What to buy to make my pc into a DVR

[BRiT]

Sadly that card still requires the use of external STBs to do the content tuning.

This is how it would compare for me for 4 HD Stream Recording:

Hauppauge Colossus HD-PVR (2 Streams)

2 Cards * $169 = $338 Initial Cost
4 HD STB Rentals * $7.50 = $30 monthly cost
1 Month Cost = $368
2 Month Cost = $398
3 Month Cost = $428
1 Year Cost = $698
2 Year Cost = $1088
​

Ceton InfiniTV 4 (4 Sreams)

1 Card * $400 = $400 Initial Cost
1 CableCard Rental * $2 = $2 monthly cost
1 Month Cost = $402
2 Month Cost = $404
3 Month Cost = $406
1 Year Cost = $424
2 Year Cost = $448
​

 

[mrcorbo]

Sadly that card still requires the use of external STBs to do the content tuning.

This is how it would compare for me for 4 HD Stream Recording:

Hauppauge Colossus HD-PVR (2 Streams)

2 Cards * $169 = $338 Initial Cost
4 HD STB Rentals * $7.50 = $30 monthly cost
1 Month Cost = $368
2 Month Cost = $398
3 Month Cost = $428
1 Year Cost = $698
2 Year Cost = $1088
​

Ceton InfiniTV 4 (4 Sreams)

1 Card * $400 = $400 Initial Cost
1 CableCard Rental * $2 = $2 monthly cost
1 Month Cost = $402
2 Month Cost = $404
3 Month Cost = $406
1 Year Cost = $424
2 Year Cost = $448
​

You are also very much more restricted in what you can record, what devices you can use to access those recordings and how you might manipulate those recordings.

 

[BRiT]

Yeah, the Ceton means having higher video and audio fidelity than the other devices since it captures the raw stream as opposed to sampling it. It likely means running Windows Media Center, but that allows for playback on any Media Extenders such as my Xbox360s. That's because other software developers are unlikely to license and implement the needed DRM aspects.

That seems well worth the savings of 39% ($274) for 1 year, 58% ($640) for 2 years and 67% ($976) for 3 years over the Colossus device.

Both devices still offer far more flexibility than the Cable companies STB DVRs.