So, for quite some time now I've been wanting to build myself a PVR, or personal video recorder. For an even longer time, i've wanted to build myself a cheap PC with a fully custom case.

Well, over the past month I have managed to do both. Why not kill two birds with one stone.

I picked up a mobo, processor, memory bundle from tigerdirect for $99. Add a 300Gb hard drive for $99. Add a power supply and cpu fan for another @$60 and I have myself a sub $300 computer with 5 times the horsepower of my last desktop (a PIII 600).

But, I still needed a case. Off to Homesense I went in search of a box of some sort that I could mod and turn into a decorative home for my machine. After browsing for a while and looking at several wooden boxes and other home decor items that could possibly work, I settled on a mesh wire file storage device. Price $17.

So, after one weekend of ripping appart some ancient hardware for parts (something to mounth the mobo on with standoffs - power switches - LEDs etc.), measuring, snipping, and fitting, I had my custom computer case housing my PC.

Now to turn it into a PVR. Add a $94 tuner card, SageTV software and a tv cable coming out of my wall. Presto - instant pvr.

At some point I will udpate the world on my experiences with the machine - but I'll leave that for later.

I'll also post pictures for the curious.

andre