TV/DivX/PVR System.

[D_D]

I have been looking at lots of reviews and articles on setting myself up with one of these boxes.It will be used as a direct replacement for the DVD and VCR with MP3 as a nice addition.

There is a whole wealth of info out there and I am after a bit of advice on the hardware for the graphics card/capture/tv out.

Would I be better off with

A) A Radeon 8500 AIW (would this enable me to have the PVR functionality as is suggested in the specs)

or

B) A Geforce 4 4200 with TV out and a Hauppage WinPVR card for the capture.

I want to be able to do all the pause TV stuff, plus record programs (ideally direct to AVI). Does anyone have any experience of making a box like this. If so what specs have you got ?

The rest of the spec I am pretty much okay on (although I cant decide on either CM 600 or YY 102, cost being the main cruncher on this one :D ).

Thanks

[PJ Matthews]

If cost is an issue and your looking at creating a VCR/DVD/sterei etc replacement your best option is to look at either the Shuttle bare bones mini boxes systems OR a cheaper but far less powerful option, the VIA Eden (mothebroard is just 17 cms by 17 cms).

I would have to recommend the latest SS51 model of the shuttle as you seem to want the very latest graphics cards, the SS51 allows you to pack in an AGP and a PCI slot in a P4 package and is the ultimate soloution here.

I would go for the 8500 AIW, it does allow PVR with the latest updates to its software and make you sure go for the higher model as that has a remote (the LE dosn't as far as I am aware).

If you just want the basics, the best solution which would be very cheap is a CIA eden 800 board (£88), TV capture card for PVR (£50) and then the tiny Lian Li shuttle style case as seen in another thread plus your choice of harddisk and DVD making the cheapest soloution there is. The only draw back s you won't beable to play 3D games on it, you'd have to buy the P4 SS51 system.

[Detritus]

What software solutions are available for this? Do any support IR?

l8r,
Det

[Rav H]

Have a try withSnapstream (http://www.snapstream.com)
and
Showshifter (http://www.showshifter.com)

There's also IUVCR
IU VCR (http://www.iulabs.com) which is quite good for capturing to a variety of codecs.

[PJ Matthews]

Checkout intervideo over at wintervideo who do such software and a remote that can work with it?

[Detritus]

Looks like channel listings still aren't sorted out properly. I run NTL cable and the programming schedule is different to Satellite and none of the listings services offered by the above software take this into account. Guess I'll wait a while longer before building myself a PVR...

l8r,
Det

[[GPO]Solitaire]

Detritus: I was just looking through this thread! have you tried www.Digiguide.com! (http://www.Digiguide.com!) they do all the Cable regions as well as Sat and Terrestrial.

Think it can plug in with snapstream!

[ 02 September 2002: Message edited by: [GPO]Solitaire ]

[PJ Matthews]

Digi guide is fantastic, I can vouch for that. There is a small annual fee for using it but it is MORE than worth it.

[D_D]

I have a question on this system. Money is a bit tight at the moment and I was going to postpone building it for a while.

Having looked around I think I have overated the spec I actually need. I am after some advice as to what I would need to do the following tasks well.

I have a ATI Radeon 8500DV and a 80 Gig HD already. So I am after a SFF box, mATX board, CPU, RAM, sound card ? (if needed or will onboard sound, if on the mb be okay).

I want to do the above, ie

Play DivX files, DVD's, MP3's and have PVR (the 8500 provides the functionality for that).

Thanks in advance.. :D

[[GPO]Solitaire]

Hey there!

Look at Sigma-Designs.com they do a hardware DVD,MP3,Divx decoder for around the $70 mark including infrared remote. using this card you could easely get a cheeper CPU and Videocard since they are not stressed decoding MPEG and Divx Data! I'd spend the saved money on a GOOD 5:1 sound card and as much ram as you can possible justify and a DVD-drive :)

[kingkano]

Hi all - new to the board so forgive if my netiquette is not quite right!!

This topic is exactly what I am trying to do, replace my VCR/DVD and also to output DIVX files, music etc - a real multifunction box. I have not been worried about size but nice looks - so have gone for a Chieftec case - its huge but that means I can use some old HDs. Am using an Asus motherboard and Athlon XP1600+ with only 256 ram for now :(.

My questions are really more about vid cards and usability. My research has led me to beleive the 8500 AIW is the best suited, but is the video input/output good enough that I will be happy to use it for a VCR and DVD player??

Also, they say its 125 channel cable ready tuner on all the TV capable cards these days. I have NTL cable and I pay for all the channels - will the PVR software be able to tune into them, does it need to change channel on the box or whats the go? So many q's sorry!!!

If anyone can point me to some sites that can explain alot more than I have been finding would much appreciate it.

cheers
kingkano

[kingkano]

sorry having read a bit more too, is the happague wintv pvr 250 with a good other video card a better option. I will only be using the system with a tv - no monitor at all. SO would like the text to be usable (internet surfing etc). don't want much do I? lol

[Emissary]

the only problem with the pvr 250 is that it encodes 2 mpeg b4 displaying the picture. This means you have increased procesor usage while watching tv as the signal has 2 b decoded again in software (NOT hardware), though it should not go up while recording.

I have the regular PVR which gives excellent quality at 5% processor usage while recording. This board can suffer from audio latency issues though which I have only partiially solved.

I can happily watch a dvd while recording, but the files it produces may need to be played back through wintv directly as many decoders can't handle single files over 4gb (Powerdvd crashes, sigma based hardware gives no sound). the files prduced are not always immediately compatible with some programs, but this is less of an issue with the 250 as it has more software supplied. hauppauge use an intervideo mpg2 decoder codec which takes about 30% processor usage on my xp1800 as opposed to 15% for pwerdvd, for 30% I can decoded DTS.

Hope this helps

[Emissary]

the pvr 250 encode-decode scheme also introduces a couple seconds delay, so don't think about plugging in a games console to it.

[kingkano]

ahhhh yes I had heard about the audio latency on this card, it gets worse nearer the end of the file doesn't it? and something about if you burn it off to vcds its even worse :(

so I am back to the 8500 AIW then really, and my questions about quality and NTL cable tuning, Does anyone know the answers? lol

cheers
ken