Although it'd be silly in my setup (my Nintendo Wii sits vertically next to my HTPC(s)), if you were one of the lucky folks to snag a Nintendo Wii here's an article about using Orb and the Wii Opera Browser to stream audio/video to make your Wii behave like a media center. No word yet if there's a way to gesture angrily with the wiimote to fast forward through commercials :P

hat tip PVRwire

Other links of interest: Another Howto Guide for video on the Wii also see SofaTube for a different Wii Opera browser compatible/optimized way to browse youtube.

UPDATE: Stream itunes to your wii

ServerGuy posted a Howto build your own DVR using BeyondTV article on his site

"
A while back I built my own DVR (digital video recorder) and it has occurred to me that others may be interested in doing the same. The whole project was actually quite easy, although I am comfortable building a PC from components, and others may not be as comfortable. As I walk through this please keep in mind that while I was trying to keep costs down the object was to build (as easily as possible) a DVR that was simple to use, took up a minimal amount of space, and would be easy to modify if necessary.

I started with a spare PC I had sitting around unused. I realize most people don’t have a spare computer just sitting around their house. The point I’m trying to make is that the computer you use doesn’t have to be a top of the line system, especially if you are careful about choosing the components you’ll be adding."

hat tip PVRwire

PVRwire brings up some good points in the Set up a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device for recorded video blogpost before sending you to this Howto: Setup Network Attached storage article.

"It's amazing how many videos you can soon build up, and how quickly your hard drive space may disappear.

What's more, if you are anything like me you find it very hard pressing that delete button and just love to hoard all those videos, just in case you want to watch them again.

You'll soon find yourself with the problem of disappearing hard drive space and video scattered among all the different PCs in the house. What's the answer? A network attached storage (NAS) device."

Check out this Snapstream blog entry on using Hauppauge MediaMVP with a BeyondTV skin/mod to extend your PVR viewing over your network.

"The MediaMVP from Hauppauge is this great little device that lets you get photos, music and videos off of your PC and onto your television. And it’s cheap – only $100. Without any extra work, you can use it to playback recordings made with Beyond TV. All you have to do is just point to the recorded shows directory. The MediaMVP will play your MPEG2 or Divx files. But it’s a less than ideal experience for lots of reasons:

* You can only see titles of the video files and you can’t view information like show description, original airdate, etc.
* You can’t watch live TV
* You can’t delete a show that you’ve already watched
* You can’t schedule new recordings or see which recordings are scheduled

So with these limitations in mind, a team of us decided that we could create a better interface. We created the open source MediaMVP BTV interface project. With our software, you get something closer to the complete Beyond TV experience (plus some extras like weather and Music playlists!), including access to live TV, and the program guide!"

previous coverage of beyondTV & mediamvp and wireless Hauppauge MediaMVP

Hat Tip PVR Wire

ZDNET blog article on building a HDTV media extender for $300 using linux/mythtv as a client.

HDTVs are getting cheaper especially when you're talking about older close out models that they're becoming very common in the home. Personal video storage on a home network is also getting very popular but getting that video to the HDTV isn't easy without paying for an expensive and extremely limited function HD media extender appliance. But with a little spare time and some cheap commodity PC hardware you can build a superior HDTV media extender that can easily be upgraded to a full fledged media center machine for $300.

It's also the perfect lead in to point out 2n's thrifty ($200) PVR configuration: pvr150 + MediaMVP + GBPVR

Tech DIY: Watch HDTV On Your PC

If you bought a PC with a flat screen in the past few years, chances are you have HDTV-quality resolution. Wouldn't it be great if you could get hi-def TV on your computer cheaply while saving up for that big-screen HDTV? Actually, you can.

planetjay pointed this one out to me (thanks!) DIY Linux home theater PC

LixSystems has introduced a low-cost Linux powered home theater PC (HTPC) packaged in a compact, consumer electronics-style enclosure. The Lx8100-MN, available "barebones" (sans CPU, memory, and hard drive) for around $300, offers quiet operation and is supplied with an easily-installed Fedora 5-based system image on DVD, according to the company.

