Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hey everyone, welcome to the podcast. My name is Chris Polette. I'm an editor at how Stuff Works, and as usual, sitting next to me as senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Hi. Everyone, we're gonna talk to you today about turning your PC into a ti Vo. And you know, a ti Vo is sort of a pcally, So thank you very much. Well, I was great talking to you again. Tune in record time. Yeah, okay, so no, actually that's true. I would like to touch on that. I actually own a TiVo and essentially they are a PC. But not everyone wants to spend the money to buy a ti Vo. They can be a little pricey, especially for the high definition version, which is very pricey um. And some people just like that feeling of d I y or you know what. I just don't like Tvo. So it's up to you, you know. But if you don't want to go the standard route or you want some customization, maybe it's in your best interest to uh to look into building your own. Yeah, because there are definitely some really cool features you can add into your PC that will give you a lot more functionality than you would get in the standard TiVo. UM. But we'll get into that a little bit later. I guess I was actually gonna start with literally turning your PC into a ti Vo UM, which there now is an option to do that. It's through the use of the Nero Liquid TV Slash ti Vo PC, which is UH an interface a card that you install in a PC. It has the UH the coaxial UH link in the back, so you hook your cable up into it and it it gives your PC the ti Vo functionality. It gives it the same sort of software and functions that you would find in your standard TiVo and UM it comes with a software that you can know that obviously is the TiVo software. And if you already have a tuner card for your PC, you can get just the software. You don't have to get the card and software bundled together. UM. But yeah, this is this UH, this service that turns your PC into a TiVo. So it has the little TiVo logo, it does a little it's got the it's got the software, and you use the TiVo remote yep. So that's, uh, that's for people who want the TiVo. They don't want necessarily a set top box. They don't mind using a computer, whether the computer happens to be next to their entertainment system or is in a totally different room, um, and then wired over to the TV. There are a lot of different options there. So that's the easiest one, right. I don't think it gets any easier than plugging a card into your computer and then just running some software and then you're ready to go. What about Windows Media Center? That's that's almost as easy. I supposed it depends on on whom you ask. Um. Yeah, Windows, Microsoft has its own uh built in on some in some PCs, most recent pieces. Yeah, yeah, so they Windows Media Center actually has uh some capability of doing this on its own. Um. So you could essentially, you know, hook your your PC up to your TV and you or a monitor. Really you would need a tuner card, you know, to to do that. Um, but you would be able to, uh to go ahead and use your PC as a TV, TVO DVR. Um. And uh you know Mac even has something like that. Apple has its front row, which is built in. Now it's not quite as doesn't handle the same kind of functionality as Windows Media Center, but it does allow you to watch videos you may have downloaded from iTunes or some of the other services where you can download video, and you can look at the photos and your photo gallery, UM, play podcasts things like that via you know that you have a little remote control and you can you can access those, which is one of the advantages of doing this on your on your TV because you know, having the PC two TV hookup is you can access your media library, your music files, you know a lot of you know, not so much with the TVO software, but with Windows Media Center or with Hope UM, with the front row thing, you can you can actually do that have access to play back all the other things on your TV, which is why some people get a Mac Mini, which is a very scaled down Mac and just soak it up their TV and use it that way. That's cool. Now, I was not aware of front Row. Okay, so I have a question for you that may or may not know the answer. All right, is it at all similar to Apple TV? UM sounds kind of like it has some of the same features. Well, now, Apple TV is a dedicated box UM and actually is very similar in size to the to the Mac Mini UM and maybe the exact same size for all I know, UM because I'm going off the top of my head here. But uh, what what Jonathan is talking about is Apple TV is basically dedicated to, um, getting movies. You can download movies to it over the internet, UM that you pay you know, that you pay for and it is dedicated to putting that content up on the TV. It's not it doesn't have the same functionality as a full Macintosh computer. UM. But it's not really intended to be a DVR either. UM. It's not really about uh, you know, hooking up your cable or satellite box directly to Apple TV and then using it as a DVR, which you would get if you used something like Windows Media Center or or Nero the you know, the t BO box or UM for that matter, Elgato I t V, which is the exactly which is the the Mac version essentially of of Nero. UM. Basically you have a tuner card, you have the software, and you can use your Macintosh uh to uh function as a DVR, but um again and also lets you do other things. It's got a built in tuner guide, manages disk space for you. It's got the program catalog and UM you can share recordings over a network, what you can't do with UH with some DVRs, depending on the age of like for example, my TVO is a Series one and it