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Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With
Speaker 1: tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hey everyone,
Speaker 1: welcome to the podcast. My name is Chris Polette. I'm
Speaker 1: an editor at how Stuff Works, and as usual, sitting
Speaker 1: next to me as senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Hi. Everyone,
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk to you today about turning your PC
Speaker 1: into a ti Vo. And you know, a ti Vo
Speaker 1: is sort of a pcally, So thank you very much. Well,
Speaker 1: I was great talking to you again. Tune in record time. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: so no, actually that's true. I would like to touch
Speaker 1: on that. I actually own a TiVo and essentially they
Speaker 1: are a PC. But not everyone wants to spend the
Speaker 1: money to buy a ti Vo. They can be a
Speaker 1: little pricey, especially for the high definition version, which is
Speaker 1: very pricey um. And some people just like that feeling
Speaker 1: of d I y or you know what. I just
Speaker 1: don't like Tvo. So it's up to you, you know.
Speaker 1: But if you don't want to go the standard route
Speaker 1: or you want some customization, maybe it's in your best
Speaker 1: interest to uh to look into building your own. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because there are definitely some really cool features you can
Speaker 1: add into your PC that will give you a lot
Speaker 1: more functionality than you would get in the standard TiVo. UM.
Speaker 1: But we'll get into that a little bit later. I
Speaker 1: guess I was actually gonna start with literally turning your
Speaker 1: PC into a ti Vo UM, which there now is
Speaker 1: an option to do that. It's through the use of
Speaker 1: the Nero Liquid TV Slash ti Vo PC, which is
Speaker 1: UH an interface a card that you install in a PC.
Speaker 1: It has the UH the coaxial UH link in the back,
Speaker 1: so you hook your cable up into it and it
Speaker 1: it gives your PC the ti Vo functionality. It gives
Speaker 1: it the same sort of software and functions that you
Speaker 1: would find in your standard TiVo and UM it comes
Speaker 1: with a software that you can know that obviously is
Speaker 1: the TiVo software. And if you already have a tuner
Speaker 1: card for your PC, you can get just the software.
Speaker 1: You don't have to get the card and software bundled together. UM.
Speaker 1: But yeah, this is this UH, this service that turns
Speaker 1: your PC into a TiVo. So it has the little
Speaker 1: TiVo logo, it does a little it's got the it's
Speaker 1: got the software, and you use the TiVo remote yep.
Speaker 1: So that's, uh, that's for people who want the TiVo.
Speaker 1: They don't want necessarily a set top box. They don't
Speaker 1: mind using a computer, whether the computer happens to be
Speaker 1: next to their entertainment system or is in a totally
Speaker 1: different room, um, and then wired over to the TV.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of different options there. So that's
Speaker 1: the easiest one, right. I don't think it gets any
Speaker 1: easier than plugging a card into your computer and then
Speaker 1: just running some software and then you're ready to go.
Speaker 1: What about Windows Media Center? That's that's almost as easy.
