DescentBB

I'm pretty new to the TiVo/DVR scene but I'm planning to get some kind of setup when I can afford it after I move.

I would like to be able to do a couple of things from my TV:

Record/play back TV and HDTV
Still have some kind of digital TV guide
Play movies/audio/streams that reside on my Windows PC

The packages I've looked into:

MythTV - Looks nice, would require me installing a linux system
Windows Media Center 2005 - Does just about everything but record HDTV
Brock's apartment's modded x-box - not sure if this does HDTV/DVR
Stay with whatever DVR I can get with the provider

So I'm kind of at a loss of what's really going to work here. Without the ability to watch HDTV, Windows Media Center seems kind of useless. But a PC version would be nice because it would be much cheaper to install a second recording card to record two shows at once or upgrade the harddrive.

What have other people's experiences been?

Sorry. Can't help. I'm still trying to figure out how to set the clock on my VCR.

MythTV sounds more like a sensible choice. At least with a PC acting like a TV you can always modify or upgrade it and install new components, this&that ect.

I will never give up my ReplayTV.

I have a PVR (computer) but it is too prone to disturbance by my 3 year old.

The best (but 'outlawed' a couple years ago) was the Replay 5000 series. They have automatic-commercial skip (no button at all to push) and LAN/Internet connectivity. (Internet is no longer allowed).

It is highly documented how easy it is to upgrade the HDs in these, but you never have to. Using DVarchive, each of your networked computers are a virtual ReplayTV. This means you can record to your unit or to any computer with DVarchive running. (Laptop included) You can also access and watch from any of those machines (even across the internet) from any of the others.

It is THE BEST IMO.

You can still find 5000 series on ebay. I bought mine (5040) as a clearnace (they could no longer sell them through retail outlets) from sonic blue over a year ago for 100$.

The current 5500 series do not have auto-commercial skip or Internet connectivity (only LAN and 10,30 & 1 minute skip buttons)

Here are a coupel of links, but will be happy to answer any questions.

http://rtvpatch.sourceforge.net/

http://www.dvarchive.org/

http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/replaytv/default.asp

i have been using intervideos windvr 3 to some success, it records to mpeg2 with customizeable levels of quality with timeshifting and direct burn. after much testing with everything i found it seems the best in terms of picture quality (should be even better when i install a digital tuner) and ease of use. many others i have tried have either adware or very fussy to setup.