Budget Whole Home DVR

If cost is an issue, then I might recommend the Silicondust HDHomerun Prime. It's a little cheaper in total cost and also works as a network/dynamic tuner so there's no assigning of tuners like with the Ceton. And I think there's an iPad app, but I don't know how well it works.

The Echo seems to have mixed reviews (some fanboys/supporters, some who absolutely have hated it). I think the best advice is to stay clear of it for a little while until Ceton gets it more fully baked/bugs worked out. A cheaper option would probably be to get a used xbox 360 on Ebay/Craigslist. You can get a unit that's banned/with a broken DVD tray and it will still work as an extender (I think they usually go for somewhere around $50 in that state). Or if you really want/need Amazon/Netflix don't get a banned box and subscribe to Xbox Live. It's a monthly/yearly subscription which kinda stinks, but it works.

The cheapest option would be a Raspberry Pi with XBMC for live TV, but I found the live TV feature in XBMC not to be as good as WMC because the delay in changing channels drove me bonkers.

And yes, with 16 gigs of RAM, i think your computer would be just fine to handle everyday tasks while streaming content.

I have found streaming Netflix and Amazon to be less than ideal on HTPCs. I'm using HDHomeRun devices on my network, and love them.

What sort of wiring do you have in your house? If each TV has access to Cat5e lines running to the same location as the computer, you could get an HDMI matrix like this:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=109&cp_id=10113&cs_id=1011310&p_id=8151&seq=1&format=2

The only downside is that each TV must watch the same thing per source (i.e. two TVs could watch the same TV channel via HTPC or one could watch TV and the other a BluRay but you couldn't watch two different channels).

Bottom line, there is really no cheap way of doing this. Long run, you will probably save money if you can cut back rented equipment (much faster if you drop the TV subscription completely and go all streaming + local/OTA only).

I would separate the "DVR" from the "computer." If this is going to be your only "cable box/DVR" in the house, and god forbid you mess somehting up by opening a rogue website, or e-mail attachment, and "real housewives" or any other "reality" show is not recorded, there is price to pay.

You can build a relativley inexpensive PC that will function as "whole house DVR" for under $500 with the quad tuner. Just start looking for deals. I have seen stores giving motherboards when you buy processors, or making them free after rebates. They are not going to be your top of the line i5's, but lower cost versions from AMD, which are just as well suited for DVR functionality.

You can find extenders on ebay for under $100 pretty regularly, or as mentioned above, banned XBOX or one with a broken drive. They will work fine as extenders.

Really all you need is a processor that has the number of cores matching the number of TV's you have, and RAM that matches the Gb's to the number of TV's, storage, OS, a case and a remote. you can add DVD Rom for $15, if you feel like it.

Your biggest single item expense will be the tuner, everything else is pretty inexpensive. Just make sure you don't buy bottom of the barrel components. Military grade and solid caps is all you need in a mobo.

You can get quad core AMD CPU for under $50, and a matching quality board for $30, RAM for another $30, OS for $33 (or $50 from Assassin download), case for $40, hard drive $50, remote for $10 and here you are: $250 HTPC. Add CableCard tuner for $130 to $150 and you have your self a $400 DVR. Add extenders 2x $50/each = $100.

There you have it a whole house DVR solution for $500 to serve all 3 TV's!!!

I cannot remember the last time that a rogue website has brought down a computer. As a matter of fact I've been connected to the internet since before AOL and still haven't experienced this. That said, it could happen tonight too.

It is not the website, per se, it is the organic material that controls the mouse and keyboard who may click on some flashing display promising something one may have been interested in... once downloaded....

Organic matter in my household is smarter than that!

One of the members here recently posted a review of the Optoma HD25. The site is in French and I have to use a translator. Getting to the next page was difficult. Anyway I turned away for about 10 minutes to do some other work and when I turned back, it was full screen of some FBI warning about porn access and paying up. Took me a whole day to recover my system from that Trojan. As a test the next day I tried accessing that site from a non essential computer. Immediately a bogus window with teenaged fashions that have nothing to do with projectors started opening. I shut my system down and made sure it was clean. Point being you can comprise a system without clicking on obvious bait.