is a It is a real trooper. It's it's hung in there. It does accept the modem is a little spotty. UM, but we basically ran it into the ground. And actually that's a good point. It would help me segue into my next point, which is, UM, you can actually modify your t VO if you have one. UM. When the hard drive died in my TVO, which was a very sad occasion, my friend Dave helped me take it apart. He installed a new, brand new gigantoid hard drive on it, and UM, basically what we did was we took this brand new hard drive, hooked it up to his Lynx computer, and he ran uhically an installation program that format it or formatting program that UH, you know, made it ready to work with the TiVo. UM. The information to run the TVO is basically in the chip set that is inside the box. So it already knew that I had a lifetime subscription, which is why I wanted to continue using my Tvo. UM, and you know you can. You can do that. Actually, since the modem has died, there are companies that won't let you buy an upgrade your modum. You can actually install a wireless card or uh Collas connection in the back. Now, if you do this, they're going to avoid your warranty uh in a big way. Um. As a matter of fact, I called TiVo to ask them a question and they said, UM, yeah, you know you avoided your warranty when you installed this new hard drive. And I said, yeah, it's six years old. They went, oh, never mind, So what can I help you with? So they answered my question, which was all I needed really from him. But UM, very very nice of Tvo to do that. Um. But that you know, this is essentially all you need is you've got to have something to run the DVR, which is your processor card. You've got to have a hard drive in it, preferably something large and I'd recommend fast because if you have a slow hard drive, it is going to affect the way you watch your shows. Um. And then you are going to need some kind of tunor card, which can cost around seventy dollars depending on which one you go with. Um. If so you have a computer that has the media center on it already, when does media center, then that's really gonna be your Your one expense is the tuner card. So you think seventy bucks. Hey, that's not so bad, and don't treat about the card. You know, we say card and people who may be thinking, well I could that, you know, it doesn't sound too difficult. I could probably do that. Oh wait, there's a card involved. I don't want to pull my computer up. And not all of them are the kinds of cards that you open the case and plug in. Or maybe you have a laptop and you're thinking, you know, I'm not going to pull that thing open. I'm never getet closed again. Um, there are actually cards that work. Uh there they fit in a USB slot. Yeah, the the hop Podge Win TV PVR USB two is one of them. That's like about bucks yep. And uh, actually I believe Nero packages one that comes you can get it with it, you know, as a single package that has that in there. And El Gato also has a package deal. Um or if you're really feeling daring, you can build a brand new PC uh from scratch and actually put everything into it that that you need, in which case what we've been talking about already is probably extremely basic for you. UM. But there are a number of uh freeware operating systems for do it yourself DVRs. UM. Among them is myth TV, which lets you watch live TV and it supports multiple tuner cards, so you could theoretically watch one show record another. UM. It'll let you rip c d s as a game emulator in it, so you can play Nime, uh, Nintendo or PC games on. It offers a slide show, you can get the weather, let you rip DVDs, and it has an RSS reader if you're feeling like not ripping DVDs you just want to follow the news online yah. UM. And it's it's completely uh you know, available for download. UM. There's another version called x MBC, which has been translated into different flavors other people. It's open source, so other people have modified it. Uh. There's a version for UH for Mac, PC, Linux or Xbox, the original Xbox. UM. It handles HDTV plays from different formats in addition to the hard drive. UH you know, network Internet streams pictures allows you to use a remote UM. Yeah, that's that's the tricky part maybe the remote, um, you know, but a lot of these support a standard remote, you know, a generic remote. Some of them come with it, um, you know for the packaged offerings. UM. It's even possible for you to be able to if you were, say, using the Windows Media Center, you can you can network that with something like the Xbox three sixty. You can use the Xbox three sixties interface to access the movies that you've stored on your Windows Media Center. And so then you're just using the remote for the three sixty. Um. That's kind of cool approach to where and and the nice thing about that is if you have a wireless adapter for your if your Xbox, you know, but you can wireless network. You don't even have to have the computer in the Xbox three sixty in the same room, which is useful because a lot of people don't like having the PC just saying there right next to everything else in their home entertainment system, right, Um, and there are a number of other of other formats and uh, you know, but there let's just say and and you know, to clarify and sum it up that there are a bunch no matter what operating system you're using, UM, unless you're one of the fans as I am of the dearly departed or yearly departed Amiga UM, and there probably is one comes back to the AGA, you know, I got to give him a shout out, and uh, I can't believe I just said shout out, but they there's probably one for the Mega. I didn't see, but I should go look. But really, essentially there