Best OS for my HTPC hardware?

[Alienwho]

I have recently acquired a 4 year old computer that was used as a media PC, but I'm not sure the set up they had on it.

It has an athlon xp 1250, 1 Gig ram, radeon 9800 Pro with SVideo and i'm not sure what else, but it looks like the motherboard has 2 VGA slots and some other unrecognizable stuff. I'm looking for the easiest way to turn this into a media PC with my TV. Doesn't have to be anything super special, and if it can do DVR stuff without having to buy any tuners or anything that would be great, but otherwise just watching movies on it would be fine.

I'm not even sure where to begin, whether I should do a linux flavor or just microsoft XP or Vista Media Center. I just want something easy that will work with the SVideo without hacking the computer to death.

 

[tefleming]

XP MCE for that hardware, i'd think

 

[Calculator83]

Originally posted by: Alienwho
I have recently acquired a 4 year old computer that was used as a media PC, but I'm not sure the set up they had on it.

It has an athlon xp 1250, 1 Gig ram, radeon 9800 Pro with SVideo and i'm not sure what else, but it looks like the motherboard has 2 VGA slots and some other unrecognizable stuff. I'm looking for the easiest way to turn this into a media PC with my TV. Doesn't have to be anything super special, and if it can do DVR stuff without having to buy any tuners or anything that would be great, but otherwise just watching movies on it would be fine.

I'm not even sure where to begin, whether I should do a linux flavor or just microsoft XP or Vista Media Center. I just want something easy that will work with the SVideo without hacking the computer to death.

Get that up to 2 gig ram. and u should be golden. S-Video is Krap, use the vga out, or get a converter to Component.

 

[Shawn]

Vista Media Center would work. I would probably upgrade the ram though.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I'd go with MythTV on Linux, maybe a prepackaged option like Mythbuntu or KnoppMyth ..... I have used both and these days, tend to prefer MythBuntu. I've never used a video capture card in Windows so I can't speak for the usabillity or functionality on that side of things.

 

[JackBurton]

Sell it and get one of these and install this.