DIY: Build a DVR PC

By now, most people have been exposed to life with a Digital Video Recorder (DVR). Whether it’s an official TiVo brand box or a TiVo knockoff from your local cable company, most folks realize the benefits of being able to pause live television, rewind a touchdown that you missed or schedule regular recordings of your favorite shows. In short, there’s no going back to life without a DVR.

As wonderful as they are, you probably know by now that not all DVRs are created equally. Are you at times frustrated with your DVR’s quirky behavior? Do you wish you had more storage space? Are you paying too much every month for your DVR service? If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, it’s time to consider turning your PC into a high definition DVR.

For the purposes of this article, I started with a 2.4GHz Dell tower which I purchased on Ebay for less than $200. Then, using the HDTV hardware requirements suggested by Snapstream’s BeyondTV DVR software as a guide, I began adding and upgrading key components to transform what was a competent workstation into a powerful home theater PC.

WARNING: Although nothing described here is particularly difficult, it should be noted that if the thought of cracking open your PC gives you the willies, this project may not be for you. If you’ve ever upgraded your system memory or installed a new hard drive, have no fear. Also, although you can use your PC DVR with cable or satellite, high definition recording is typically possible only from an off-air antenna. See Step 7 for more information.

With the disclaimers out of the way, let’s begin.



STEP 1: Power Supply

Like working on a car engine, most parts in a computer are dependent on other parts. Often, you can’t upgrade “Part A” without upgrading “Part B.” In this case, a power supply (PSU) upgrade is necessary to power the new video card we’ll be installing in Step 5. Most HD-capable video cards require 350 watts or more. Using the PSU selector on PC Power & Cooling’s Web site, I found the proper PSU for my Dell Optiplex GX260. Two screws and a few wire plugs were all that was needed to give my PC a quiet and efficient 410W power plant. Once you’ve turned on the PC to make sure it boots normally, shut it down and unplug.



STEP 2: Memory

Upgrading your system memory is one of the easiest things you can do to improve performance. If you’re going to be recording high definition video and you plan to have multiple applications running at any given time, I would recommend 2GB. Using the Memory Advisor tool at crucial.com, there was zero guesswork and I was able to max out my system’s memory capacity with two 1GB DDR chips. Installation takes less than a minute as the chips simply snap down into the motherboard’s memory slots. Boot your PC and make sure the new memory is recognized by the system. Then shut down and unplug.



STEP 3: Hard Drive

There are countless hard drive configurations you can use with your new PC. Some people prefer one drive with multiple partitions while others prefer multiple drives. In this case, my Dell came with a 40GB “C” drive running a legitimate copy of Windows XP Professional and little else. I decided to leave that alone and simply add a second drive to serve as my media repository. Using “cable select” jumper settings, I installed a massive 750GB Seagate Ultra ATA/100 internal drive. Once mounted and formatted, I launched Windows to make sure the Seagate was recognized and assigned it the drive letter “M.” (Note: SATA hard drives will perform better than ATA. I didn’t use one here because my Dell motherboard does not have SATA support.)



STEP 4: Wireless Internet

If this PC is going to be in your living room, or in your theater, or in my case the basement below the living room, you may not have Internet access in that location. If your router is nearby and you can connect with Ethernet cable, you can move on to the next step. However, if you don’t have easy access, you may require a wireless router and a wireless Network Interface Card (NIC) for your PC. In my case, I already had a wireless router for the home laptop so I only needed an inexpensive NIC. Most NICs plug into an available PCI slot and require a simple driver which should come with the card. Remember to install the directional antenna on the back of the card. Once you’ve tested your connection, shut down and unplug.



STEP 5: Video Card

When shopping for your video card, be mindful of its power requirements (see Step 1). You’ll definitely want a card with DVI output for a flexible, digital connection to your HDTV. I opted for an ATI Radeon X1650 Pro AGP with 512MB of on-board video memory. Unlike a basic video card installation where you simply plug the card into the AGP slot, high-end video cards such as the X1650 also require a direct connection to the power supply. A cable and instructions are included for making this additional but simple connection.

Once the card is installed, you’ll need to launch Windows and install your video card’s driver and software package. Instead of just loading the CD that came with the card, check the manufacturer’s Web site to see if a newer version is available for download. Once the software is installed, you’ll want to set output resolution to 720p or 1080i to best match the resolution of your HDTV. Once again, shut down and unplug.



STEP 6: Sound Card

If you want to get the most out of your high def broadcasts and DVD playback, you’ll want a sound card with the ability to digitally output 5.1 soundtracks such as Dolby Digital and DTS. I went with Creative’s Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeGamer as it’s affordable and installs easily into an available PCI slot. Once installed, I made a connection to my A/V receiver using a Monster toslink-to-mini optical cable. A standard toslink cable will not work because most sound cards only have room to provide a smaller “mini optical” port.