How-To: Turn Your Mac mini into a DVD Jukebox

what if you want to do away with the platters and store your movies on your hard drive? If iTunes allows you keep your CDs in the closet forever, so why not do the same with your DVDs?

SnapStream howto article on Project Hoover! (you don't know how hard it is for me NOT to make a Mel Brook's SpaceBalls reference right now!)

"Zack walks people through building a multi-tuner PC PVR with Beyond TV and then using it to record every new show in the new Fall season (which officially begins tonight). He's also included a Google Calendar in the article of all the season opening dates and he has a whole set of tips on optimizing viewing/selection at the beginning of the season. It's a fun article, check it out. "

Lots of good info/insight and tips on building a 6 tuner box to suck down more TV than anyone should ever be able to watch :)

I love it when mainstream press picks up on the DIY PVR phenomenon, and I love it even more when byopvr.com get's a plug :)

We didn't get a mention in the actual video segment: click on JL Make Your Own DVR but we did get some good linkage in the follow up blog post Click On JL: Build Your Own PVR

"First of all, let me start out by saying that I love TiVo. I've had a DirecTV TiVo, and now I use a cable company provided DVR. Pause. Rewind. I love all the features.

But, I do have a problem with paying for the service month after month. It's not that I'm cheap, but $10-$12 per month adds up pretty fast - especially if you're paying for cable and Internet access on top of that."


Thanks for the link JL! If any other traditional or online press folks out there, I'm available for interviews, comments, or background information about building PVRs/HTPC :)

BYOPVR forum regular HTPCGB put together a flash tutorial that explains visually the concepts of recording one show while watching another show on your PC PVR. It also covers things like what to do if you have digital cable or satellite and explains some of the basics that seem to confound most newbies!

We love user contributions to the community knowledge base! Who better than the folks who were once newbies (we were all one once!) to explain things in a manner that everyone can easily understand! Anyone can freely add content or edit existing pages to the DIY PVR HTPC FAQ... and considering how I left the CAn I watch something else while recording with 1 tuner entry incomplete, it's a great help that HTPCGB stepped up to the plate and made an animated tutorial that gets the point across beautifully. THANKS HTPCGB!

PCMagazine: Howto build silent HTPC rig

"High-performance personal computers are thermal nightmares. As GPUs and CPUs have become more powerful, their heat output has skyrocketed. AMD's top-of-the-line Athlon 64 X2 4800+ is rated at 105W, while Intel's Pentium D 840 runs even higher, at 130W—as Paris Hilton would say, that's hot. The typical way to dissipate all that heat? Throw extra cooling at the system—in other words, add more fans. Pretty soon, you've got more fans in your system than a B-36 bomber had propellers—and your system is as loud, too. You can't control the heat output (without moving to lower-performing components), but you can control the noise. Read on to find out how."

GBPVR was recently featured in a Tom's Hardware HowTo: "HTPC on the cheap with GBPVR"

"Free PVR software is not about sticking it to Bill Gates by not spending the extra $40 for Windows Media Center Edition (MCE), or some other similar application such as Snap Stream's BeyondTV or Sage TV. All of these offer similar services for about the same price. Free PVR software is about customization."

Adam Pash over at LifeHacker posted a howto build your own DVR using SageTV article on today's edition of Lifehacker's Hack Attack (it's the good type of hack, btw!)

Ever since TiVo came around, I was eager to jump on the time shifting bandwagon. After all, nothing makes a productivity junkie happier than turning an hour-long show into forty minutes. But for all its loyal fan base, TiVo never seemed like the right fit for me.

For my money, time, and, let’s be honest, the gratification of a solid DIY project, I’m a big proponent of building your own digital video recorder (DVR). TiVo is pretty good at what TiVo does, but imagine a world where you can also tweak your TiVo to do anything you can do with any other computer.

Build It: A Homemade Media Center PC

"We'll explain how to join the DIY crowd and finally build an MCE PC of your own—and how to choose the parts for a custom project that's uniquely yours".

See also Slashdot commentary/discussion on building a Homemade Media Center