I want to build Media Centre Computer and was wondering if ppl could lead me the right path...
I dont want it to be too expensive however i would like it do the following...
HD TV
HD TV recording
Blu Ray Player
Be able to Play Divx Movies, music, internet TV/radio
Good sound card

And i want it all to be plug into my Onkyo reciever..

Could people please tell me what cases, specs and software i would need to set this up...
is it better to get a laptop or a computer.... Also down the track i want to be able to purchase an all in one remote control so i will be able to control everything from my coutch....

Thanks

Are you wanting to connect video through the receiver?

Specs wise, I'd be looking at an entry level core2 system, decent ram, and for recording HDTV - a good sized hdd.

I use a Dvico card in my main computer for watching TV. I also have a Twinhan card in my mini-pvr.

I also use Web Scheduler on my pvr box for recording - its the bees knees as far as I'm concerned. WebScheduler used to be free, but now the free version is fairly crippled. Its like $20 to register it.

There is also DigitalNow, http://www.digitalnow.com.au - They sell a rebranded version of Web Scheduler, as well as their own PCI cards etc.

What sort of antenna are you using with your Dvico card Mongie? I have tried using a normal tv antenna (rabbit-ears style), and a powered antenna of similar style with the USB Dvico HDTV receiver and I can only get channels 7 and 10, sometimes, and they are pretty dodgy quality when I go get them. My TV using the same antenna picks up all channels no problems.

Also, the little USB HDTV receiver gets REALLY hot (as in too hot to hold on to for more than a couple of seconds).

http://www.aldi.com.au/au/html/offers/2867_3949.htm

What sort of antenna are you using with your Dvico card Mongie?

My rooftop antenna, which is a digital antenna with Quad RG6 from end to end.

yeh want to connect everything through the onkyo receiver including picture....

wow that aldi computer looks alright... big hard drive doesnt really worry me as i was going to get a NAS drive anyway.... but 500 gb looks good

I just recently update my mediapc with my old pc parts so it's not a dual core amd, 7800gtx, 2gb ram, dvico digital tuner and has 1.5tb of hd.

Running MediaPortal on it and it's the ducks nuts. Plays all my hd mkvs, hd tv with timeshift, has a my tv series plugin that works a treat aswell as the usual xvid/mp3 jazz.

I've also got my 360 hddvd drive hooked up but that's worthless now. Just waiting for bluray drives to come down and throw one in.

Unfortunately I only have a sd plasma atm so I only have dvi to vga and optical out to my amp =(

ok guys what do you recommend me to use on the software side of it....

Just fyi - WebScheduler allows pre/post rec tasks, so I have mine set up so that after it records, it will process for ads, and cut them out (to a seperate file) and then compress to DivX.

Its excellent.

http://www.bluebit.com.au/images/screenshots/03-small.png

holy s***, thats pretty sweet!

how does it tell whats an ad?

how does it tell whats an ad?

Probably with volume or some s*** (All ads are like loud as f***), seriously though, no idea....

Our Sony Hard Drive/DVD recorder at home track marks the ads automatically.

So when you record a show, on say channel 10, on playback you can use the chapter skip button to skip the block of ads.

It's accurate about 95% of the time. Super handy.

And I have no idea how it knows when it's ads.

!OHs***!
skynet!!!!!

skynet!!!!!

Not yet! At the moment its The Turk!

well isnt there normally a big pause from movie to Ads maybe the signal fequency changes or something....

I think it checks the volume and the picture... i don't really know exactly how it does it, but basically, there are various add-on scripts written by random people...

You grab the guide from OzTivo and you're set.

I'm using an oldass analog tv antenna with my dvico pci card and I get all the channels fine and dandy

As for ads, my computer doesn't seem to be affected by it but late night hdtv on ch10 the sound during the ads is absolutely f***ED on my LCD tv so I'd guess fireblood was half right when he said the volume but I'm more inclined to think encoding method because to me it sounds just like a corrupted mpeg stream. No idea why only my standalone TV is affected by it and my computer is fine they're both on the same antenna.

