HELP: Media Center Home Theater PC Build

[eits]

for moderators:

i don't know where to post this thread, so i posted it in here. if you think it's in the wrong forum section, please pm me and let me know where i should post this.



for everyone else:

i don't know what i need, exactly, for a nice media center home theater pc. i don't want something that'll break the bank or anything. i would like to have hd, though. what should i get?

 

[akodi]

CNET guide

 

[eits]

um... where's the guide? all it shows me is media center xp.

 

[eits]

some help, please?

 

[Al Neri]

ygpm bro!

 

[eits]

if i have directv and the broadcast is in hd, would i need an hd capable htpc in order to view the broadcast in pc?

 

[wyvrn]

Originally posted by: eits
if i have directv and the broadcast is in hd, would i need an hd capable htpc in order to view the broadcast in pc?

That's a great question. I have put together an HTPC using a Beyond TV package, but it's not HD compatible (I have OTA HD). I haven't found a video card capable of HD or maybe my understanding of HD recording is not good.

 

[frankgomez75]

Originally posted by: wyvrn

Originally posted by: eits
if i have directv and the broadcast is in hd, would i need an hd capable htpc in order to view the broadcast in pc?

That's a great question. I have put together an HTPC using a Beyond TV package, but it's not HD compatible (I have OTA HD). I haven't found a video card capable of HD or maybe my understanding of HD recording is not good.

Ok guys... first you CANNOT record HD over cable or direct tv in a TRUE HD format, it gets downconverted to SD 480P.

Now, if you want to record in TRUE HD, you will need the following:

1) PC
2) HD Capture card like: Dvico FusionHDTV5, AVerMedia AverTVHD, etc..
3) OTA HD Signal using an antennae... run a cable from your antenna to your HD Capture Card
4) Software to record HD: BeyondTV 4, SageTV 5, MythTV

Now.... the thing is how much you wanna spend and how much tinkering do you want to do.
You can spend very little by using old spare parts and running mythtv software for free for a cheap alternative, but you need to be tehnically savvy as MythTV is a Linux app and you need to know a little about Linux.

You can run MCE with less tinkering and easy to setup software like BeyondTV or SageTV

You gotta say what exactly you want, how much you're willing to spend and how much you're willing to tinker.


I get excellent results recording in hi-def. Everyone comes to my house to watch sporting events in HD like the Superbowl, NFL Playoffs, etc....

I can record up to 30 hours of HD with my PC and 150 hours of regular TV. You just need to get the right parts and set it up right. Whoever told you HD recordings aren't that good didn't know what they were talking about or didn't know what they were doing.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: eits
for moderators:

i don't know where to post this thread, so i posted it in here. if you think it's in the wrong forum section, please pm me and let me know where i should post this.



for everyone else:

i don't know what i need, exactly, for a nice media center home theater pc. i don't want something that'll break the bank or anything. i would like to have hd, though. what should i get?

well youll need a decent proc... at least 2 gigs of ram.. a really good vid card and a MCE approved TV card. other than that LOTS of storage..
Ive got 1 TB in mine..

 

[Looney]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoppmyth

FREE. EASY. and LOOKS BETTER than MCE.

 

[frankgomez75]

Originally posted by: CVSiN

Originally posted by: eits
for moderators:

i don't know where to post this thread, so i posted it in here. if you think it's in the wrong forum section, please pm me and let me know where i should post this.



for everyone else:

i don't know what i need, exactly, for a nice media center home theater pc. i don't want something that'll break the bank or anything. i would like to have hd, though. what should i get?

well youll need a decent proc... at least 2 gigs of ram.. a really good vid card and a MCE approved TV card. other than that LOTS of storage..
Ive got 1 TB in mine..

2 gigs is not necessary... I run 1 gig of good ram over the last 1 1/2 yrs w/o any problems.

My minimum requirments for a good htpc would be:


2.8GHz or equivalent processor (I use an Intel 3.0ghz proc)
1 gig of ram (I use 2 x 512MB of Corsair XMS)
200 GB HD (20 hours hd approx.)
TV Tuner card with HARDWARE ENCODING not software based like ATI's All in Wonder cards (I use a FusionHDTV5)
Good Antenna for HD reception (I'm using an OUTDOOR Antenna)
Operating System: Linux or Windows XP (I use XP Pro)
BeyondTV 4 or SageTV 5 (I personally use BTV4)

 

[conehead433]

MIT's MyHD MDP-130 is a hardware based PCI tuner card that is a hardware decoder as well as hardware encoder for captures. The advantage with it is that playback is directly through the MDP-130 card through a component break-out cable or through DVI with a separately available DVI daughter card. This completely eliminates the need for any type of fancy video card, extremely fast CPU, etc., you could even use a MB with on-board video. The Fusion card mentioned in previous posts is a software decoder so you would need a fast CPU, pretty good graphics card, etc. The MDP-130 has 2 cable connections so you can have one for OTA and one for your cable. You can record off cable as well including any HD channels that are clear QAM. Supposedly the only problem mentioned with the MDP-130 is that it will not tune channels between 125 and 135 which some cable companies use now. This may or may not ever get corrected with a firmware upgrade. You really need to head over to avsforum.com and browse through about a million posts in the Home Theater Computer forum. The MDP-130 is available at Digital Connection for $179 and is probably considered to be the best HD tuner/capture card available currently.

 

[conehead433]

I forgot to mention that if your goal was to record off of satellite it can't be done in any simple means. The easiest way is to either record while viewing using a satellite receiver's composite or S-video output to a DVD, PVR(stand-alone or computer) or have a satellite receiver that is a PVR and then using the same technique to record it to a PVR or DVD. Unfortunately using this method if you're saving any HD material it will be downresed to 480. Some, but few satellite recivers have USB ports enabled so you can transfer data to another hard drive on a PC. That doen't mean you would be able to play it back on the PC without going through a conversion process. Or you could fill up a hard drive and then swap it out with another one. Then your only problem is properly formatting the new drive so it will work in the receiver. Additionally I failed to mention that the MDP-130 can be used to upscale DVDs when played through it, although this is rarely mentioned and I have no personal experience with one.

 

[wyvrn]

Great information conehead, thanks. I didn't know you could get an HD tv tuner. I am going to look into it.