PVR to record broadcast TV (usa)


ckblackm

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Joined
Dec 3, 2008
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North Carolina, USA
I'm thinking of using a sbc (like maybe a raspberry Pi) to act like a PVR to record/playback broadcast TV (ie. not cable/satellite).  Has anyone tried this?

I'm looking for suggestions for hardware.

thanks,

Christopher.
 
a couple years ago I got my USB 2.0 tuner to work on the Pandora.. It was a bit of work and my CC unit choked on the 720p channels(I was wrong in my Pandora guide thinking that broadcast ATSC signals were true 1080p HD).. the Pi has better video playback so I'd say it's possible.. I should try it on my 1Ghz unit..

I haven't attempted at recording anything yet.
 
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I used Myth for many years until we went digital. Then the cost for compatible tuners and the complexity of the setup outweighed the benefit. Every OS update or Myth update broke something and the best I was going to do with Xfinity or FIOS was to pull off an analog signal and the cabling and remote was more hassle than I wanted. I just subscribed to the multiroom DVR. I have picked up a capture device and am planning to try ripping a few things, but have not done it yet. My point, do your research on equipment requirements and setup and make sure it is worth the effort. In the end, I imagine I spent more setting up 5 TV's than I would have buying a top of the line DVR. On the upside, I paid for one cable feed and my scripts automatically ripped and stored my content in multiple formats from high quality to iphone and edited out the commercials, but at too high a price for me. By the time you sort out the power and the storage necessary, while the Pi is a neat idea, I'm not sure it is going to save you much space over a lunchbox type computer. Again, not raining on your parade, just suggested that you do all your homework before you purchase. Having started with USB tuners, I found them to produce too low a quality and to be too unreliable to be feasible. I really liked my Hauppauge, but for other than watching in a window on my computer, not great. Card type tuners were more capable and took less space.
 
This is just for fun... my wife/kids have control of the PVR downstairs connected to our satellite service and I've got a tv in my office that I generally use for watching soccer or hand-egg. :)   Since it's not connected to the system,

I thought I might play with some of the newer pvr technologies I've seen via the web using sbc's.
 
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