Media PC. - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Smackre · 09-14-2006, 05:20 AM

Well i have decided to build a media pc to hook to my TV. And i am here to get some advise.

Here is what i plan on using it for.
1.DVD player
2.Tivo unit

1.
Last night i installed win xp pro on one of my old Dell Optiplex 260's. And i installed a nvidia 4400 video card. It has DVI output and i hooked that to the TV. Worked great. I watched 3 dvd's last night on it. So as for the dvd player. That it working. Any suggestions on good dvd software? Id also like to be able to scretch fullscreen dvd's into widescreen since my TV is widescreen. You can normaly do that on the tv its self but some reason with the computer it wants to stretch it both directions and then you lose some of the picture on top and bottom.

2.
I would like to have it setup to record diffrent shows while im at work. Id also like to be able to program it to record from any computer. I want to be able to record stuff and not lose any image quality. As for hard drives i was thinking about getting a 250gig and then getting a second later on.

TV tuner. I have Direct TV. Is there a special tv tuner i half to get? What is the best tv tuners?

Sound card. Id like to get a good soundcard but i realy know absolitly nothing about sound cards. So anyone who knows let me know. Id like to spend about 100$ and get my money's worth.

Speakers. Same here. Id like to get some for under 200$ and get my money's worth.

Any suggestions please let me know.

Plaid13 · 09-16-2006, 02:18 AM

Sounds like a really neat project!

ok personaly i have no idea about what software to use but if you figure it out i would love to know. I have a direct tv tivo unit and im unhappy with it. would be great to have a pc to do it so i could just stack in a few hard drives to get alot more record time. not to mention dvd burning happyness from stuff i recorded.

As far as a sound card goes... it really depends what exactly you want it for. Do you plan to hook up surround speakers from it? Basicly anything you would want it to do should be possable with a basic soundblaster card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102004
Thats a nice one under $100 7.1 surround should be plenty for the sound system media deal your going for.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ve&srchInDesc=
Any of those should be good if you want 7.1 surround speakers. I have a older set of the 5.1 creative surround speakers that i really love. Think they are only 45 watts but they are loud enough to shake the house and piss off the neighbors if i wanted to. never had to turn up the volume more then 25% of the way. Basicly creative labs speakers are good quality for cheap price and well worth it. They are very deceptive looking though. very small for the sound they make.

Ok just gonna go back to drooling about the idea of having 750gig or so of storage for a tivo with a built in dvd burner for it. yeah i really want to know how this project turns out for you.

Someone just told me that they have heard of a linux distro thats ment just for this. Basicly turn a computer into a tivo unit. he didnt remember what it was called but it might be worth looking for on google.

phukraut · 09-16-2006, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plaid13

Someone just told me that they have heard of a linux distro thats ment just for this. Basicly turn a computer into a tivo unit. he didnt remember what it was called but it might be worth looking for on google.

One distro that does this is called Knoppmyth.

Scorpion23 · 09-16-2006, 01:21 PM

I made a HTPC (Home Theater PC) two years ago and it was the best thing I could've done from a Home Entertainment standpoint. I'll give a rundown of what I have and what it's used for, but it'll change a little for you.

My case is an Antec Overture II, and fits very well with my silver TV. I have a DVD-Rom with the faceplate painted silver as well. I have two hard drives, an 40 GB for OS and programs with a 160 GB for media. The motherboard is an ASUS with a 2.4 GHz P4, although you don't need anything that powerful. My video card is an ATI AIW 9600 Pro. It has a built-in TV and FM tuner with dual head out and support for HD. The soundcard is a Chaintech 7.1 that I use for optical out to my stereo system.

The ATI card came with a wireless RF remote that controls not only the ATI software, but other programs as well with the addition of plugins. It also came with Guide+ software that give you the equivalent of free TiVo service for life

The reason I got a 2.4 GHz CPU was so I could use it for gaming as well as a media center. I have USB adapters that let me use XBox controllers with the computer as well as several regular USB gamepads.

The only problem that I can see will be the integration of Direct TV with the computer. I haven't looked in over 3 years but my understanding is there aren't many tuners which can handle a sat. feed, if they still exist at all. The only ones I saw were made for Direct-to-Air broadcasts, like you would pick up on those large dishes some people still have. Everything would still work with a regular tuner except the ability to schedule recording of shows when you're not there.

