TiVo’s and ReplayTVs are getting more popular nowadays with the advanced features that you have to control the TV at your fingertips. If you ask Dan, he’ll tell you that he cannot live without one anymore. Rather than spending money on a unit for myself, I decided to create a digital VCR through various spare parts and rummages through used parts places. Here’s a recount of what I used and how I got it running.

First thing I needed was a case. As much as I liked towers and such, I thought a desktop would go well with my entertainment center. You don’t see many places selling ATX desktops nowadays so finding one locally or online was a little tough. I didn’t want to spend too much and all the cases online were in the $50 range without shipping. Cases are a little heavy so shipping was a bit much. Out of curiosity I visited a local old computer parts seller. As luck would have it, I ran into a stash of old Gateway E-3000 desktops.



The stack I ran through was all Pentium 200’s but the size and shape of the case was perfect. The beige color and stickers would have to go though. I found one in the stack for $35, not bad for a full working computer and certainly cheaper than 95% of the cases I found online. ...