Building a PVR box

[h8dk97]

Hi there,

I'm about to build my new PVR box and am going to use the following hardware:

Case: Antec P160
PSU: Antec TruePower 2.0 550W ATX Power Supply
Motherboard: ABIT IC7-G
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz Prescott Processor
Memory: Corsair TWINX512-3200C2 512MB (2 x CMX256A)
Hard Drive: IBM 40GB ATA (for OS) and 4 X Seagate NCQ 250GB SATA HDD
Graphics Card: ABIT Radeon R9600XT 256MB
DVD: Sony DVD burner
TV Tuner: PVR350

I'm going to use TV out on the graphics card and integrated sound on the
motherboard to connect to my TV for playback so that I can play DVD's and
mp3.

What do you think about the components, should I change anything? This box
will be primarily used for TV recording/playback but also to process videos
from my camcorder and digital photos.

Thanks.

[parkimar]

If your using the video card to display all your output, don't bother with a 350, go for a hardware encoder only - the decoder part will be wasted.

Try the PVR-150 - or a 250 if you can find one cheap.

Cheers

Mark

[insomniac]

if you can get a cheap pvr350 in comparison to a 250(couple bucks more..), by all means get it. Maybe youll get lucky, and you will be able to use the excellent tv out on the 350. I did

If you choose a 150 or 500, keep in mind that there is no CC support. CC is excellent when you are using it in parallel with some of the commercial skip applications floating around these days.

I.

[lovingHDTV]

After fighting with memory problems, I would go for 1GB of memory. I've found that with 384MB the lower limit 512MB is too close for comfort. One MS patch and your done for.

[h8dk97]

Thanks for your replies. The thing is I've already got pvr350 and the reason why I want to use graphics card for tv output is because I want to also watch DVD's and listen to mp3's.

Any suggestions on the graphics card? also, will the onboard sound be ok?

Thanks.

[Kanati]

Radeon 9550 is a good choice... onboard sound will be fine.

[insomniac]

If you have component on your tv, I would suggest that you get a radeon card that supports their component out adapter or even better, go get a gf6600 or higher that comes with a component adapter. On board sound should be fine.

[g808]

What TV are you using with this system? If it's an SDTV, then your 9600XT is more than enough, and should be OK with an HDTV. I would suggest giving it a try if you already have the card and if it's not enough, then go for a nvidia 6600 or better as suggested.

If you're going to be doing video processing, then I'd suggest getting 1GB RAM.

I'd also stay away from using a Prescott processor if possible since those suckers run very hot.

1TB of storage...very nice!

[dagar]

Yeah, just say no to easy-bake ovens (Presshott processors).

You'd be better served by seperating out to a client/server setup with that many drives. Less noise, heat, easier to manage in a horizontal case.

[h8dk97]

Originally Posted by insomniac

If you choose a 150 or 500, keep in mind that there is no CC support. CC is excellent when you are using it in parallel with some of the commercial skip applications floating around these days.

I.

I want to buy a second tv tuner, a pvr-250 but looks like they are no longer sold. Do you know if WinTV-PVR-250MCE has CC support?

Thank you.

[Wheemer]

yes it does

[h8dk97]

Originally Posted by Wheemer

yes it does

So is it the same thing as pvr250, just has some extra support for MCE? won't have problems working with sagetv? Just want to make sure before buying.

Thanks.

[blade]

The MCE versions will work fine in Sage.

[Dazed&confused]

Originally Posted by h8dk97

I want to buy a second tv tuner, a pvr-250 but looks like they are no longer sold.

I got mine here. They're still out there

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116602

[h8dk97]

Originally Posted by Dazed&confused

I got mine here. They're still out there

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116602

I need the Australian version PALB

[h8dk97]

Thanks All for your replies. After reading some reviews and your suggestions I came up with the following config


Case: Antec Sonata II (450W PSU included)
Motherboard: ABIT AS8
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 630 2MB L2 Cache 3GHz
Memory: Corsair TWINX512-3200C2 512MB (2 x CMX256A)
Hard Drive: IBM 40GB ATA (for OS) and 4 X Seagate NCQ 250GB SATA HDD
Graphics Card: ABIT Radeon R9600XT 256MB
DVD: Sony DVD burner
TV Tuner: PVR350

also thinking of buying PVR250 and another 500Mb of memory sometime later

[Dazed&confused]

Originally Posted by h8dk97

I need the Australian version PALB

My bad..Sorry