Connecticut News - Technology News from The Hartford Courant - Build Your Own PC-Based TV Recorder Build Your Own PC-Based TV Recorder

byopvr article

BYOPVR

Build Your Own PC-Based TV Recorder

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"Early last year, Erik Pettersen found himself wondering how a personal computer might be used to record TV programs.

Information available on the Internet was sparse. So Pettersen, now 29, of Colchester, whipped up a website and asked for ideas. Suggestions poured in by the hundreds.

Today, Pettersen's website - BYOPVR.com, for "build your own personal video recorder" - has nearly 3,000 registered members and gets 10,000 to 25,000 "hits" or page-views a day.

"It just kind of took off," said Pettersen, who is employed as a technology coordinator for the Connecticut Policy and Economic Council, a nonprofit public policy organization in Hartford.

With the availability of digital video recorders such as Tivo for as little as $100, you might wonder why anyone would bother building such a device from scratch. Pettersen said there are several motivations.

One is flexibility; consumers who make their own recorders can build to suit themselves. Some might favor extra-large hard drives for spacious storage. Others might lean toward wireless connectivity or some other feature. Still others want to store photos, music and other data. Whatever the goal, the PC can be molded to achieve it.

"It's a little bit like hot-rodding a car," Pettersen said. "Anything you could think of adding in there, you can."
"  ¶ 10:54 AM