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Building a PVR machine..

D

Diabolus

Banned
Okay, I want to hook up a PC to my TV and have it work as a PVR and also a web browser, MP3 player, etc...

I have a piece of crap downstairs as an Athlon 650 or something; I would likely upgrade that but not by much, and I'd like to re-use the RAM that's on that PC.

Anyways... I was going to with SageTV and the WinPVR250 solution, but I am not sure that if I spec my processor too low it will work. I am not going to overclock, never have, never will hehe. Specially for this PC, doesn't seem worth it.

At any rate... I have a video card with TV out (that's all I need right?), but I want to get a motherboard with onboard audio and video that would possibly do Dolby Digital playback. I am not sure how this is going to work out, so any info in this regard would be great.

Also if you have recommendations on what remote to use with this PVR... that would be great too!
 
You need the one with TV IN, man, not TV out to record from the TV.
I'm working on a home theater pc using my old computer.
I have an old ATI Al-In-Wonder video card that will do the job in my Cel 500MHz. Your CPU should be ok.

1. Use you old system.

2. You can find a Sound Blaster Live 5.1 for around $25.

3. Get an ATI Al-In-Wonder or an add-in Leadtek WinFast TV2000XP for around $50. This one comes with the remote control. Or buy this $40 remote control

4. Get a wireless keyboard and mouse

5. A DVD-ROM drive should be cool

6. You can d.l the software control interface so that it will look nice on the TV screen.

That's it. Upgrade the CPU + MB if you're not happy with the performance.

This is a good link to read:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,10314,00.asp

Good luck!
 
Okay, I'm not going with the Leadtek card because its PVR capabilities suck, and it sucks out the CPU cycles from my PC. I am sticking with the choice of the WinFastPVR 250.

Additionally... I want to output this to my television. I have a 27" flat screen in my room and I'd like to put the output of my computer to that. What obstacles am I going to encounter by going this route, and what components do I need to do this?

Thanks a lot!
 
Originally posted by: Diabolus
Okay, I'm not going with the Leadtek card because its PVR capabilities suck, and it sucks out the CPU cycles from my PC. I am sticking with the choice of the WinFastPVR 250.

Additionally... I want to output this to my television. I have a 27" flat screen in my room and I'd like to put the output of my computer to that. What obstacles am I going to encounter by going this route, and what components do I need to do this?

Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...

You only need a video card with TV-out (S-Video). Easy, no problems at all.
Get a cheap GF4MX or ATi 7xxx series or similar.
I run mine at 800 x 600 and it works great.
 
I was thinking of getting the little Shuttle box... and popping a low-end processor and memory in there enough to run WinXP.

Then I was going to buy the Windows remote control (SP1 shoudl allow me to use it, right?) for controlling the thing, and a wireless keyboard and mouse combo to control anything I needed to. Get a small HD (40GB or whatever) that's quiet, a DVD Rom (don't need a burner on this particular PC), and that's that, no?

800x600 is supported by all TVs, right? I just want to be sure before I go doin that =) It will be neat to surf the web on my TV hehe.
 
Oh yea... before I forget.... how will this function if I need a digital cable box in order to decode my HBOs and stuff?

Thanks again!
 
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