are options. So if you're considering getting a DVR or upgrading yours, UM, you know there don't necessarily just go look at one take a look there. Just about all of these have a pretty extensive website UM that will let you take a peek and see what what different options they offer UM. And you know, it's all part of the great convergence as we moved to one single box that does everything. Depending on whom you would ask, and if you're like me, you might just have an old computer sitting around that could completely work as a DVR. You want to make sure that you have the a fast enough processor and a fast enough hard drive, as Chris was saying, you don't want to just you know, plug anything in. Uh, I would recommend using a computer that has at least two D six megabytes of RAM. Anything less than that and you're not gonna have a very good experience whatsoever. I'm certain. Yeah, it would probably take at least that. Yeah, that would be the bare minimum. Um. I would recommend faster or more RAM if if possible, because you'll need it. But um, yeah, if you have an old computer saying around, I actually do have an old computer that I may look into. I have in fact, it's it's old enough now where I need to look and see if it can measure up to what I would require to make it into a DVR. Um. But I've been since we started researching this podcast, I was thinking, Hey, this is something it sounds like, you know, I could totally do, and um, considering that I also have a ti Vo at home, but it it gave up the ghost almost immediately after coming out of the box, and since it was a free copy, I never bothered to ever get it fixed. This are the things I never lived with TiVo, so I don't know what I'm missing, right, So people who live with TiVo, it's like talking to someone who just got to have a cult. Sorry about that. Yeah, so I kind of want to join now. I'll granted it's many years after the cult was at its height. But uh, I'm curious too, I'm wondering what TV I'm missing. Well, DVR popularity is. It's just one of those things where I think people accept it now and you know, just just don't hear anything about the standard thing of so many cable uh cable boxes now, like you can get a cable box from your cable provider that has a DVR and now most people will tell you, most people who are big fans of DVRs will tell you that the DVRs packaged with cable provider boxes are substandard when compared to other other products on the market. Well, I would always I would always say it's a good idea to look at a review site, of which how stuff works is not one UM, but there are other some really great review sites out there that will you know, put them against one another head to head. Um Tibo always does pretty well those But there are some others that you know from companies I shan't mentioned because I used to work for them UM, but you know they make decent DVRs that that other people do like that. Reviewers have have reviewed UM and TiVo has actually had partnerships with some companies and then you know in the past. Um but yeah, I would I if I were looking at buying a new box right now, I would consider, you know, the variety. You've got all the different ones that your provider might offer. You've got the third party like uh TiVo or um oh, digios box, the Moxie, and then you have you know, the do what do it yourself PC version, and each of them offers something a little bit different, and it might be worth checking out whether you like the interface and whether you feel comfortable doing this. But I think that this is a project that people might not necessarily need to be afraid of because it's right. It sounds complex, but it's really not. And keep in mind that if you do it do it yourself way, it gives you a lot more options when it comes to making changes further down the road. And mostly set top boxes, you you you aren't supposed to modify them, so you void, void your warranty, or you could possibly really break something or cap. But with the PC, I mean you can. Let's say that you realize, like if you could buy a ti vo for a certain amount of money and you say, hey that it'll let me store this many hours of programming. Um, whether that's standard definition or high definition whatever. But if you look at a PC, you can say, well, it really just depends on how big the hard drive is, and I can always upgrade my hard drive. I can add hard drive space or switch it out or whatever. Um. You can't really do that with a t VO necessarily, at least not without avoiding the warranty. So that's one of the other big, big advantages of using a PC is that it gives you a lot more flexibility. Wow. Yeah, I feel like I need to run home and start recording some television. It's it's a good thing. Record one thing, watch another. Yeah, I'm just staying. I know what show I want to record? Okay, yeah, it starts on Noah, you know what it is? How Stuff Works? Oh, the first promo of How Stuff Works the TV show, except we're probably being played three weeks. Yeah, it's probably by the time this displayed, it's already been. So I hope you guys have been enjoying it. I know we have. Yes, certainly. Well, now that we've discussed this all the way to the ground, I want to encourage our listeners to go to How Stuff Works dot com. We have articles all about computers. We have an articles about DVRs and t those specifically, and you can check all that out and how stuff works dot com right now and we'll talk to you against soon. But more on this and thousands of other topics because it how stuff works dot com. Let us know what you think. Send an email to podcast at how stuff works dot com. Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are you

Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hey everyone, welcome to the podcast. My name is Chris Polette. I'm an editor at how Stuff Works, and as usual, sitting next to me as senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Hi. Everyone, we're gonna talk to you today about turning your PC into a ti Vo. And you know, a ti Vo is sort of a pcally, So thank you very much. Well, I was great talking to you again. Tune in record time. Yeah, okay, so no, actually that's true. I would like to touch on that. I actually own a TiVo and essentially they are a PC. But not everyone wants to spend the money to buy a ti Vo. They can be a little pricey, especially for the high definition version, which is very pricey um. And some people just like that feeling of d I y or you know what. I just don't like Tvo. So it's up to you, you know. But if you don't want to go the standard route or you want some customization, maybe it's in your best interest to uh to look into building your own. Yeah, because there are definitely some really cool features you can add into your PC that will give you a lot more functionality than you would get in the standard TiVo. UM. But we'll get into that a little bit later. I guess I was actually gonna start with literally turning your PC into a ti Vo UM, which there now is an option to do that. It's through the use of the Nero Liquid TV Slash ti Vo PC, which is UH an interface a card that you install in a PC. It has the UH the coaxial UH link in the back, so you hook your cable up into it and it it gives your PC the ti Vo functionality. It gives it the same sort of software and functions that you would find in your standard TiVo and UM it comes with a software that you can know that obviously is the TiVo software. And if you already have a tuner card for your PC, you can get just the software. You don't have to get the card and software bundled together. UM. But yeah, this is this UH, this service that turns your PC into a TiVo. So it has the little TiVo logo, it does a little it's got the it's got the software, and you use the TiVo remote yep. So that's, uh, that's for people who want the TiVo. They don't want necessarily a set top box. They don't mind using a computer, whether the computer happens to be next to their entertainment system or is in a totally different room, um, and then wired over to the TV. There are a lot of different options there. So that's the easiest one, right. I don't think it gets any easier than plugging a card into your computer and then just running some software and then you're ready to go. What about Windows Media Center? That's that's almost as easy. I supposed it depends on on whom you ask. Um. Yeah, Windows, Microsoft has its own uh built in on some in some PCs, most recent pieces. Yeah, yeah, so they Windows Media Center actually has uh some capability of doing this on its own. Um. So you could essentially, you know, hook your your PC up to your TV and you or a monitor. Really you would need a tuner card, you know, to to do that. Um, but you would be able to, uh to go ahead and use your PC as a TV, TVO DVR. Um. And uh you know Mac even has something like that. Apple has its front row, which is built in. Now it's not quite as doesn't handle the same kind of functionality as Windows Media Center, but it does allow you to watch videos you may have downloaded from iTunes or some of the other services where you can download video, and you can look at the photos and your photo gallery, UM, play podcasts things like that via you know that you have a little remote control and you can you can access those, which is one of the advantages of doing this on your on your TV because you know, having the PC two TV hookup is you can access your media library, your music files, you know a lot of you know, not so much with the TVO software, but with Windows Media Center or with Hope UM, with the front row thing, you can you can actually do that have access to play back all the other things on your TV, which is why some people get a Mac Mini, which is a very scaled down Mac and just soak it up their TV and use it that way. That's cool. Now, I was not aware of front Row. Okay, so I have a question for you that may or may not know the answer. All right, is it at all similar to Apple TV? UM sounds kind of like it has some of the same features. Well, now, Apple TV is a dedicated box UM and actually is very similar in size to the to the Mac Mini UM and maybe the exact same size for all I know, UM because I'm going off the top of my head here. But uh, what what Jonathan is talking about is Apple TV is basically dedicated to, um, getting movies. You can download movies to it over the internet, UM that you pay you know, that you pay for and it is dedicated to putting that content up on the TV. It's not it doesn't have the same functionality as a full Macintosh computer. UM. But it's not really intended to be a DVR either. UM. It's not really about uh, you know, hooking up your cable or satellite box directly to Apple TV and then using it as a DVR, which you would get if you used something like Windows Media Center or or Nero the you know, the t BO box or UM for that matter, Elgato I t V, which is the exactly which is the the Mac version essentially of of Nero. UM. Basically you have a tuner card, you have the software, and you can use your Macintosh uh to uh function as a DVR, but um again and also lets you do other things. It's got a built in tuner guide, manages disk space for you. It's got the program catalog and UM you can share recordings over a network, what you can't do with UH with some DVRs, depending on the age of like for example, my TVO is a Series one and it