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TiVo tinkerers build their own units their own way

Jeff Richgels  —  10/16/2008 9:21 am

Aficionados of digital video recorders like TiVos will tell you there is nothing better for watching TV -- from one-button recording of favorite shows to quick and easy access to recorded programs to swiftly skipping through commercials.

But Mark Denning and Thomas Traband have found an even better TV-watching solution. They love their DVRs, but the catch is, they built their own. Taking on the project has given them the same features of a commercial DVR, but gives them much more freedom to do what they want with the programs they record. Plus, it's saved them some dough.

Tinkerers like Denning and Traband are, in essence, thumbing their noses at the Hollywood moguls and giant corporations who want as much control as possible over people's TV watching experiences.

Want to record your favorite TV show on your DVR, then burn it on a disk or transfer it to your iPod to watch on your bus ride to work? That's the norm with a homemade DVR, but not the commercial models.

There also are privacy issues. Companies routinely collect information on what DVR owners record and watch (to target advertising, among other things), which isn't an issue with a homemade DVR (also called a PVR, or personal video recorder).

"The drawback is that it can be quite complex and sometimes frustrating to build, because you need to know how to build a computer and also how to install the necessary software," said Denning, 32, who is working on a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Still, it's much easier to do than when he started four years ago, and anyone who has some technical skills and can follow directions probably can do it. "But if you're afraid of computers, don't even bother starting," Denning said.

Traband, an assistant professor who teaches Computer Networking and Security Technologies at Herzing College, agreed that folks who haven't worked with computer software before should approach the project with trepidation.

"But it's not that hard," Traband said, noting that detailed instructions and help are available at sites like MythTV.org.

While 27 percent of U.S. TV households have at least one DVR, according to Leichtman Research Group, one keenly interested observer has no idea how many might have built their own.

"But I think it's growing with the computer moving into the living room," said Fred von Lohmann, senior intellectual property attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that fights for consumers' digital rights.

Von Lohmann believes the freedom to control recorded programs is most important, since the money saved is not that large considering the effort required to build a DVR.

Freedom is Denning's main motivation, although the money is what got him started down the path to building his own.

"I originally was looking into getting a TiVo and when I saw that cost of $13 a month I said, 'I'm not doing that,'" he recalled.

TiVo units retail for $150 for a standard box or $300 for an HD version, but subscribers then pay a monthly fee (starting at $12.95) for the updated, on-screen programming guide and several other features. Cable and satellite subscribers pay a similar monthly fee for DVR capability.

That programming guide is the one thing that those who build their own DVRs need.

Traband and Denning get their guide from Schedules Direct, a self-described "non-profit organization whose mission is to educate the public about the benefits of Open Source Software and other free software." The organization's $20 per year fee is a fraction of what the commercial providers charge.

Traband has analog cable from Charter. Denning had the same service before he moved, but doesn't have a new service set up yet at his new residence; he gets his TV over-the-air with a homemade antenna.

Homemade DVRs can be hooked up to satellite or digital cable boxes, but signal quality will be lost with high-definition programs, Denning said.

Building a DVR requires about $300 to $400 in equipment, which can be bought online. It typically takes a few hours to build one.

"This is nothing but a computer basically," Denning said as he opened his homemade DVR and went over the components. "The difference is the TV (tuner) cards -- one for standard definition and one for high definition."

Using multiple cards means multiple shows can be recorded at the same time, and more capacity increases the number of programs that can be stored, he said. Such upgrades can be made at any time with a homemade DVR while equipment can't be added on to commercial ones (though some models are compatible with external hard drives for additional storage).

The DVR software is based on the open source Linux system and continually improves as people add on to the work of others, Denning said.

Another major benefit of do-it-yourself DVRs, Denning said, is that because the units are computers, they can do all the things a computer can do, while a commercial DVR is just a DVR.

Denning and Traband control their DVRs with a regular remote control or use a computer keyboard. In demonstrations, both systems worked similarly to commercial DVRs.

Traband, who calls himself a big advocate of open source software, got his start toward building his own DVR when his parents asked for help in making the new home they were building a "smart" home.

He bought two computers from the UW SWAP Shop, which disposes of surplus UW items, and turned them into DVRs for his parents and his family.

"The freedom is an important issue," Traband said, noting the possibility of downloading shows to an iPod. "But another thing I find attractive is that anybody who is really interested and passionate about it can invest their time and energy in it. It's a hobby and even if it didn't save money I might have done it for the challenge."

If he didn't have the technical skills, Traband might have been forced to buy DVR service.

"I like that you can take control back of your life from TV and say, 'Here's what I really want to watch,'" he said. "It's almost like putting yourself on a TV diet."

Traband, who said building the DVRs was "pretty easy for me," plans to add other functions to his system, including an arcade machine emulator to play old games like Pac-Man, Missile Command and Asteroids.

Von Lohmann said tinkerers like Denning and Traband are important.

"The tinkerers are always the ones who are defining the frontier of freedom, who are defining the future," he said. "Look at automobiles. Many innovations we take for granted today had their beginning in people's garages."

"My big hope is that the folks who are tinkering on free over-the-air broadcasts will show us what's possible. And then when cable and satellite guys won't give that to us we can say, 'Hey, wait a minute. My buddy down the street can do this and that. What's wrong with you?' Tinkerers make us realize what we're missing."

Jeff Richgels  —  10/16/2008 9:21 am