Speaker 1: I supposed it depends on on whom you ask. Um. Yeah, Windows,
Speaker 1: Microsoft has its own uh built in on some in
Speaker 1: some PCs, most recent pieces. Yeah, yeah, so they Windows
Speaker 1: Media Center actually has uh some capability of doing this
Speaker 1: on its own. Um. So you could essentially, you know,
Speaker 1: hook your your PC up to your TV and you
Speaker 1: or a monitor. Really you would need a tuner card,
Speaker 1: you know, to to do that. Um, but you would
Speaker 1: be able to, uh to go ahead and use your
Speaker 1: PC as a TV, TVO DVR. Um. And uh you
Speaker 1: know Mac even has something like that. Apple has its
Speaker 1: front row, which is built in. Now it's not quite
Speaker 1: as doesn't handle the same kind of functionality as Windows
Speaker 1: Media Center, but it does allow you to watch videos
Speaker 1: you may have downloaded from iTunes or some of the
Speaker 1: other services where you can download video, and you can
Speaker 1: look at the photos and your photo gallery, UM, play
Speaker 1: podcasts things like that via you know that you have
Speaker 1: a little remote control and you can you can access those,
Speaker 1: which is one of the advantages of doing this on
Speaker 1: your on your TV because you know, having the PC
Speaker 1: two TV hookup is you can access your media library,
Speaker 1: your music files, you know a lot of you know,
Speaker 1: not so much with the TVO software, but with Windows
Speaker 1: Media Center or with Hope UM, with the front row thing,
Speaker 1: you can you can actually do that have access to
Speaker 1: play back all the other things on your TV, which
Speaker 1: is why some people get a Mac Mini, which is
Speaker 1: a very scaled down Mac and just soak it up
Speaker 1: their TV and use it that way. That's cool. Now,
Speaker 1: I was not aware of front Row. Okay, so I
Speaker 1: have a question for you that may or may not
Speaker 1: know the answer. All right, is it at all similar
Speaker 1: to Apple TV? UM sounds kind of like it has
Speaker 1: some of the same features. Well, now, Apple TV is
Speaker 1: a dedicated box UM and actually is very similar in
Speaker 1: size to the to the Mac Mini UM and maybe
Speaker 1: the exact same size for all I know, UM because
Speaker 1: I'm going off the top of my head here. But uh,
Speaker 1: what what Jonathan is talking about is Apple TV is
Speaker 1: basically dedicated to, um, getting movies. You can download movies
Speaker 1: to it over the internet, UM that you pay you know,
Speaker 1: that you pay for and it is dedicated to putting
Speaker 1: that content up on the TV. It's not it doesn't
Speaker 1: have the same functionality as a full Macintosh computer. UM.
Speaker 1: But it's not really intended to be a DVR either. UM.
Speaker 1: It's not really about uh, you know, hooking up your
Speaker 1: cable or satellite box directly to Apple TV and then
Speaker 1: using it as a DVR, which you would get if
Speaker 1: you used something like Windows Media Center or or Nero
Speaker 1: the you know, the t BO box or UM for
Speaker 1: that matter, Elgato I t V, which is the exactly
Speaker 1: which is the the Mac version essentially of of Nero. UM.
Speaker 1: Basically you have a tuner card, you have the software,
Speaker 1: and you can use your Macintosh uh to uh function
Speaker 1: as a DVR, but um again and also lets you
Speaker 1: do other things. It's got a built in tuner guide,
Speaker 1: manages disk space for you. It's got the program catalog
Speaker 1: and UM you can share recordings over a network, what
Speaker 1: you can't do with UH with some DVRs, depending on
Speaker 1: the age of like for example, my TVO is a
Speaker 1: Series one and it is a It is a real trooper.
Speaker 1: It's it's hung in there. It does accept the modem
Speaker 1: is a little spotty. UM, but we basically ran it
Speaker 1: into the ground. And actually that's a good point. It
Speaker 1: would help me segue into my next point, which is, UM,
Speaker 1: you can actually modify your t VO if you have one. UM.
Speaker 1: When the hard drive died in my TVO, which was
Speaker 1: a very sad occasion, my friend Dave helped me take
Speaker 1: it apart. He installed a new, brand new gigantoid hard
Speaker 1: drive on it, and UM, basically what we did was
Speaker 1: we took this brand new hard drive, hooked it up
Speaker 1: to his Lynx computer, and he ran uhically an installation
Speaker 1: program that format it or formatting program that UH, you know,
Speaker 1: made it ready to work with the TiVo. UM. The
Speaker 1: information to run the TVO is basically in the chip
Speaker 1: set that is inside the box. So it already knew
Speaker 1: that I had a lifetime subscription, which is why I
Speaker 1: wanted to continue using my Tvo. UM, and you know
Speaker 1: you can. You can do that. Actually, since the modem
Speaker 1: has died, there are companies that won't let you buy
Speaker 1: an upgrade your modum. You can actually install a wireless
Speaker 1: card or uh Collas connection in the back. Now, if
Speaker 1: you do this, they're going to avoid your warranty uh
Speaker 1: in a big way. Um. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: I called TiVo to ask them a question and they said, UM, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know you avoided your warranty when you installed this
Speaker 1: new hard drive. And I said, yeah, it's six years old.
