Downloading/watching TV shows using XP media center *WITHOUT A TV*. ?

[Capitalizt]

I'm getting ready to move to my own place and don't think I'll be getting a TV right away. I did purchase a top-of-the-line PC however, dual core, pimped out everything with XP Media Center 2005 included. I was wondering if it would be possible to simply pay for basic cable through my provider, and use my PC to download/watch/record TV shows on my monitor?

Is this possible?

If so, is there a "for dummies" guide anywhere on the net?



Any help GREATLY appreciated!

 

[PsYcHoCoW]

if you bought the PC from a name brand and it came with XP MCE, I'm guessing it has a tv tuner card already... you just need to connect the PC to the cable outlet, launch the software and you'll get the same thing you would get with a TV and a video recorder.

I built my brother a rig for doing just that in his apartment... it has a good TV tuner from Hauppauge and standard win XP with a beefy hard drive, and he can record TV all he wants AND surf at the same time...

basically, any computer with a tv tuner can do that.

look at this : http://www.9bit.com/vrheaume/test.jpg that's from the computer I built for my brother... TV was minimized but Always-on-Top so I could surf and do other stuff at the same time.. having it full-sized didn't make it choppy or anything.

(specs, if you're interested: x2 3800+, 1gb of kvr, msi k8ngm2-fid using onboard video, Hauppauge PVR-150...currently with a 300GB 16MB HD from Maxtor, he might add a 2nd one to do RAID and a 80gigger for the OSes)

there are a lot of softwares to "manage" the tv tuner under standard windows XP. Google GBPVR, beyondtv, sagetv, and of course the one provided with the tv tuner.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Capitalizt
I'm getting ready to move to my own place and don't think I'll be getting a TV right away. I did purchase a top-of-the-line PC however, dual core, pimped out everything with XP Media Center 2005 included. I was wondering if it would be possible to simply pay for basic cable through my provider, and use my PC to download/watch/record TV shows on my monitor?

Is this possible?

If so, is there a "for dummies" guide anywhere on the net?



Any help GREATLY appreciated!

Buy a dual-tuner PCI card (Hauppauge PVR-500), which will tune 2 channels of basic cable at a time, and the MCE2005 computer will then be able to record 2 shows at a time. Have lots of hard drive space. That's all you have to do.