Others
PCs
Software and hardware is available which can turn personal computers running
Microsoft Windows, Linux and Macintosh into PVRs, and is a popular option for
home-theater PC (HTPC) enthusiasts.
Linux
There are many open source and GPL-licensed DVR applications available for
Linux:
MythTV
Freevo
DVR
VDR
Commercial Linux version available from SageTV for most popular Linux
distributions. Brightbox, a consumer electronics device, uses SageTV.
Macintosh
Elgato makes a series of DVR devices called EyeTV (610, 250, DTT, Hybrid,
Diversity, and so forth). The software supplied with each device (but also
available separately) is also called EyeTV. As of 2006, Elgato have released
version 2.3 of their EyeTV software, with a redesigned interface, better program
guide (built into the program) and a "One Click" to iPod video feature. Miglia
used to make DVR hardware that ran the EyeTV software, but their contract with
EyeTV has not been renewed and future hardware will utilise other DVR software.
Other DVR products include myTV.PVR from EskapeLabs and ConvertX PVR from
Plextor. MythTV (see above) also runs under Mac OS X, but most recording devices
are currently only supported under Linux. Precompiled binaries are available for
the MythTV front-end, allowing a Mac to watch video from (and control) a MythTV
server running under Linux.
Apple provides applications in the FireWire software developer kit which allow
any Macintosh with a FireWire port to record the MPEG2 transport stream from a
FireWire equipped cable box (for example: Motorola 62xx, including HD streams).
Applications can also change channels on the cable box via the firewire
interface. Only broadcast channels can be recorded as the rest of the channels
are encrypted. iRecord is a free scheduled-recording program derived from this
SDK.
Windows
Microsoft Windows has several free DVR applications including GB-PVR, Got All
Media, MediaPortal and Orb (web-based remote interface). DScaler also has DVR
support in the works.
There also are several proprietary applications including AVS TV Box, CyberLink
PowerCinema, SageTV, SnapStream Beyond TV, ChrisTV, Showshifter, Meedio (now a
dead product - Yahoo! bought most of the company's technology and discontinued
the Meedio line, and rebranding the software Yahoo! Go - TV, which is now a free
product but only works in the U.S. and Canada), InterVideo WinDVR, Recordit Plus
and the R5000-HD.
Windows Media Center is a DVR software by Microsoft bundled with the Media
Center edition of Windows XP and Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows
Vista.
Source video
Television and video are terms that are sometimes used interchangeably, but
differ in their technical meaning. Video is the visual portion of television,
whereas television is the combination of video and audio modulated onto a
carrier frequency (i.e., a television channel), so that the signal can be
delivered to the receiver (TV or computer/PVR with a TV tuner).
