A couple interesting threads recently about building a DVR convinced
me to take the plunge. I have an extra computer, so the total cost is
pretty low. $180 for the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR250BTV MPEG-2 TV tuner
card, Beyond TV 3 software, and a Snapstream Firefly remote control.

The one thing that is missing is a video card with TV out, but I can
get that later if the DVR works as well as advertised. Not much fun
watching TV on a computer monitor, but it will be a good way to test
everything.

I will order later this month when my credit card cycle ends, and then
I'll post results. If anyone already has this bundle, I'd love to
hear about it. This is the link in case you are interested:

http://store.snapstream.com/ff-btv-250btv.html

I already have (and LOVE) a TiVo, and this DVR setup will be for
another room. Thought about just getting another TiVo, but what's the
fun in that? Plus, I like the ability to directly access the
recording to re-edit and put on disk. My wife is especially excited
about having another computer cluttering up our living area.

On 16 May 2004 06:11:10 -0700, sorry_no_email@yahoo.com
(BrianEWilliams) wrote:



I just purchased this bundle,
http://store.snapstream.com/snpcitucakit.html but also have this:

http://store.snapstream.com/hamediamvp.html for watching mpg files on
any tv where I have a wired network connection. I currently use it on
a front projection system with great results. This device will also
play mp3 and jpg files with onscreen menuing for access. Actually, I
bought this item first, from Radio Shack, for playing home videos
created with Pinnacle 8 then realized the potential of the PVR 250.
These 2 items complement each other.

I initially installed with an unstable OS and all worked well for a
couple of days. I had to resintall XP and the only problem I am
having now is that the Beyond 3 software is not finding any active
channels when selecting 'Live TV'. The WinTV software functions OK.
I will sort this out with Snapstream tech support this week. I am
sure it is some sort of setup fix, for it was all working at one time.

Rich M.

BrianEWilliams wrote:

<snip>


Well, since you asked... ;->

I have the PVR-250 and BeyondTV (purchased separately). I have a Firefly
remote scheduled to arrive tomorrow or Tuesday. Using just the Hauppauge
remote, it works *great*. The Firefly will let you control more
applications like a DVD player etc.

They work GREAT. I don't have a TIvo and haven't used one so I have
nothing to compare it to, but BeyondTV is just awesome. When it was
installed on my tower machine, I left it running for weeks w/o rebooting
or crashing, and it never missed a recording. I know at least three people
where I work that have ordered it since I got it up and running...

Make sure you install a VNC server on the DVR machine if you'll be using
it without keyboard or mouse so you can administer it from another PC. One
thing I've noticed is that when you boot up, Windows puts the mouse
pointer right in the middle of the screen and it stays on top of what
you're watching. The workaround is log in to the DVR box over VNC and move
the mouse pointer out of the way.

Download VNC server and client here : http://www.realvnc.com (open source,
GPL license).

Oh, one more thing - the real-time clock on most PCs are notoriously
in-accurate. Sometimes they'll lose or gain time just by doing a CPU
intensive task.

So you'll want some form of network time-sync utility that's fairly
configurable, and free if possible. The one I've been using the last
couple of months is "Time Synchronizer v2" from Softnik Technologies. I'm
paranoid so I configured it to do a time check every minute (I'm on DSL).
It's great. I never know it's even running, except that the PC always has
the right time now. According to Windows Task Manager, it consumes 3.7 MB
of system memory which I don't consider to be an issue. Both machines I
run it on have 512 MB and haven't had any memory issues (all the processes
for BeyondTV can take close to 100 MB depending on what you're doing).

http://www.itoolpad.com/products/timesync/

Keith, sorry for the top post, but many thanks to you and the other
response(s). Nothing like hearing from someone who already has the
product. I may hold off on getting everything until my wife heads to
Ireland for 3 weeks in the summer (WITH the kids!!!), and then I can
play with everything to my heart's content.

Keith Clark <clarkphotography@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<40A7ADD3.F9ECB386@hotmail.com>...

BrianEWilliams wrote:

Just a side note - I just got back from Fry's and saw some Firefly remotes on the shelf. They're every
bit as nice looking as on the website...

In alt.video.ptv.tivo BrianEWilliams <sorry_no_email@yahoo.com> wrote:
I have the Hauppauge WinTV Theater card in my PC and used Intervideo's
WinDVR 3 as my TV viewer/recorder. I've been using a WinTV card since '94
and PVR software for over two years. Just a week ago, I went ahead and
got a TiVo. So far, recording programs using the TiVo is so much easier
and convenient than with WinDVR/TitanTV (EPG). I also like TiVo's default
on-screen TV Guide.

Just my 2 cents,
Steven

Steven Whatley wrote:

Almost anything is easier than Titan...

