapter so I can use a wireless keyboard and mouse with it.  I purchased an Hauppauge 350 card, an old radio, oh and the "software."  What a god damn pain in the arse!

My buddy and I decided that Linux was the way to go because it was A: free B: very stable and C: not windows.  Unfortunately it turned into a major pain in the ass to get going.  At one point I had a distro entitled Knoppmyth running Mythtv perfectly on my box.  I was stoked.  Of course I couldn’t just leave it, so I tried to add some functionality (tv web browser) and broke it.  I was never able to revive the Linux version.  Also, the wife wasn’t able to figure out how to use Linux and she needs her daily MSN fix.  Hence, the switch back to Windows.  So after reinstalling Windows XP Pro my buddy came over and essentially hacked together a working version of SageTv.  SageTv is not designed to work in Canada so my buddy geeked out on it and made it run.  So now my box sucks down a feed from Zap2it, which is essentially the digital program guide for the channels I get.  The program guide as well as the system clock gets automatically updated daily.  So I can now sit back on the couch and "surf the weeb" on the TV and watch my favorite show whenever.  Now if I can just get it to download podcast and video blog feeds.

Originally I was going to do a long ass how-to thing but if you’re into geeking out you’ll have more fun figuring it out for
yourself.

On a completely unrelated note:  Adam Curry played some drum cadences on his podcast recently and I really liked it.  I downloaded a whole bunch more and I have to say these cadence tracks are sweet!  Check out this 97 Big 8 FSU Drum Line.  Crank up the BASS yo.