STEP 7: HDTV Tuner Card

Unlike a television, computers don’t typically come with an integrated TV tuner. That means you need to install a tuner card, typically in a PCI slot. I went with Hauppauge’s WinTV-HVR-1600 which features tuners for both NTSC (analog) and ATSC (digital) programming. Definitely look for a card that features a “hardware encoder” as it will be a more self-sufficient card and less demanding of your PC’s resources.

Most tuner cards can be configured to work with an external tuner such as a cable box or satellite receiver, but they will typically only record in standard definition from those sources. This wasn’t an issue for me since I’m only interested in free, off-air HDTV programming. Off-air reception works best with a rooftop antenna but you can also connect a small, indoor antenna if you live near a major city. Check out antennaweb.org for reception information at your location.

Once the tuner card was installed, I connected my rooftop antenna to the ATSC input, launched the included software and performed a channel scan to make sure everything was working. Once again, shut down and unplug.



STEP 8: DVD Burner

With all this hardware, it would be a shame if you couldn’t also use your PC as a deluxe DVD player. You can. However, DVD-ROM drives allow for playback only. In Step 11, we’ll be installing Snapstream’s BeyondTV DVR software. Thanks to Snapstream’s new “DVD Burning Plugin,” you can burn recorded television content onto DVD for archiving. To take advantage of this, I installed Lite-On’s 20X dual-layer drive with LightScribe technology. Installation is relatively simple and you can usually set the drive’s jumpers to “cable select” or “slave.” Launch Windows to make sure it sees the burner.

If you’re going to use the drive for DVD playback, this would be a good time to install a DVD playback package such as Cyberlink’s PowerDVD Ultra. Cyberlink’s software will also play HD DVD and/or Blu-ray Disc (BD) content if you opt to choose sides in the format war; doing so would require you to purchase an HD DVD or BD burner.



STEP 9: Firefly

Although you could use a keyboard and mouse to navigate the BeyondTV software, it’s much easier and more familiar to use a traditional remote control. That’s why Snapstream created Firefly, an RF-based wireless remote that looks and acts like any cable box remote. Plus, it’s got the same name as the greatest television series of all time so it must be good, right? Actually, it works rather well and there’s even an online forum where you can find loads of tips for customizing this versatile device.

Although the Firefly remote works great with BeyondTV, it’s a bit cumbersome to use as a mouse. Also, now that you’ve got Internet access and an HDTV, it would be nice if you could play those HD movie trailers at apple.com. Browsing the Web is just one instance where a keyboard and mouse will come in handy.



STEP 10: Keyboard & Mouse

Like any other computer, you’re going to need a keyboard and mouse. In order to be a high def couch potato, you’ll definitely want to go wireless. To reduce clutter, look for a wireless keyboard with an integrated mouse. I chose Logitech’s beautiful diNovo Edge keyboard. In addition to the hands-free Bluetooth operation it provides, the Edge totally looks the part of a high tech home theater peripheral.



STEP 11: BeyondTV

So we can say that this article “goes to 11,” we’re now at the final step. I’ve had the opportunity to look at a few DVR packages for the PC, from ReplayTV to Microsoft’s Windows Media Center Edition/Vista. In my opinion, none of them provides the visual appeal, ease of use and flexibility offered by Snapstream’s BeyondTV product.

Installation of the software is a piece of cake. When you run the BeyondTV “Setup Wizard” you’ll get a chance to configure your channel list and create a SnapStream.Net account. Thanks to the wonder of the Internet, your SnapStream.Net account can be accessed from any Web browser to remotely schedule recordings. So, if you’re visiting your folks in Del Boca Vista and you realize you forgot to schedule a recording of “Boston Legal,” just hop on their PC and do it online. That evening, when your PC connects to SnapStream.Net to download program listings, it will pick up the recording request and add it to the schedule.

The thing I like best about BeyondTV is that it gives you the choice of how you want your shows recorded (MPEG-2, DivX, Windows Media). Even better, you can use ShowSqueeze to later reformat those same recordings using a more space-efficient format. For the ultimate in space efficiency, use Snapstream’s DVD Burning Plugin; this allows you to offload your recordings thereby recapturing that coveted space on your internal hard drive.

The thing to remember as you consider this involved but rewarding project is this: once you make the hardware investment, there are no recurring costs. Use an off-air antenna for free HDTV programming and use BeyondTV for hassle-free DVR service without the monthly fee. As Borat might say, “Very nice!”

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