Jump to content

I'm building a new system from scratch. Need help


Recommended Posts

I'm about to build a new system from the ground up to work with a Sony LCD HDTV. Can anyone recomend some good hardware, namely what capture and/or video card, etc? Motherboard, sound card, drives, etc?

Thanks a million!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

There are some good forums with tutorials such as byopvr.com or thegreenbutton.com. The best place to buy the specialized hardware you need is at PCAlchemy.com. The Summer Special Edition of MaximumPC was almost entirely devoted to building a PVR from scratch.

You can find many more resources, guides and tutorials by googling building a PVR. If you are running windows, Windows Media Center Edition 2005 is pretty good but costs about $130. I think GB-PVR is actually superior and it is free. It is more difficult to set up but they do have pretty good tutorials. If you are going to do anything with the videos that you download, GB-PVR is the best bet because it uses the standard MPEG2 format whil MCE uses a wierd microsoft propriety format and the saved files all have to be converted to MPEG2 before you can do anything with them. They do not have the quality of MPEG2 and I think you would be disappointed in the display on you HiDef.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are some good forums with tutorials such as byopvr.com or thegreenbutton.com.  The best place to buy the specialized hardware you need is at PCAlchemy.com.  The Summer Special Edition of MaximumPC was almost entirely devoted to building a PVR from scratch.

You can find many more resources, guides and tutorials by googling building a PVR.  If you are running windows, Windows Media Center Edition 2005 is pretty good but costs about $130.  I think GB-PVR is actually superior and it is free.  It is more difficult to set up but they do have pretty good tutorials.  If you are going to do anything with the videos that you download, GB-PVR is the best bet because it uses the standard MPEG2 format whil MCE uses a wierd microsoft propriety format and the saved files all have to be converted to MPEG2 before you can do anything with them.  They do not have the quality of MPEG2 and I think you would be disappointed in the display on you HiDef.

FUD, FUD, FUD!

Files in DVR-MS have to be "converted" to mpeg2 if you want to burn to DVD or edit. Otherwise they're just MPEG2 files with an additional wrapper. There is free software available that will rip the wrapper off if you'd like. You can stream your recorded TV to other computers in your house or save the files on another machine. Quality settings are also available in MCE2005. DVD-MS do have the same quality of mpeg2 files because that's exactly what they are: Mpeg2 files.

Furthermore, Microsoft have gone to great lengths to ensure optimal video quality on multiple types of displays. Assuming you have a good cable signal and a quality capture card/receiver you will not be disappointed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...