is a It is a real trooper. It's it's hung in there. It does accept the modem is a little spotty. UM, but we basically ran it into the ground. And actually that's a good point. It would help me segue into my next point, which is, UM, you can actually modify your t VO if you have one. UM. When the hard drive died in my TVO, which was a very sad occasion, my friend Dave helped me take it apart. He installed a new, brand new gigantoid hard drive on it, and UM, basically what we did was we took this brand new hard drive, hooked it up to his Lynx computer, and he ran uhically an installation program that format it or formatting program that UH, you know, made it ready to work with the TiVo. UM. The information to run the TVO is basically in the chip set that is inside the box. So it already knew that I had a lifetime subscription, which is why I wanted to continue using my Tvo. UM, and you know you can. You can do that. Actually, since the modem has died, there are companies that won't let you buy an upgrade your modum. You can actually install a wireless card or uh Collas connection in the back. Now, if you do this, they're going to avoid your warranty uh in a big way. Um. As a matter of fact, I called TiVo to ask them a question and they said, UM, yeah, you know you avoided your warranty when you installed this new hard drive. And I said, yeah, it's six years old. They went, oh, never mind, So what can I help you with? So they answered my question, which was all I needed really from him. But UM, very very nice of Tvo to do that. Um. But that you know, this is essentially all you need is you've got to have something to run the DVR, which is your processor card. You've got to have a hard drive in it, preferably something large and I'd recommend fast because if you have a slow hard drive, it is going to affect the way you watch your shows. Um. And then you are going to need some kind of tunor card, which can cost around seventy dollars depending on which one you go with. Um. If so you have a computer that has the media center on it already, when does media center, then that's really gonna be your Your one expense is the tuner card. So you think seventy bucks. Hey, that's not so bad, and don't treat about the card. You know, we say card and people who may be thinking, well I could that, you know, it doesn't sound too difficult. I could probably do that. Oh wait, there's a card involved. I don't want to pull my computer up. And not all of them are the kinds of cards that you open the case and plug in. Or maybe you have a laptop and you're thinking, you know, I'm not going to pull that thing open. I'm never getet closed again. Um, there are actually cards that work. Uh there they fit in a USB slot. Yeah, the the hop Podge Win TV PVR USB two is one of them. That's like about bucks yep. And uh, actually I believe Nero packages one that comes you can get it with it, you know, as a single package that has that in there. And El Gato also has a package deal. Um or if you're really feeling daring, you can build a brand new PC uh from scratch and actually put everything into it that that you need, in which case what we've been talking about already is probably extremely basic for you. UM. But there are a number of uh freeware operating systems for do it yourself DVRs. UM. Among them is myth TV, which lets you watch live TV and it supports multiple tuner cards, so you could theoretically watch one show record another. UM. It'll let you rip c d s as a game emulator in it, so you can play Nime, uh, Nintendo or PC games on. It offers a slide show, you can get the weather, let you rip DVDs, and it has an RSS reader if you're feeling like not ripping DVDs you just want to follow the news online yah. UM. And it's it's completely uh you know, available for download. UM. There's another version called x MBC, which has been translated into different flavors other people. It's open source, so other people have modified it. Uh. There's a version for UH for Mac, PC, Linux or Xbox, the original Xbox. UM. It handles HDTV plays from different formats in addition to the hard drive. UH you know, network Internet streams pictures allows you to use a remote UM. Yeah, that's that's the tricky part maybe the remote, um, you know, but a lot of these support a standard remote, you know, a generic remote. Some of them come with it, um, you know for the packaged offerings. UM. It's even possible for you to be able to if you were, say, using the Windows Media Center, you can you can network that with something like the Xbox three sixty. You can use the Xbox three sixties interface to access the movies that you've stored on your Windows Media Center. And so then you're just using the remote for the three sixty. Um. That's kind of cool approach to where and and the nice thing about that is if you have a wireless adapter for your if your Xbox, you know, but you can wireless network. You don't even have to have the computer in the Xbox three sixty in the same room, which is useful because a lot of people don't like having the PC just saying there right next to everything else in their home entertainment system, right, Um, and there are a number of other of other formats and uh, you know, but there let's just say and and you know, to clarify and sum it up that there are a bunch no matter what operating system you're using, UM, unless you're one of the fans as I am of the dearly departed or yearly departed Amiga UM, and there probably is one comes back to the AGA, you know, I got to give him a shout out, and uh, I can't believe I just said shout out, but they there's probably one for the Mega. I didn't see, but I should go look. But really, essentially there