I’m new to the Apple TV. I currently use Tablo for recording OTA shows, but I don’t like some of the features. The Channels DVR sounds like it fits the bill better than Tablo. However, SWMBO will have my head if I spend much more money on cord-cutting.
I have an old PC with an AMD Athlon X2 (2.2GHz) and 3GB RAM. I can throw a 2TB drive in it and load up Linux. Would this work for the DVR? Or is the CPU too old?
Thanks,
Dan
Plenty of ghz, should work out pretty well. We won’t be able to do h/w transcoding, but the software transcoder will probably work fine on that CPU.
Thanks for the quick reply. Glad to hear I can use it. Now I just have to wait for an HDHomeRun to come back in stock at a reasonable price!
-Dan
I’m doing nearly the exact same thing as you. Bought an HD HomeRun off of ebay a couple days ago. Plan to repurpose my old, inactive HTPC that has an Athlon II X2 250 (3 GHz) and 4 GB RAM. Sounds like it should work fine. I have not used Linux before so hopefully that part won’t be too difficult!
I futzed around with Linux years ago. It wasn’t too bad, and seeing as how I plan to just use it for the DVR, I don’t think it will be difficult.
I also plan to set up a Plex Media Server on a Win10 laptop. I hope that will allow the Roku boxes in the house to access the recordings.
-Dan
If the linux box is fast enough you can just put both on there as your centralized media server 
I thought about that, but looking at the suggested requirements on Plex made me think of splitting the two. I suppose I can just try it and see how it works.
But that has to wait until SD resupplies retailers.
-Dan
You can also purchase directly from SiliconDust, which maintains its own inventory: https://shop.silicondust.com/shop/
Thanks. I think Amazon will have it for significantly less $$ when it’s back in stock, so I’m willing to wait. (See OP and SWMBO reference.)
It’s just TV, after all. 
-Dan