Speaker 1: They went, oh, never mind, So what can I help
Speaker 1: you with? So they answered my question, which was all
Speaker 1: I needed really from him. But UM, very very nice
Speaker 1: of Tvo to do that. Um. But that you know,
Speaker 1: this is essentially all you need is you've got to
Speaker 1: have something to run the DVR, which is your processor card.
Speaker 1: You've got to have a hard drive in it, preferably
Speaker 1: something large and I'd recommend fast because if you have
Speaker 1: a slow hard drive, it is going to affect the
Speaker 1: way you watch your shows. Um. And then you are
Speaker 1: going to need some kind of tunor card, which can
Speaker 1: cost around seventy dollars depending on which one you go with. Um.
Speaker 1: If so you have a computer that has the media
Speaker 1: center on it already, when does media center, then that's
Speaker 1: really gonna be your Your one expense is the tuner card.
Speaker 1: So you think seventy bucks. Hey, that's not so bad,
Speaker 1: and don't treat about the card. You know, we say
Speaker 1: card and people who may be thinking, well I could that,
Speaker 1: you know, it doesn't sound too difficult. I could probably
Speaker 1: do that. Oh wait, there's a card involved. I don't
Speaker 1: want to pull my computer up. And not all of
Speaker 1: them are the kinds of cards that you open the
Speaker 1: case and plug in. Or maybe you have a laptop
Speaker 1: and you're thinking, you know, I'm not going to pull
Speaker 1: that thing open. I'm never getet closed again. Um, there
Speaker 1: are actually cards that work. Uh there they fit in
Speaker 1: a USB slot. Yeah, the the hop Podge Win TV
Speaker 1: PVR USB two is one of them. That's like about
Speaker 1: bucks yep. And uh, actually I believe Nero packages one
Speaker 1: that comes you can get it with it, you know,
Speaker 1: as a single package that has that in there. And
Speaker 1: El Gato also has a package deal. Um or if
Speaker 1: you're really feeling daring, you can build a brand new
Speaker 1: PC uh from scratch and actually put everything into it
Speaker 1: that that you need, in which case what we've been
Speaker 1: talking about already is probably extremely basic for you. UM.
Speaker 1: But there are a number of uh freeware operating systems
Speaker 1: for do it yourself DVRs. UM. Among them is myth TV,
Speaker 1: which lets you watch live TV and it supports multiple
Speaker 1: tuner cards, so you could theoretically watch one show record another. UM.
Speaker 1: It'll let you rip c d s as a game
Speaker 1: emulator in it, so you can play Nime, uh, Nintendo
Speaker 1: or PC games on. It offers a slide show, you
Speaker 1: can get the weather, let you rip DVDs, and it
Speaker 1: has an RSS reader if you're feeling like not ripping
Speaker 1: DVDs you just want to follow the news online yah. UM.
Speaker 1: And it's it's completely uh you know, available for download. UM.
Speaker 1: There's another version called x MBC, which has been translated
Speaker 1: into different flavors other people. It's open source, so other
Speaker 1: people have modified it. Uh. There's a version for UH
Speaker 1: for Mac, PC, Linux or Xbox, the original Xbox. UM.