I'll try to post some pictures and flesh out the hardware when I get home, but I have to get back to work for now

Smackre · 09-18-2006, 07:14 AM

Well that is the hard thing. getting the direct to work with the computer. Like with my Tivo box it just sends a signal to the direct tv box and tells it to change channels. I am hoping to find a solution like this. I am hoping to find a tv tuner that has the same thing as the tivo box has. Being able to send signals to the direct tv box.

I think im gonna try and get windows media center for it.

Ok i think i figured out what im gonna try.

Get windows media centre for it. Acording to microsoft website it works with TV tuners and if you hook up the media centre remote the computer will send out a signal telling the satalite box to change channels. Making it possable to use it as a DVR for satalite. Pretty much exactly like Tivo.

asudevil83 · 09-18-2006, 09:09 PM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116631

this is probably the best deal out there. Hauppauge makes a very nice tuner. this package comes with the MCE remote, and an IR blaster. the IR blaster sits in front of the direct tv IR sensor, and windows transmits the signal from the computer to the direct tv box. i do believe though that Media Center is required for this guy.

another good place to start is www.hardforum.com . they have an HTPC section that has guides to answer pretty much every question you have, along with a knowledgable crowd. and if you want to get even more technical try out www.avsforum.com . these guys have info on pretty much everything HTPC related.

docbungle · 09-18-2006, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smackre

Well that is the hard thing. getting the direct to work with the computer. Like with my Tivo box it just sends a signal to the direct tv box and tells it to change channels. I am hoping to find a solution like this. I am hoping to find a tv tuner that has the same thing as the tivo box has. Being able to send signals to the direct tv box.

I think im gonna try and get windows media center for it.

Ok i think i figured out what im gonna try.

Get windows media centre for it. Acording to microsoft website it works with TV tuners and if you hook up the media centre remote the computer will send out a signal telling the satalite box to change channels. Making it possable to use it as a DVR for satalite. Pretty much exactly like Tivo.

Keep in mind that, with the media center edition setup, in order to control your set-top box with the media center remote, your pc has to be located pretty colse to your set-top box. At least in the same room.

But what really sucks, and they don't tell you, is that the media center edition remote requires an ungainly box that plugs into your pc via usb on one end, and then has a relatively short (not long enough to wire into a seperate room) wire with a plastic tip that "sticks" to your set-top box's infared port on the other end. There is no other way for the MCE remote to communicate with the set-top box.

This is with Media Center Edition 2005. And also ensure that your tuner is compatible with MCE 2005. Some are not.

Smackre · 09-19-2006, 07:59 AM

Well the computer im using is a foot from my TV so that aint a problem. And i already have the box your talking about.

I think this will work out well.

I will keep you guys updated.

09-14-2006, 05:20 AM	#1 (permalink)
Smackre Addict	Media PC. Well i have decided to build a media pc to hook to my TV. And i am here to get some advise. Here is what i plan on using it for. 1.DVD player 2.Tivo unit 1. Last night i installed win xp pro on one of my old Dell Optiplex 260's. And i installed a nvidia 4400 video card. It has DVI output and i hooked that to the TV. Worked great. I watched 3 dvd's last night on it. So as for the dvd player. That it working. Any suggestions on good dvd software? Id also like to be able to scretch fullscreen dvd's into widescreen since my TV is widescreen. You can normaly do that on the tv its self but some reason with the computer it wants to stretch it both directions and then you lose some of the picture on top and bottom. 2. I would like to have it setup to record diffrent shows while im at work. Id also like to be able to program it to record from any computer. I want to be able to record stuff and not lose any image quality. As for hard drives i was thinking about getting a 250gig and then getting a second later on. TV tuner. I have Direct TV. Is there a special tv tuner i half to get? What is the best tv tuners? Sound card. Id like to get a good soundcard but i realy know absolitly nothing about sound cards. So anyone who knows let me know. Id like to spend about 100$ and get my money's worth. Speakers. Same here. Id like to get some for under 200$ and get my money's worth. Any suggestions please let me know. __________________ Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB) 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen XGA+ Display 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm 256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800

