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Personal Video Recorder (PVR) Project

Posted by Robert. Last Updated on the 14th of May, 2006 at 11:17 AM GMT.

Introduction

Quick Notes

I've never built a PVR before. I haven't actually built my own computer from scratch. I've taken apart every computer I've owned, and put them back together just fine (though there is always a few screws left over... where do they come from?). I started thinking about building one a long time ago. I can't remember if it was before or after I found out Bryan built one. Whether or not, I always bug him about it. I can't tell if I'm annoying him or not sometimes, but we always have something to banter about, which is good. So, I'd like to thank Bryan for answering my stupid questions and indulging me during my multiple false starts. If you are looking for updates, check the project blog.

Why Not?

I'm always late to the game with personal media. I was well into my teens before I got a CD player. Even later before I got a DVD player. It took some of my friends months before I would try MP3s. Then Bittorrent. So, a little late to the game, I'm going to put together a decent multimedia center. The heart will be the PVR I am documenting here.

The Platform

I was introduced to VIA's Eden mini-itx boards by Slashdot pretty early in the game. I loved them because they were small and didn't require much power. It turns out the VIA EPIA SP8000 is quite a multimedia beast. Equipped with 5.1, SPDIF, S-Video, MPEG-2 decoding, it met quite a few of my initial wants. Further, it's packs all the normal PC stuff on-board, like LAN, VGA, USB, and FireWire. With it's low power requirements, it was a perfect fit for an always-on media solution. Did I mention it has Linux support?

The Wishlist

As with most projects, I started with a wish list.

Tasks

By tasks, I mean the things I want to do with the system. This will, to some degree, determine what kind of hardware and software I need.

I wanted a cheap, low power, quiet system. This will be sitting in my living room and it will always be on. So, it can't consume tons of electricity. Also, I don't want a loud buzzing noise while I'm enjoying media. So, it has to be as quiet as possible.

I need a flexible solution. I already have a shitty, old TV with RCA-in ports. Since that is all I have, it needs to work with that. However, I plan to get a decent 5.1 surround sound system and (probably) a projector.

I want to record TV and I want access to other media as well. That is the whole point, right? This means the solution needs TV in, network connectivity, and more.

I want to offload some of that media onto CD or DVD. It'd also be nice to have a one-click CD and DVD duplicator.

Hardware

The mainboard needed to be power efficient and small. For quite awhile, Via Technologies have been coming out with some innovative mini-itx mainboards that get put into all kinds of places. With RCA video out, 5.1 surround, SPDIF, and S-Video out, it definitely will work with both my old TV and the media system I want to get. Further, the VIA SP8000 is fanless, which means it will be silent.

The hard drive will be another major noise maker. I am defaulting to the Seagate Barracuda because of it's whisper-quiet reputation. I plan on getting an 80 gig for the OS and a 500 gig for storage of the movies. I was scared away from SATA, so these will both be 7200 RPM ATA drives.

I obviously need some way to get the media to the computer. The Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500 is a dual tuner card with built-in MPEG-2 encoding. That will allow me to watch while I record. Not to mention the MPEG encoding will help the anemic 800 MHz processor keep it's usage down. It also has an FM tuner, to boot. For DVD and CD media, I opted for a generic DVD-ROM / CD-ROM drive. I also want to burn discs. So, I am looking for a dual-layer DVD+/-RW / CD-RW.

I want to make this appear like a normal piece of home entertainment equipment. I haven't seen a case that does what I want. So, I'm going to build it out of lexan.

Finally, any good TV device needs remote control. I imagine I'll have to roll my own IR receiver. Bryan did it, so I feel confident that I can manage it as well.

Software

I looked at the Windows MCE solutions and decided they weren't flexible enough. Since I ruled out using a Mac Mini, the Mac solutions didn't matter. This leaves me with Linux. Fortunately, before I even started looking at parts, I knew MythTV was a great solution.

The plan is to use MythTV on top of some flavor of Linux. I'd like to use epiOS, though a generic Gentoo install may have to suffice.

Since I'm not sure what all I have available until I start working with the box, I am planning on writing a few shell scripts to do the work of DVD and CD duplication.

Install Notes

So far, I've been picking out parts with plans to order them around April 1, 2006. I've been pondering how the case should work and how everything will tie together. Everything will be installed and made functional without a case, however.

The official parts list is as follows:

I'm also looking at a fan option in the event that the case gets too hot.

Updates

20060927 - E-mail

Fredrik Fridsten sent me a link to his PVR Project. He's using MythTV, too, and made his own case. It looks really nice.

I'm seriously thinking about Linux From Scratch. That is, I want to until I realize that MythTV probably had millions of dependencies.

20060923 - Stuck in the Mud

Two weekends ago, I gave up hope on making my case. I threw it in the dumpster. I went to CompUSA to see if they had any decent cases. They did, but they also had some cases on clearance. I ended up getting a mid-tower case for $20.00. The case is a hell of a lot bigger than I need, but it's well thought out and really easy to work in since my motherboard is so small.