Speaker 1: It handles HDTV plays from different formats in addition to
Speaker 1: the hard drive. UH you know, network Internet streams pictures
Speaker 1: allows you to use a remote UM. Yeah, that's that's
Speaker 1: the tricky part maybe the remote, um, you know, but
Speaker 1: a lot of these support a standard remote, you know,
Speaker 1: a generic remote. Some of them come with it, um,
Speaker 1: you know for the packaged offerings. UM. It's even possible
Speaker 1: for you to be able to if you were, say,
Speaker 1: using the Windows Media Center, you can you can network
Speaker 1: that with something like the Xbox three sixty. You can
Speaker 1: use the Xbox three sixties interface to access the movies
Speaker 1: that you've stored on your Windows Media Center. And so
Speaker 1: then you're just using the remote for the three sixty. Um.
Speaker 1: That's kind of cool approach to where and and the
Speaker 1: nice thing about that is if you have a wireless
Speaker 1: adapter for your if your Xbox, you know, but you
Speaker 1: can wireless network. You don't even have to have the
Speaker 1: computer in the Xbox three sixty in the same room,
Speaker 1: which is useful because a lot of people don't like
Speaker 1: having the PC just saying there right next to everything
Speaker 1: else in their home entertainment system, right, Um, and there
Speaker 1: are a number of other of other formats and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, but there let's just say and and you know,
Speaker 1: to clarify and sum it up that there are a
Speaker 1: bunch no matter what operating system you're using, UM, unless
Speaker 1: you're one of the fans as I am of the
Speaker 1: dearly departed or yearly departed Amiga UM, and there probably
Speaker 1: is one comes back to the AGA, you know, I
Speaker 1: got to give him a shout out, and uh, I
Speaker 1: can't believe I just said shout out, but they there's
Speaker 1: probably one for the Mega. I didn't see, but I
Speaker 1: should go look. But really, essentially there are options. So
Speaker 1: if you're considering getting a DVR or upgrading yours, UM,
Speaker 1: you know there don't necessarily just go look at one
Speaker 1: take a look there. Just about all of these have
Speaker 1: a pretty extensive website UM that will let you take
Speaker 1: a peek and see what what different options they offer UM.
Speaker 1: And you know, it's all part of the great convergence
Speaker 1: as we moved to one single box that does everything.
Speaker 1: Depending on whom you would ask, and if you're like me,
Speaker 1: you might just have an old computer sitting around that
Speaker 1: could completely work as a DVR. You want to make
Speaker 1: sure that you have the a fast enough processor and
Speaker 1: a fast enough hard drive, as Chris was saying, you
Speaker 1: don't want to just you know, plug anything in. Uh,
Speaker 1: I would recommend using a computer that has at least
Speaker 1: two D six megabytes of RAM. Anything less than that
Speaker 1: and you're not gonna have a very good experience whatsoever.
Speaker 1: I'm certain. Yeah, it would probably take at least that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that would be the bare minimum. Um. I would recommend
Speaker 1: faster or more RAM if if possible, because you'll need it.
Speaker 1: But um, yeah, if you have an old computer saying around,
Speaker 1: I actually do have an old computer that I may
Speaker 1: look into. I have in fact, it's it's old enough
Speaker 1: now where I need to look and see if it
Speaker 1: can measure up to what I would require to make
Speaker 1: it into a DVR. Um. But I've been since we
Speaker 1: started researching this podcast, I was thinking, Hey, this is
Speaker 1: something it sounds like, you know, I could totally do,
Speaker 1: and um, considering that I also have a ti Vo
Speaker 1: at home, but it it gave up the ghost almost
Speaker 1: immediately after coming out of the box, and since it
Speaker 1: was a free copy, I never bothered to ever get
Speaker 1: it fixed. This are the things I never lived with TiVo,
Speaker 1: so I don't know what I'm missing, right, So people
Speaker 1: who live with TiVo, it's like talking to someone who
Speaker 1: just got to have a cult. Sorry about that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I kind of want to join now. I'll granted
Speaker 1: it's many years after the cult was at its height.
