Additional features include online services, weather reports and the ability to convert video files to portable formats. Some programs use a dedicated server to send programming information to your DVR computer (which will have to be connected to the Internet, of course), while others use a Web browser to access program data.
The main differences between the programs lie in their interfaces and how customizable they are. Many cards can handle both analog and digital signals. With the United States and many other countries switching to all-digital broadcasting, you'll want to avoid older capture cards that only accept analog signals.
That technical jargon simply refers to the format that TV shows are transmitted in over digital broadcasting networks. One important thing to look for in a video capture card is the ability to accept an MPEG-2 transport stream in both DBV and ATSC, sometimes referred to as digital hardware cards. In fact, if you use this type of card, you won't need a powerful main processor. A capture card that does its own encoding takes a lot of stress off the computer's main processor. Better capture cards have onboard processors that handle the encoding of the signal into the digital format the show will be saved as. You'll need a TV capture card, which has its own tuner to receive television signals, to take the incoming signal and read it.
Next, we'll choose and install a TV capture card.Ī typical computer doesn't have a video input that can accept a signal from a antenna or a set-top cable or satellite box. A good way to get a rough idea of how much power you'll need is with an online power supply calculator like the one Journey Systems provides. Power Supply - A high-end video card and an extra hard drive can draw a lot of power, so you'll need a power supply that can provide it. Memory is inexpensive these days, and more RAM is almost always better. Memory - A minimum of two gigabytes of RAM will help your DVR run smoothly, although upgrading to four gigabytes won't hurt (and, again, might be necessary if HD is involved). There are many video cards to choose from, with new ones coming out all the time, so your best bet is to check audio/visual message boards for tips on which card is best suited to your purpose. This is the part of the DVR that's going to matter most to what you actually see on-screen, so if you're going to splurge on any part of your project, this should be it. If we're talking about HD and Blu-ray, the video card will need even more power. Video Card - It's going to take a fairly powerful video card to process the video signal and send it to your TV. Keep in mind that you can always expand later by adding an additional drive. You'll want a speedy drive to avoid problems with video quality. Remember, you can't have too much hard drive space, so buy as much as you can afford. Hard drive prices have dropped considerably in the last five years, so if you're repurposing an old computer, you'll want to swap out the old drive for something larger.
A single movie in HD can use up several gigabytes of drive space by itself. Hard Drive - You'll be surprised how quickly hard drive space gets eaten up by recorded TV shows. If you're stuck running Windows 95 or earlier, you may have a harder time finding compatible software. The bottom line here is that the processor should be powerful enough to run a modern operating system. In fact, for basic DVRing, older and slower processors will work fine, especially since the encoding will be handled by a separate component (the TV capture card). Processor - You don't need a top-of-the-line quad-core processor to run a DVR.