hi am in process of building a wc htpc and with reading different write-ups am now a bit unsure about best way to build. Was originally going to buy a second-hand 9800se AIW and Windows mce and that be it but have read people having problems with using them together. Am wanting to record TV, watch films and maybe play odd game so do people think it would be better to get a video card and tv card seperate - and if so best choice for sensible budget or to get an AIW? At present have towards the build: - p4 2.4 (478) - matx m/board - modded tower - rbx w/block - chipset w/block - 512mb 3200ddr - Pump - Reservoir Do all people use windows mce or is there a better alternative? Help to above questions would be appreciated. Many thanks Malccy
Well, a bit more info would be better, what kind of games are you going to play? Do you watch HDTV? Do you want to record one channel and watch another?
I think you should try at least 1GB it'll give you quicker play back and encoding, and ripping of video
Thanks for replies. Have now upped it to 1gb 3200ddr. Would like to play games such as cod uo on the htpc but would mostly use it for watching films and recording from tv. Would like to be able to watch one channel and record another. I dont have HDTV and cannot get digital in this area at present. Cheers for helping.
Not being to get digital kinda limits your options, but I'd go for two nice analogue hauppauge cards, and then stick it with a 7600 or something (So you can game and get the wonderful purevideo mpeg decoders).
Cheers - so maybe 2x PVR-150 or 2 x 250's plus a 9800 pro would be ok? Would w MCE be good software for interfacing to play games and watch/record or do you recommend something else? Thanks again Ramble and Olly_lewis
I use MCE and it's fine, infact, it's more than fine. Make sure you have big hard drives as well, and never underestimate the importance of hard drives. I used to think 80Gig was far too much, but home recording eats up all your space, fitting 5 seasons of quantum leap recorded at ~1GB/h on a 200Gig disk - 60Gig partition for TV) is no easy feat, especially with all the other stuff I record (BSG, Futurama, etc.).
You wil be hard pressed to find pvr250's nowdays, just buy a pvr500 its basically two pvr 150's on one board without the ir blaster and remote. If you have already paid out for a mce license look at some free stuff like mediaportal, gbpvr or got all media.
TBH I can't afford to buy a pvr500 but have seen the 150/250's on ebay so thoought this might be best option.
