How To Turn Your Computer Into a DVR
It’s not as daunting as you think
Long gone are the days of dealing with videotapes in order to record your favorite television programs (80s kids know what I’m talking about). You can now buy a device that will do the same task in just a few clicks of a remote control. Yet, even in today’s digital climate, there are complications that come with such convenience.
The main issues one may have with a digital video recorder (DVR) is that you’re stuck with whatever capabilities come included with the device. That, on top of the additional charges tacked on to your monthly ISP bill, can turn people away altogether. So why not just build your own?
Building your own DVR is not as daunting as one may believe. With a few pieces of off-the-shelf equipment, you can forego paying the monthly service fee that generally accompanies the use of such a feature.
Not only that but since you’ll be doing it yourself, you’ll have the capability of modifying the tech whenever you feel the need. This includes expanding the storage base through hard drive upgrades and tweaking the user interface to something more easily navigable.
A DVR is essentially just a hard drive, with the ability to interface with your TV, and some accompanying software that helps you take control. So, quit paying for the monthly feature when you could put an old desktop computer to good use instead.
How To Turn Your Computer Into a DVR
To establish a base for your new DVR, you’re going to want to dust off an old computer orbuy a refurbished oneyou can get on the cheap. If you have any plans to expand in the future or install newer components, a PC is the way to go.
You could use a laptop but it’d be difficult to update as most are very limited in the expansion department. A Mac is also a decent choice but a PC will normally have far more available options.
Recording standard definition (SD) videos won’t require much in the way of power. Recording and watching high definition (HD) videos or Blu-ray is a different beast entirely. The higher the definition, the more power will be needed.
When setting up your DVR, you’ll want to pay attention to a few specific parts.
Unlike most TVs today, a TV capture card comes with its own tuner to receive television signals. Top of the line capture cards will have onboard processors that are capable of handling all of the signal encodings. This will take a lot of stress off of the computer’s main processor so look to purchasing one.
When looking into the specifics of your video capture card, it’s important to look for one capable of accepting an MPEG-2 transport stream in both DBV and ATSC. These cards are sometimes referred to as digital hardware cards and are the better version of video capture cards seeing as most TV is broadcast digitally rather than analog anymore.
Most video capture cards are either peripheral component interconnect (PCI) or PCI-Express cards and can fit into slots on the motherboard of your computer. There are also video capture devices that can take up a USB 2.0 slot if you’d prefer that route.
When it comes to the software needed to run a DVR, there are plenty of options available. Some of these options are even free for use. Your chosen video capture card might even come with its own DVR software that you can choose to use or not. So long as you like the software, it can save you time and money looking for additional software.
The software options you have are determined by the operating system you’ve settled on. The Linux operating system hasMythTV(free option) orSageTV. SageTV can also be used for the Windows OS which is useful if you’ve chosen todual boot the two operating systems.
Windows also has access to GB-PVR (free) andBeyondTV. Mac users will find eitherElgato’s EyeTVor Miglia’s EvolutionTV the best bang for their buck. Then there isNextPVRwhich works on all three.
This is yet another personal choice as user interface and customization are really all that differ between the applications. Some will require an internet connection in order to send programming information to your DVR whereas others may use a web browser.
Enjoying The Fruits Of Your Labor
After connecting all internal components and installing the software, connect the newly assembled DVR to your TV.
Former US Army IT communications specialist who began his online blogging career in 2016. Joseph has over 10 years experience in the IT industry as both an analyst and communications expert. He’s a night owl and an avid Red Bull consumer who spends most of his downtime enthralled by online gaming and website building.Read Joseph’s Full Bio
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