With the case temporarily solved, I've gone back to software. So far, I've tried Gentoo, Epios, iMedia MythTV Linux 1.8, iMedia MythTV Linux 2.0, KnoppMyth, Ubuntu, and (installing now) Kubuntu. I struggled with Gentoo for awhile, as I've said below. Epios was almost working, but I could not get MythTV front end to realized that MythTV backend was running. It might have been a flaw in the rc script.

I was going to keep working with Epios, but I found iMedia MythTV Linux, which was light, easy to install, and made for Epia. I decided to give it a shot. After I installed it, and booted, the computer restarted as soon as grub loaded. So, I poked around in the Grub config and eventually got the Grub menu to display. A soon as I selected to boot the iMedia kernel, the computer restarted. I tried all the suggestions I could find on the 'Net. Nothing worked. I tried both the MythTV 1.8 and MythTV 2.0 versions. Both with the same results.

So, I decided to try a generic distro. Both KnoppMyth and Ubuntu were sort of a bust. I'm trying Kubuntu now.

  1. A picture of the tiny motherboard in the giant case.

20060731 - Work Progresses

After re-writing my website and moving to a new place, I've started work on this project again. Saturday, I mounted the mother board and cut the holes for the back panel. Sunday, I started cutting holes for the TV card, but stopped when I realized it was getting late and I might be bugging the neighbors.

  1. A view from the inside of the hole I cut.
  2. A view from the outside of the hole I cut.
  3. The panel in the hole.
  4. The motherboard mounted on the chassis.
  5. An outside view with the motherboard and panel.
  6. A shot of the risers.
  7. A shot of the risers.
  8. A shot of the outside with spline.

20060510 - Switching Modes

I got fed up with the endless failures I was having with the software, so I moved to hardware. It's important to note that I ditched the lexan idea because I was worried about the structure being too weak with lexan. I'm copying this over from my blog post...

While I was feeling better, I bought a TEAC 5 disc CD changer from the Goodwill for $20. I also bought my first Dremel set, and various other supplies. The CD changer will become the case for my PVR project. I've already taken it apart and everything fits wonderfully. I couldn't have planned it better.

Now, I just need to learn to be more precise when I'm making mounting brackets and such. I should probably buy a ruler or something.

20060425 - Grumble

Just FYI, the Gentoo thing is not going well. MythTV and the PVR 500 have been a bitch. I had to use the latest Getoo kernel to get IVTV to work. Then I finally got that working and MythTV hates my database. So, I'm going to conceede defeat this weekend and go back to epiOS.

20060413 - Playing Around

I played with epiOS, and it's all well and good. But, KDE is bloated, so I tried to unmerge it. After a few hours, trying to clean things up only left me with tons of dependency issues that all related to KDE. I realized I had no idea what USE flags they set. So, I attempted to find out.

It turns out they had at least 10 times as many USE flags as I had ever set. So, I tried to change those. I still couldn't get rid of the dependancies. Then I realized I didn't really know what kernel modules they had. So, I gave up and put everything back in the box until Friday.

Friday, I'm going to hook everything up in my room, curl up with some Vodka, and start the arduous task of a Stage 1 Gentoo install. It only makes sense. This thing should boot fast. Sadly, it would be faster for me to do a clean install than to install epiOS and figure out how and what to remove. So, that is my plan.

After the install is done, I can apparently convert it to epiOS, which I might just do.

20060411 - Parts In, Install Begins

All my parts came in yesterday. After some initial fears about the power I had accessible, some research confirmed that I should have a little power to spare. Also, I found this HTPC How To that I wish I had read before I bought parts. But, in the end, I've got a good system. If I have to change the motherboard when I want to go to HDTV, so be it.

Last night I hooked up what I needed to boot so I could play with the bios. I felt like I got kicked in the head when I saw the post logo... in a good way. It was awesome. That was the first good-looking post logo I've seen. It looks classy.

The only regret I have about the board is that it doesn't have a thermal monitor. Since it's fanless, I'm scared it won't keep it cool enough. So, until I get a fan, I'll just have to worry. Other than that, this is the coolest motherboard I've seen.

I'm installing epiOS as I type this. The install documentation is so sparse on their site. It was hard enough to find the ISO. But when I saw the install notes, knowing it is based on Gentoo, I was scared. Three pages of instructions? Gentoo Stage 1 is at least 20 page. The fail to mention that there is a really nice install program and that it is a Stage 4 install. So, I worried for nothing.

After seeing the 1/4 inch acrylic sheets at Home Depot the other week, I noticed they were really flexible. So, I am going to get some old VCRs from a co-worker and see if I can repurpose one, then do the acrylic exterior if needed. He's also donating a few old cases to help with automating some of it (e.g. the places the PCI cards bolt in).

I sacrificed a small piece of skin on the tip of my finger to the project while I was cutting some cardboard with an Exacto knife.

20060331 - Bought Parts

I bought the parts to put together the system. I had to improvise, as a few items were out of stock. So far, the project is running $1,113.84 in parts. As soon as I get everything, I'm going to do some case mockups and templates out of card board. Once I have everything mocked-up, I'll install the OS and do some testing. Finally, I'll get to work on the case. I figure by May, I'll have everything up and running.

Closing Information and Links List

© 2001-2008 Robert Brodrecht