What is the best (and cheapest) way to build my own computer to be an HDTV DVR for my home theater?
asked:
I want to be able to record as much over the air HDTV programming on a computer to use as my DVR. Most of the TV shows I watch are on network TV and I don’t want to pay the extra bucks to upgrade my satellito to HD programming. Converting to HD programming via Satellite or Cable is too costly when I all the shows I like are free in the first place.
I want to be able to record as much over the air HDTV programming on a computer to use as my DVR. Most of the TV shows I watch are on network TV and I don’t want to pay the extra bucks to upgrade my satellito to HD programming. Converting to HD programming via Satellite or Cable is too costly when I all the shows I like are free in the first place.
Go to the store
You can build a 2005 Media Center Edition Computer. Graphics Card and CPU don’t need to be the best. A Pentium 4 3.0GHz with hyperthreading is enough power. An ATI 9800Pro graphics card is big enough. You don’t need to spend alot on these to watch HDTV. You buy the software (OEM) 2005 Windows Media Center Edition. You would also need a tv tuner card, ATI 550 Theatrix Pro and the HDTV tuner, ATI HDTV Wonder. Western Digital makes large harddrives 320GB to 500GB. You might also want to buy an Audio/Video Receiver with optical inputs for sound.
You can record all HDTV programing with an electronic TV guide such as the Titan TV Media Center program.
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You will need a video capture card for the DVR portion of this, there may be a HDTV video capture device out there, now that “Blue-Ray” DVD is coming around. Then you would have to have a “Blue-Ray” DVD burner to get true HDTV quality onto a DVD from your HDTV DVR. Most of the free HDTV broadcasts are live sporting events, or “live” programs, or stuff on PBS. Some standard HBO sporting events are broadcast in HD.