View Full Version : The Ultimate Media Centre! [Are my ideas possible?]
Hello every one and what an awesome forum we have here.:)
My idea is to build a small form factor pc that will serve as a media centre incorporating the following:
Quad tv tuner: Hauppauge WinTV HVR 4000.
Common interface (CI) or Cam slots x 2: WinTv CI
Dual tv display!
Right, possible problem that I am thinking of is the fact that all of these may not fit into a small form factor pc.
The common interface I have seen are external ones, is there anyone that I can fit in say like a pci slot that will fit on the inside and still allow me access to put the viewing card into it [similar to sky box?].
Finally, is it possible to get a dual display on a media pc, I have seen dual tv card with dvi output but I dunno if this is the same as what am after - ability to show two different channels on two TV panels?
I must say this is my first time doing something like this, all recommendations and advice are appreciated. Thanks.
six5tring
16-08-2008, 11:55
What software are you planning to use. If you want to view more than one channel at a time then I'd rethink your entire concept.
From how I see it you'd be better setting up a machine as a MYTHtv media server running in a cupboard somewhere in a big ugly box on ATX factor and then having a small low power front end machine.
You can put 4 tuners in a normal single media PC but it seems that your wanting to view multistreams.
The other thing you could do is run vista media centre but do your watching via acsiiexpress's webguide but the mythtv option is the better if you ask me!
six
I am entirely new to this so pardon my ignorance, I thought XP MCE [sp??] will be the ideal thing to go for? I have no experience in this area but will let people are in the know advice me on what to go for.
Why run two media centres [that is what yo are saying right?] be necessary, I would think a singe media centre can handle my basic concept? Plus I will like to save on money lol. :)
I went for a quad tuner as it appears to be what I want - freeview plus freesat. However, I really do not know how I will manage the dual display and watching two different tv channels the same time. My thinking is that with a dual display one can align a channel to each of the tv displays [since more than one tuner is available?]
I have no idea how the mythtv works, but am gonna go see if I can get info on it. Thanks.
six5tring
16-08-2008, 13:20
Well... MCE and vista media centre can not deal with different types of card. 4 x DVB-T no problem but not 2 x DVB-T + 2 x DVB-S. So this can not be done on the MCE software. I am 99% certain that myth can though.
Vista media centre to me seems more stable than MCE and makes better use of standby states for us power saving people! I have no real idea of myths stability but being linux based i'd guess it's pretty reliable!
Gtg for the moment.
six
... continuing... I lie 4 x the same card on MCE05 or Vista are not officially supported. They officially support 2 cards, but can with a little tweaking support as many cards as you like. Well certainly MCE05 can!
What i'm really coming around to is MCE is not ideal for your project! Have a look at other solutions because I really wouldn't say MCE is right!
Six,
The card he is thinking of is a single PCI - with 4 on-board tuners
six5tring
17-08-2008, 10:24
Six,
The card he is thinking of is a single PCI - with 4 on-board tuners
They'll still be treated as 4 different cards though. Certainly my twin tuners are!
six
six5tring
17-08-2008, 10:44
For a windows solution have a look at SageTv? Also media portal or GB-PVR. Hopefully MS will support different types of tuners sometime but the current problem is the way there guide listings work.
Six5tring, here is something from one of the reviews:
""...It requires fairly beefy PC to run well: either a 3.2GHz processor or Intel Core Duo processor, with 512MB of RAM. It works happily with XP or Vista, and requires a free PCI slot, and an AGP or PCO-Express graphic card with 128MB memory......""
six5tring
17-08-2008, 19:37
OK right... going to basics. You can do it YES! It is possible to view multiple streams at the same time from different tuners. However you couldn't do this through the MCE front end. The problem comes as I see it with sound. How do you plan to seperate the sound feeds. Now i'm sure it's possible but will you be wanting to listening to just one at a time?
You have a point. I have no idea, but could it done via another software?
Oh guess what? The quad tuner from hauppauge only have one tuner usable! Meaning, I cant do any other things while watching a channel. My next consideration is the BlackGold 6 in 1 however there seem to be loads of problem with it...
six5tring
17-08-2008, 22:37
Ah yes... hadn't realised the Hauppage is just a hybrid single tuner! What a PITA!
The 6 in 1 seems currently to have some major driver issues. Being worked on i'm sure but probably best to leave to mature for the moment.
Do you need DVB-T or are all the channels you need on DVB-S. General concenses seems to be to use VMC or WMC for 2 x DVB-T and then DVB-Viewer for the DVB-S transmissions as VMC and WMC currently do not truly support UK full HD.
six
I need freeview and freesat [plus the hd] channel. I dont mind going down the route of having two tunners - one for dvb-T(twin tuners) and one for DVB-S, but I dunno if this will be supported on any software I decided to use and manage them well - scheduled recordings on the two independent tuners dont get mixed up or messed up?
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