09-16-2006, 02:18 AM	#2 (permalink)
Plaid13 I want a Plaid crayon	Sounds like a really neat project! ok personaly i have no idea about what software to use but if you figure it out i would love to know. I have a direct tv tivo unit and im unhappy with it. would be great to have a pc to do it so i could just stack in a few hard drives to get alot more record time. not to mention dvd burning happyness from stuff i recorded. As far as a sound card goes... it really depends what exactly you want it for. Do you plan to hook up surround speakers from it? Basicly anything you would want it to do should be possable with a basic soundblaster card. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102004 Thats a nice one under $100 7.1 surround should be plenty for the sound system media deal your going for. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ve&srchInDesc= Any of those should be good if you want 7.1 surround speakers. I have a older set of the 5.1 creative surround speakers that i really love. Think they are only 45 watts but they are loud enough to shake the house and piss off the neighbors if i wanted to. never had to turn up the volume more then 25% of the way. Basicly creative labs speakers are good quality for cheap price and well worth it. They are very deceptive looking though. very small for the sound they make. Ok just gonna go back to drooling about the idea of having 750gig or so of storage for a tivo with a built in dvd burner for it. yeah i really want to know how this project turns out for you. Someone just told me that they have heard of a linux distro thats ment just for this. Basicly turn a computer into a tivo unit. he didnt remember what it was called but it might be worth looking for on google. Last edited by Plaid13; 09-16-2006 at 02:27 AM..

09-18-2006, 07:14 AM	#5 (permalink)
Smackre Addict	Well that is the hard thing. getting the direct to work with the computer. Like with my Tivo box it just sends a signal to the direct tv box and tells it to change channels. I am hoping to find a solution like this. I am hoping to find a tv tuner that has the same thing as the tivo box has. Being able to send signals to the direct tv box. I think im gonna try and get windows media center for it. Ok i think i figured out what im gonna try. Get windows media centre for it. Acording to microsoft website it works with TV tuners and if you hook up the media centre remote the computer will send out a signal telling the satalite box to change channels. Making it possable to use it as a DVR for satalite. Pretty much exactly like Tivo. __________________ Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB) 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen XGA+ Display 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm 256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800 Last edited by Smackre; 09-18-2006 at 02:51 PM.. Reason: Automerged Doublepost

09-19-2006, 07:59 AM	#8 (permalink)
Smackre Addict	Well the computer im using is a foot from my TV so that aint a problem. And i already have the box your talking about. I think this will work out well. I will keep you guys updated. __________________ Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB) 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen XGA+ Display 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm 256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800

09-16-2006, 01:21 PM	#4 (permalink)
Scorpion23 Psycho	I made a HTPC (Home Theater PC) two years ago and it was the best thing I could've done from a Home Entertainment standpoint. I'll give a rundown of what I have and what it's used for, but it'll change a little for you. My case is an Antec Overture II, and fits very well with my silver TV. I have a DVD-Rom with the faceplate painted silver as well. I have two hard drives, an 40 GB for OS and programs with a 160 GB for media. The motherboard is an ASUS with a 2.4 GHz P4, although you don't need anything that powerful. My video card is an ATI AIW 9600 Pro. It has a built-in TV and FM tuner with dual head out and support for HD. The soundcard is a Chaintech 7.1 that I use for optical out to my stereo system. The ATI card came with a wireless RF remote that controls not only the ATI software, but other programs as well with the addition of plugins. It also came with Guide+ software that give you the equivalent of free TiVo service for life The reason I got a 2.4 GHz CPU was so I could use it for gaming as well as a media center. I have USB adapters that let me use XBox controllers with the computer as well as several regular USB gamepads. The only problem that I can see will be the integration of Direct TV with the computer. I haven't looked in over 3 years but my understanding is there aren't many tuners which can handle a sat. feed, if they still exist at all. The only ones I saw were made for Direct-to-Air broadcasts, like you would pick up on those large dishes some people still have. Everything would still work with a regular tuner except the ability to schedule recording of shows when you're not there. I'll try to post some pictures and flesh out the hardware when I get home, but I have to get back to work for now

09-18-2006, 09:09 PM	#6 (permalink)
asudevil83 Psycho Location: Scottsdale, AZ	http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116631 this is probably the best deal out there. Hauppauge makes a very nice tuner. this package comes with the MCE remote, and an IR blaster. the IR blaster sits in front of the direct tv IR sensor, and windows transmits the signal from the computer to the direct tv box. i do believe though that Media Center is required for this guy. another good place to start is www.hardforum.com . they have an HTPC section that has guides to answer pretty much every question you have, along with a knowledgable crowd. and if you want to get even more technical try out www.avsforum.com . these guys have info on pretty much everything HTPC related.