Speaker 1: But uh, I'm curious too, I'm wondering what TV I'm missing. Well,
Speaker 1: DVR popularity is. It's just one of those things where
Speaker 1: I think people accept it now and you know, just
Speaker 1: just don't hear anything about the standard thing of so
Speaker 1: many cable uh cable boxes now, like you can get
Speaker 1: a cable box from your cable provider that has a
Speaker 1: DVR and now most people will tell you, most people
Speaker 1: who are big fans of DVRs will tell you that
Speaker 1: the DVRs packaged with cable provider boxes are substandard when
Speaker 1: compared to other other products on the market. Well, I
Speaker 1: would always I would always say it's a good idea
Speaker 1: to look at a review site, of which how stuff
Speaker 1: works is not one UM, but there are other some
Speaker 1: really great review sites out there that will you know,
Speaker 1: put them against one another head to head. Um Tibo
Speaker 1: always does pretty well those But there are some others
Speaker 1: that you know from companies I shan't mentioned because I
Speaker 1: used to work for them UM, but you know they
Speaker 1: make decent DVRs that that other people do like that.
Speaker 1: Reviewers have have reviewed UM and TiVo has actually had
Speaker 1: partnerships with some companies and then you know in the past.
Speaker 1: Um but yeah, I would I if I were looking
Speaker 1: at buying a new box right now, I would consider,
Speaker 1: you know, the variety. You've got all the different ones
Speaker 1: that your provider might offer. You've got the third party
Speaker 1: like uh TiVo or um oh, digios box, the Moxie,
Speaker 1: and then you have you know, the do what do
Speaker 1: it yourself PC version, and each of them offers something
Speaker 1: a little bit different, and it might be worth checking
Speaker 1: out whether you like the interface and whether you feel
Speaker 1: comfortable doing this. But I think that this is a
Speaker 1: project that people might not necessarily need to be afraid
Speaker 1: of because it's right. It sounds complex, but it's really not.
Speaker 1: And keep in mind that if you do it do
Speaker 1: it yourself way, it gives you a lot more options
Speaker 1: when it comes to making changes further down the road.
Speaker 1: And mostly set top boxes, you you you aren't supposed
Speaker 1: to modify them, so you void, void your warranty, or
Speaker 1: you could possibly really break something or cap. But with
Speaker 1: the PC, I mean you can. Let's say that you realize,
Speaker 1: like if you could buy a ti vo for a
Speaker 1: certain amount of money and you say, hey that it'll
Speaker 1: let me store this many hours of programming. Um, whether
Speaker 1: that's standard definition or high definition whatever. But if you
Speaker 1: look at a PC, you can say, well, it really
Speaker 1: just depends on how big the hard drive is, and
Speaker 1: I can always upgrade my hard drive. I can add
Speaker 1: hard drive space or switch it out or whatever. Um.
Speaker 1: You can't really do that with a t VO necessarily,
Speaker 1: at least not without avoiding the warranty. So that's one
Speaker 1: of the other big, big advantages of using a PC
Speaker 1: is that it gives you a lot more flexibility. Wow. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like I need to run home and start
Speaker 1: recording some television. It's it's a good thing. Record one thing,
Speaker 1: watch another. Yeah, I'm just staying. I know what show
Speaker 1: I want to record? Okay, yeah, it starts on Noah,
Speaker 1: you know what it is? How Stuff Works? Oh, the
Speaker 1: first promo of How Stuff Works the TV show, except
Speaker 1: we're probably being played three weeks. Yeah, it's probably by
Speaker 1: the time this displayed, it's already been. So I hope
Speaker 1: you guys have been enjoying it. I know we have. Yes, certainly. Well,
Speaker 1: now that we've discussed this all the way to the ground,
Speaker 1: I want to encourage our listeners to go to How
Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. We have articles all about computers.
Speaker 1: We have an articles about DVRs and t those specifically,
Speaker 1: and you can check all that out and how stuff
Speaker 1: works dot com right now and we'll talk to you
Speaker 1: against soon. But more on this and thousands of other
Speaker 1: topics because it how stuff works dot com. Let us
Speaker 1: know what you think. Send an email to podcast at
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