DVR options

kovai23 · Post by **kovai23** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:16 am

Do any of the satellite or cable providers in India sell DVRs as well?

Thanks to the DVR, I've gotten so used to viewing TV without any ads etc that it might be impossible to view regular TV after R2I.

anony_mouse · Post by **anony_mouse** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 4:54 am

I am doing the same research these days as I cannot watch TV without my TiVo.

It seems DishTV India offers a DVR for about INR 15000. however, the reviews are very poor (it only has programming guide for 24 hours and does reboot a lot. somebody told me only 4 such DVRs were sold in the entire bangalore city).

I am currently focussing on buying a DVR from US (based on windows media center or eyeTV). however, I have not found a solution yet that is not too expensive (under $1000 and looks decent in living room and passes the wife test of simplicity)

nextgen · Post by **nextgen** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 10:25 am

tarun101;44325I am doing the same research these days as I cannot watch TV without my TiVo.

I am currently focussing on buying a DVR from US (based on windows media center or eyeTV). however, I have not found a solution yet that is not too expensive (under $1000 and looks decent in living room and passes the wife test of simplicity)[/quote]

-- Do we have to get another version (Indian?) of MS Windows with media center to work in India ?

-- Which TV tuner card will work, any idea ?

thanks

anony_mouse · Post by **anony_mouse** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 10:36 pm

>Do we have to get another version (Indian?) of MS Windows with media center to work in India ?

No, I think the standard media center will work. however, there is no EPG (electronic programming guide) service for India AFAIK.

>Which TV tuner card will work, any idea ?
almost any PAL tv card should work as long as there are official MCE drivers for it. Personally, I am partial to this card:
http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvr500mcekit.html (they have separate NTSC and PAL versions)
some other cards are reviewed here: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2393

You will also need a good sound card to take advantage of your home theater system.

However, what I am struggling with right now is:
- can I construct an MCE PC that looks reasonably good in the living room
- how to do it with a very quite fan in the PC so it does not make noise while watching television?

anony_mouse · Post by **anony_mouse** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:52 am

so I am finally leaning towards using an Apple TV along with EyeTV tuner card. I am partial to mac-based solutions as my home is currently all mac and I will prefer not to bring in windows !!

Does anybody knows if the tata sky box outputs a digital signal that I can use or its only PAL-based analog signal. I am asking this so I can choose appropriate tuner from EyeTV that will work with Tata Sky.

anony_mouse · Post by **anony_mouse** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 5:23 am

I have finally figured out a way to have a DVR in india.

I am going with apple tv and an elagato tv tuner.
I like apple tv as it automatically downloads the shows from my pc and looks very nice next to the tv. its also very simple to use so my wife and guests etc will be able to use it. there are no pal vs ntsc issues here either (its all digital). also, if I download tv shows using legally dubious means (I just got hold of the entire season of heros) then I can transfer them to apple tv very easily (using visual hub)

I am going to take apple tv from here before leaving for india. I will buy a tv tuner from india (I saw a few apple shops selling one for about $200 last time I was there).

apple tv + elagato + visual hub = all the tv you want, anytime you want !!

lpax · Post by **lpax** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 4:35 am

Apple TV does not support all formats. Please make sure that the formats supported are good enough for your purpose.

Also, it only works through ITunes. So when you download, you have run itunes, add the file you want to view to proper itunes category etc. I am not sure how that works.

tarun101;46508I have finally figured out a way to have a DVR in india.

I am going with apple tv and an elagato tv tuner.
I like apple tv as it automatically downloads the shows from my pc and looks very nice next to the tv. its also very simple to use so my wife and guests etc will be able to use it. there are no pal vs ntsc issues here either (its all digital). also, if I download tv shows using legally dubious means (I just got hold of the entire season of heros) then I can transfer them to apple tv very easily (using visual hub)

I am going to take apple tv from here before leaving for india. I will buy a tv tuner from india (I saw a few apple shops selling one for about $200 last time I was there).

apple tv + elagato + visual hub = all the tv you want, anytime you want !![/quote]

anony_mouse · Post by **anony_mouse** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 12:21 pm

I am using apple tv as a trial right now. its working great !!

format support is not a problem as there are a lot of tools to convert from one format to another. (I am using visual hub )

were you asking a particular question in your post? if yes, I did not completely get it.

nextgen · Post by **nextgen** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 9:41 pm

#9 - are u using it in india or in US ? It will be great if you can describe in more detail (pics will be awesome :)) how appletv picks the vids from itunes..and how they get into itunes to begin with from eye tv.

Thanks

snatchim · Post by **snatchim** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:46 am

Hi I have been using a panasonic DVR in India for the last 2 years - works great. I bought the DVR in US - PAL supported with a DVD recorder as well.