Cheapest HTPC for recording SD tv from composite-in

[vrbaba]

After being dissatisfied with tivo since my mom only watches 2 channels and records like 4 programs... i want to switch to custom based pc.

I am looking to configure a new system that can handle simple SD tv. I want it to be the cheapest and good to work.

My requirements are very simple:

- be able to record and view sd tv. (watch while record is not necessary)
- VERY SIMPLE, easy to navigate interface.
- ON 24/7 or if I just do a restart, automated start of the program to watch live tv, etc.
- as quiet as possible.

My budget is flexible, but im thinking of spending about 200-300 bucks. Wht yall think? Should just go to mytv and follow their instructions or anything better and working that any of you are using currently?

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Originally posted by: vrbaba
After being dissatisfied with tivo since my mom only watches 2 channels and records like 4 programs... i want to switch to custom based pc.

I am looking to configure a new system that can handle simple SD tv. I want it to be the cheapest and good to work.

My requirements are very simple:

- be able to record and view sd tv. (watch while record is not necessary)
- VERY SIMPLE, easy to navigate interface.
- ON 24/7 or if I just do a restart, automated start of the program to watch live tv, etc.
- as quiet as possible.

My budget is flexible, but im thinking of spending about 200-300 bucks. Wht yall think? Should just go to mytv and follow their instructions or anything better and working that any of you are using currently?

Question: is your $300 budget to include hardware? Or, put another way, what hardware do you currently have, and what will you need to acquire? A Hauppauge PVR-150 is still gonna run you ~$100 if you get the one with a remote.

I'm presently planning a MythTV build, and I have everything but the capture card ready for an SD setup, however I'm deliberating about my choice of capture card. The PVR-150 is nice because of its hardware mpeg-2 encoder, but for a little more I could get a pcHDTV-5500 and be able to capture HD signals as well, although I would simultaneously sacrifice the hardware encoding.

I'll probably end up getting the PVR-150 for now in order to complete the setup and give me time to learn how things work. Then, when its time to graduate to HD, I can acquire the pcHDTV card and install it right next to the PVR-150... since MythTV will support multiple simultaneous card-use.

 

[vrbaba]

Its just for my parents, who only watch SD TV from satellite. So I just realized, I dont actually need a "TV Capture card". Because the satellite box changes channels. So I would need a remote that can change IR signals from that box like TivO does (it has this ir cable that u put in front of the ir receiver of the box, and connect it to tivo box). What are my options?

I have an old emachines system with Celeron 1ghz or something. Can I use it if I just spend money on a hardware encoding card?

What is your current setup, Garth?

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Originally posted by: vrbaba
Its just for my parents, who only watch SD TV from satellite. So I just realized, I dont actually need a "TV Capture card". Because the satellite box changes channels. So I would need a remote that can change IR signals from that box like TivO does (it has this ir cable that u put in front of the ir receiver of the box, and connect it to tivo box). What are my options?

See this:

http://mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-11.html#ss11.4

Apparently MythTV supports external tuners for some satellite providers like DirectTV. From the looks of it you can connect from the PC to the tuner box via firewire or serial cable, but I don't know what that means in terms of minimum requirements for your input card for the TV signal.

I have an old emachines system with Celeron 1ghz or something. Can I use it if I just spend money on a hardware encoding card?

What is your current setup, Garth?

That system should be sufficient for most of your basic tasks, however without the hardware mpeg-2 encoding it may be taxing to try and watch tv and record at the same time, since encoding is so processor-intensive. See here for more info: http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/ind...nts#Performance_issues

The system I intend to use is an A64 3500+ with 1G of RAM, a 6800GT GPU and probably the PVR-150 to start out. Then I was just planning on using the un-encrypted cable channels that are supplied by our cable provider, directed into the PVR-150 which will do the tuning of the individual channels.

MythTV used to be able to connect to a free database that supplied local program listing data (i.e. the on-screen program "guide"), but that service is going to be discontinued. A new, cheap-but-not-free service is in development ( http://www.schedulesdirect.org/ ).

BTW, the Linux distro I installed was Ubuntu Feisty Fawn, but it might behoove you to look into something more like Knoppmyth (google that). I suspect it might be less demanding on your hardware.