For what it's worth, BeyondTV has a great onscreen guide from which you can
easily search for programs, or you can schedule recordings from any web
browser on any other computer. Doesn't get much easier.

http://www.snapstream.com/Products/P...sp#screenshots

That said, I'm sure Tivo's are fine machines too. Except that with Tivo it's
not so easy to remove commercials completely and archive your shows to DVD...

Unlike WinDVR or the Hauppauge software, BeyondTV is designed to be used with
no keyboard or mouse, only a remote control, and has a pretty useful overlay
style interface.

I used all three and I agree, Titan isn't all that great (I use it for
my HDTV OTA Recordings). I also use Beyond and Tivo, one thing Tivo has
on BeyondTV is the more efficient Guide Display, it takes forever to
find shows with Beyond, that horizontal display isn't as easy to use as
the Vertical one that Tivo provides.

If you know that the show you are looking for is on Wednesday in two
weeks, you have to scroll like crazy to get to it on Beyond (of course
with the web interface you can go directly to that day), with Tivo, you
simply enter in the day and channel and you get a full listing for
several hours.

Also Tivo allows you to search the guide data for specific shows by
entering in Keywords, you can only do that from a Web browser on Beyond.

Steven Whatley <swhatley_hal-pc_org@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<40a825d1$0$444$a726171b@news.hal-pc.org>...
TiVo is fantastic. It's the only technology purchase I have made that
significantly improved the quality of my life. (OK, maybe a computer
with internet service is on that list, plus I guess you have to throw
the TV and cable service in because that's part of the whole TiVo
thing. Is a car a technology purchase?).

If you like watching TV, have some money you could spend, and are even
faintly interested in technology, YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED TO BUY A
TiVo!!!! It's as simple as that. Feel free not to believe me, and
you will never know how wrong you are until you get one, or something
similar.

The folks on alt.video.ptv.tivo know this already, but I bet many on
rec.video.desktop are still watching live TV.

I have no doubt Tivo is great

But my problem with it is that it requires a monthly
fee.....susbscription.

I just wont/can't pay any more monthly running fees for anything.

Anyway to get Tivo to work without superscription?

I totally agree with you on that one, if Tivo hadn't had a lifetime
subscription I probably would have never been interested, I was one of
the lucky ones, I got my lifetimes at 200$ each, I am way ahead at this
point.

Stephane Beaudry wrote:

Those are good points. What it really boils down to is personal preference in the
end. There's no one right solution for everyone.

For my own use, I can easily live with the issues you mentioned with BeyondTV, as
it'll allow me to add more tuner cards when the new software comes out. We've
stopped watching "live TV" for the most part since I put the media-center PC in
the living room, and with our diverse tastes, multiple tuners is a must-have
feature.

Keith

Glad to hear you have good experience in streaming video over the
network using MVP client. Would you mind telling me which way that you
network -- wired/wireless, or 100MB or 1-gigabit? Do you notice any
delay or missing frames when you stream video?

Thanks.

Jay Chan

Glad to hear you have good experience in streaming video over the
network using MVP client. Would you mind telling me which way that you
network -- wired/wireless, 100MB/1-gigabit? Do you notice any delay or
missing frames when you stream video?

Thanks.

Jay Chan

Good point.

One thing that I want to add is to make sure the "Day Light Saving"
option in the time-zone setting is Enabled.

After I installed PVR-250 and Beyond-TV in my PC on Saturday, I found
that the Program Guide in Beyond-TV was always one hour ahead of the
real program schedule. Re-loading the program guide didn't fix the
problem. The problem went away as soon as I had enabled
day-light-saving and then re-loaded the

program-guide.

Jay Chan

Jay Chan wrote:

Did you install a "time sync" client so the box will continually check to
make sure it has the right time?

me6@privacy.net wrote:

Yes! The Pioneer DVD recorder comes with TiVo Basic service for free.
http://www.pioneerburner.com/

Comparison of the various TiVo models.
http://www.tivo.com/1.1.1.10.asp

List of what's included in TiVo Basic service.
http://presalesupport.tivo.com/tivok...lic/tv1199.htm


-Joe

I believe so (I saw some kind of time synchronizing info in one of the
page in the Windows Adjust Date/Time window).

But I don't think this has anything to do with whether the time is
correct or not. Indeed the time in my PC was correct when I was having
that problem. According to messages in SnapStream Discussion forum,
this problem has nothing to do with getting the correct-time, and has
more to do with time-zone or the day-light saving option. In my case,
the time and the time-zone are both correct. The only thing that
Beyond-TV didn't like was the day-light-saving-option was disabled.

Jay Chan

So how are you liking it so far Jay?

me6@privacy.net wrote in message news:<9tnha0571qb13j6viaknfr5h3rbl6n64it@4ax.com>. ..
You could just mentally include the cost of the lifetime subscription
with the price of the unit. I believe that makes their cheapest
bundle about $450, which I consider an absolute bargain if you like to
watch TV.