This is pretty much what setup i've got running Vista Media Center (32Bit)

Microsoft Remote Control and Receiver for Media Center PC $49.00
ASUS M2A-VM-HDMI AM2 690G PCIEx16 DVI VGA RAID SATA2 GbLAN SND mATX $89.00
Antec Fusion V2 HTPC Desktop Case - Silver VFD with IR receiver, 430W $239.00
2GB (2x 1GB Kit) Value Select PC-5300 (667MHz) Corsair $59.00
Pioneer BDC-S02BK Blu-Ray Combo Drive SATA Black Retail $199.00
Compro Videomate E700 Dual DVB-T PCI Express Card with Remote $139.00
AMD Athlon™ 64 4200+AM2 Processor Retail Dual Core AM2 $75.00
Western Digital 500G SATAII 7200 rpm HDD Green Power(WD5000AACS) $128.00
Western Digital 500G SATAII 7200 rpm HDD Green Power(WD5000AACS) $128.00
Thermalright SI128 Passive CPU Cooler $58.00

$1163.00


Add in ~$40 for a HDMI cable and ~$6 for a spdif/coax cable and you're sweet

Vistacodecs for divx/xvid etc
CoreAVC for downloaded bluray/HDDVD
DVRMSToolbox to remove ads

last edited by BoDGie at 20:11:24 18/Mar/08

vista ult ftw

My mediabawx + setup -

AMD 3200+
A8N-SLI SE
1 gig Geil DDR 400
6600GT
Compro T100 DTV tuner (cheap as f***)
Creative Audigy
40gig OS HDD
200gig Storage HDD
Vista Ultimate
Microsoft MCE remote.

Viewsonic 37" LCD
Logitech X-530 speakers


Does the job wonderfully, and cost bugger all. The PC was basically ek's old system.

You really don't have to have a 1.5k system, a $500 system will do the job fine.

last edited by rubba-chikin at 20:54:39 18/Mar/08

TiT wants blu ray too. Will the AMD 3200+ be enough?

Not sure on that.

Its gonna depend on your TV... unless you have a madcainer giant screen and a baller soundsystem bluray is gonna be a waste.

My screen is only 720p and just average PC speakers... for me its enough though, bluray would be a huge waste on it.

Probably with volume or some s*** (All ads are like loud as f***)

heh that's the first thing that came to my mind too

My screen is only 720p and just average PC speakers... for me its enough though, bluray would be a huge waste on it.

i disagree
720p is still a hi-def resolution, its just not the highest
its true you wont get the best quality of hi-def on 720p, however it stills looks a s***load and i mean a massive s***load better then standard def.
having the same tv as you mark and running both hddvd and blurary and stock standard dvds i can safely say that the hi-def formats look fantastic and having a 720p tv should not be a turnoff from buying a hidef player wether it be bluray or hddvd

I can barely notice the difference between the regular and HD chans on TV.

The darks are darker in HD and the sound is better but I really can't see much of a diff on my screen.

fyi... DVD is 576p, your screen (and mine) are 720p, HDTV is 1080i, BluRay is 1080p.

1080i, you should almost definitely see a difference... try watching CSI and see if you can notice a difference. Note: If you're using a PC card, your filters might not be that great, and that could be the reason for the lower quality.

1080p - you're not going to get 1:1 quality, but it should be noticeably better.

Cheapest setup for a media centre PC that will playback all HD content is using a mobo with the AMD 780g chipset. This mobo has an ATI 3200 on board and aslong as you give it enough CPU grunt (something like a 4400+) it will give you the smoothest HD playback. Toms Hardware reviewed it recently and reckon its the best option around at the moment. Gigabyte and Asus have boards out at the moment (retails around $120). The best thing about the board is that it has onboard VGA, DVI and HDMI outputs and yes it can be configured to run 3 screens.

I've priced up the options and depending on the case you choose you can build a media centre PC with 750G HDD, Blu-Ray player, twin HD Tuner with a copy of Vista Home Premium for around the $1100.

The darks are darker in HD and the sound is better but I really can't see much of a diff on my screen.

ill admit not much of a difference with the hd free to air channels, but bluray and hddvd there is. next time you are over ill make you s*** bricks at how good 300 looks.

This is pretty much what setup i've got running Vista Media Center (32Bit)

Your price total seems to not include the cost of Vista, which I assume is an error of omission!

