I’ve been wanting to build another PC for some time now. It wouldn’t be a souped up powerhouse, but one for a specific usage: PVR. That’s Personal Video Recorder to you non-technical types. You’ve probably heard of the name brand, Tivo. Well I want something like Tivo, but I really don’t want to pay for that monthly service fee. I’ve been reading up on building one to add to my measely entertainment center. Ideally, I want it to have these features:
- Digitally record video input (of course)
- Have lots of storage space (preferablly a TB)
- Have video selector functionality (more than one input source)
- Analog, S-Video, Component video inputs (multiple)
- Analog, S-Video, Component video outputs (maybe 2, can use 1 though)
- Remote control functionality
- Play MP3s
- 802.11g Wireless capability (to have Internet capability, and possible NAS)
I also want to have it in a smaller case, but I might be wanting to squeeze too much into it and cause some heating problems. I can probably build this thing, but my only concern is the multiple input/output functionality. I can’t find any PCI card that can take multiple inputs. I was thinking of just getting multiple PCI cards then, but I’m not familiar with that enough to know if it’ll work.
Geez, I think I’m a bigger geek than I thought to know this kind of stuff. Whatever, I like gadgets and technical doodads; but it can sure get pricey at times.
