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Building a PVR in 3 Or So Steps for About $200
Page: 2/4
(1775 total words in this text)
(221212 Reads) 
OVERVIEW OF REQUIRED STEPS:
1. Installing a TV tuner/capture card with hardware assisted MPEG2 encoding
2. Connecting a MediaMVP to your television and computer
3. Installing and configuring GBPVR
STEP 1: INSTALL A TV CAPTURE CARD
The first thing that you need to do is to enable your computer to view and record tv signals. In order to do this, you need a tv tuner/capture card. I first installed a budget card, ATI's TV Wonder VE. It was complete manure; it used too much in the way of system resources and the sound, picture and recording quality was poor. After I returned this card I acquired the Hauppauge WinTV PVR250 OEM version. It has all of the features talked about in Rampy's PVR350 review except that it does not have a remote or TV out.
The actual installation of the card is fairly straightforward; you simply insert it into an available PCI slot, install the software, and connect a tv input cable.
Once the card is installed, your computer itself will be able to do many PVRish type things: you can record shows, schedule future recordings, watch and pause live tv, etc. But you can only do this on your computer monitor. In order to connect to your TV you must move on to… Step 2.
STEP 2: HOOKING UP THE MEDIAMVP
The MediaMVP ( MediaMVP spec sheet )
is a crucial bit of hardware that allows you to display your media (i.e. taped programs) on your television. I have written a review of the MediaMVP that goes a bit more into depth about the features of the device.
The MediaMVP is the only thing that you will need in your living room or where-ever you have your television. This is nice because it is absolutely silent and it is very small and inconspicuous. (If you were to place a computer right in the room with the television you would have to deal with the size and with all the PC related noises: fans, cpus, beeps and blips oh my!) It is a great little device that does a whole lot more than play movies; it is an all purpose media client and makes my home PC a full on media server.
In order to hook up the MediaMVP, you need to install the software provided by Hauppauge. Next, you need to run a network cable to an area near your television I went down through my basement and up through existing radiator holes. You plug the network cable in the MediaMVP and then connect the power and the RCA jacks to your television (and stereo if you wish). The MediaMVP also does S-Video output, but my TV's sole S-Video input is being used by my DVD player. Once you have set up your software, the MediaMVP will be able to read and play your media files.
At this point, the provided MediaMVP software would allow you to play all of your recorded videos, listen to your MP3s, view picture slide-shows and even listen to Web-radio. It would not, however, allow you to pause live television or schedule recordings from the comfort of your living room. In order to do this you must move on to Step 3
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