Is it still too much of a pain in the ass to get Myth or LinuxMCE running?

Oh that err must have slipped my mind. If you can't aquire it yourself from other sources - add another $150 for an OEM licence :)

I tried LinuxMCE sometime ago after hearing good things about it and it was painful to set up and use. It was also so ugly and disorganized.

MediaPortal (which can run on XP or Vista) is pretty good, but last time I tried it, it was still pretty unstable.

ASUS M2A-VM-HDMI AM2 690G PCIEx16 DVI VGA RAID SATA2 GbLAN SND mATX $89.00

I really can't back that for a Media Center spec, especially if you want to record high def tv thru a dual tv card. Things will become even more difficult if you can figure out how to seamlessly stream Foxtel thru an analogue source, and still have reliable high def recording at the same time. CMon Foxtel...! bring out a pci card for MCE users already!@#$%

even SIS and Via have faster chipsets now than that dodgy old Aladin chippy that ATi bought and fed to AMD. It was a great idea on paper... 3 years ago

is it better to get a laptop or a computer....

yup.. get savvy with external usb sound and tv cards.

my old lappy flogs my MCE box atm (sadly)... I want to update the MCE box, but it makes more sense to just buy another old lappy with a busted screen and upgrade the ram in it

I really can't back that for a Media Center spec, especially if you want to record high def tv thru a dual tv card. Things will become even more difficult if you can figure out how to seamlessly stream Foxtel thru an analogue source, and still have reliable high def recording at the same time. CMon Foxtel...! bring out a pci card for MCE users already!@#$%

even SIS and Via have faster chipsets now than that dodgy old Aladin chippy that ATi bought and fed to AMD. It was a great idea on paper... 3 years ago

I'm using it and have no issues at all with recording HD.
It's extremely cheap, has digital audio output, and HDMI - nothing wrong with it imo

I tried to get MythTV running today, even though I am vastly experienced with the workings of XP and Vista I struggled with getting it installed and working over ubuntu even with a guide!

Still far too much command line, strange ways of installing things and weird terminology. It's not that I am afraid of learning new things, its just the fact that I am quite experienced and I struggled... an inexperienced user is just going to go f*** this its too hard after 5 mins.

In the end it was too much f***ing around to get my tuner to work, I still don't even know if it actually is even supported.

I just gave up after that.

mediaportal > myth

mediaportal + mytvseries plugin ftw

http://www.unit3.net/gallery/d/3065-2/IMG_4498.JPG

ohhh what skin are you using Splash? i'm just using the default one

xface

http://www.team-mediaportal.com/files/Download/Skins/16:9/XfaceSkinVersion1.4/

nice

you found a decent movies plguin? i've found the default one to be lacking

nah i just use the default one

updating the database takes so long though :(

got a good sound system 7.1 AAD speakers with onkyo TX-803 receiver... is sweet!!!

updating the database takes so long though :(

It sure does. I was gonna give this a go, but just haven't got around to it

LinuxMCE is ass, it was designed for a very specific range of hardware so if you're outside of that you can consider yourself screwed.

MythTV on the other hand is j0arsome. All I need is a video card that does component out, does anyone have any recommendations for a cheapie one?

All I need is a video card that does component out, does anyone have any recommendations for a cheapie one?

lol good luck with that

All I need is a video card that does component out,

Most of the Geforce 7 series have component out.

I went to give mediaportal a shot the other day as well, guess what tuner not deteced.

It is only a cheapo Compro T100, but it does the job superbly in VMCE even HD tuning.

I've got a 7600GT PCI-E card but it never came with the component out cable and I've asked a few suppliers but no luck on getting it seperately.

I'm pretty sure my 8600GT came with a dongle for component out

You can have it

Mythtv is pretty rockin. Set up cron jobs to auto update imdb info and movie posters for the stuff I have sitting on the hdd. I will be getting around to setting up a hd tv capture card on the weekend to do the tv recording so that may be the tough part. Will advise how it goes.

I'm pretty sure my 8600GT came with a dongle for component out

yeah so did mine, I just tried it on my 7800gtx and the pic quality was s*** compared to the vga out i'm already using ><

i'm using a dvi-hdmi cable for mine

dongle

teehee

Doh, my video card only does composite out :(