are options. So if you're considering getting a DVR or upgrading yours, UM, you know there don't necessarily just go look at one take a look there. Just about all of these have a pretty extensive website UM that will let you take a peek and see what what different options they offer UM. And you know, it's all part of the great convergence as we moved to one single box that does everything. Depending on whom you would ask, and if you're like me, you might just have an old computer sitting around that could completely work as a DVR. You want to make sure that you have the a fast enough processor and a fast enough hard drive, as Chris was saying, you don't want to just you know, plug anything in. Uh, I would recommend using a computer that has at least two D six megabytes of RAM. Anything less than that and you're not gonna have a very good experience whatsoever. I'm certain. Yeah, it would probably take at least that. Yeah, that would be the bare minimum. Um. I would recommend faster or more RAM if if possible, because you'll need it. But um, yeah, if you have an old computer saying around, I actually do have an old computer that I may look into. I have in fact, it's it's old enough now where I need to look and see if it can measure up to what I would require to make it into a DVR. Um. But I've been since we started researching this podcast, I was thinking, Hey, this is something it sounds like, you know, I could totally do, and um, considering that I also have a ti Vo at home, but it it gave up the ghost almost immediately after coming out of the box, and since it was a free copy, I never bothered to ever get it fixed. This are the things I never lived with TiVo, so I don't know what I'm missing, right, So people who live with TiVo, it's like talking to someone who just got to have a cult. Sorry about that. Yeah, so I kind of want to join now. I'll granted it's many years after the cult was at its height. But uh, I'm curious too, I'm wondering what TV I'm missing. Well, DVR popularity is. It's just one of those things where I think people accept it now and you know, just just don't hear anything about the standard thing of so many cable uh cable boxes now, like you can get a cable box from your cable provider that has a DVR and now most people will tell you, most people who are big fans of DVRs will tell you that the DVRs packaged with cable provider boxes are substandard when compared to other other products on the market. Well, I would always I would always say it's a good idea to look at a review site, of which how stuff works is not one UM, but there are other some really great review sites out there that will you know, put them against one another head to head. Um Tibo always does pretty well those But there are some others that you know from companies I shan't mentioned because I used to work for them UM, but you know they make decent DVRs that that other people do like that. Reviewers have have reviewed UM and TiVo has actually had partnerships with some companies and then you know in the past. Um but yeah, I would I if I were looking at buying a new box right now, I would consider, you know, the variety. You've got all the different ones that your provider might offer. You've got the third party like uh TiVo or um oh, digios box, the Moxie, and then you have you know, the do what do it yourself PC version, and each of them offers something a little bit different, and it might be worth checking out whether you like the interface and whether you feel comfortable doing this. But I think that this is a project that people might not necessarily need to be afraid of because it's right. It sounds complex, but it's really not. And keep in mind that if you do it do it yourself way, it gives you a lot more options when it comes to making changes further down the road. And mostly set top boxes, you you you aren't supposed to modify them, so you void, void your warranty, or you could possibly really break something or cap. But with the PC, I mean you can. Let's say that you realize, like if you could buy a ti vo for a certain amount of money and you say, hey that it'll let me store this many hours of programming. Um, whether that's standard definition or high definition whatever. But if you look at a PC, you can say, well, it really just depends on how big the hard drive is, and I can always upgrade my hard drive. I can add hard drive space or switch it out or whatever. Um. You can't really do that with a t VO necessarily, at least not without avoiding the warranty. So that's one of the other big, big advantages of using a PC is that it gives you a lot more flexibility. Wow. Yeah, I feel like I need to run home and start recording some television. It's it's a good thing. Record one thing, watch another. Yeah, I'm just staying. I know what show I want to record? Okay, yeah, it starts on Noah, you know what it is? How Stuff Works? Oh, the first promo of How Stuff Works the TV show, except we're probably being played three weeks. Yeah, it's probably by the time this displayed, it's already been. So I hope you guys have been enjoying it. I know we have. Yes, certainly. Well, now that we've discussed this all the way to the ground, I want to encourage our listeners to go to How Stuff Works dot com. We have articles all about computers. We have an articles about DVRs and t those specifically, and you can check all that out and how stuff works dot com right now and we'll talk to you against soon. But more on this and thousands of other topics because it how stuff works dot com. Let us know what you think. Send an email to podcast at how stuff works dot com. Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are you