Need advice for a Media Centre Setup......

conzy

Ok, I have wanted to setup a Media Centre for ages, and the Summer Holidays are here so I have time to get working on it

The parts:

Dell Dimension 340
P4 2.66ghz
512mb of RDram
some bog standard graphics card ( I have a FX5200 with TV-out )
40gig HDD ( I have a 250gig Hitachi Deskstar to put in it)
Undecided on PVR card, but thinking of a PVR 150.....

I have a router with a 4 port switch, and I want the Media Centre to be on the network.........

Q.1 Will I be able to connect the FX5200 to a television via S-video, and will the quality be ok?

Q.2 Will I be able to stream recorded TV from the Media centre to other PCs in the house?

Q.4 What media centre software?

Q.3 Will this setup be ok? is there a better way I could go about it, because non-techie members of the family will have to be able to use it......

Thanks

leahcim

Hi I can answer some of your questions.

Q.1 Will I be able to connect the FX5200 to a television via S-video, and will the quality be ok?

I am using the FX5200 and I use the s video tv out as input to my CRT 32" widescreen. The quality is perfect, but then again it is only a crt screen.

Q.2 Will I be able to stream recorded TV from the Media centre to other PCs in the house?

This should not be a problem. Any software worth its salt should be able to do this.

Q.4 What media centre software?

I use (Media Portal). Some people have found this product unstable, it is still in development. I have had no problems and we use this media system as our main tv. Seeing as it is free it is worth giving it a go before splashing out cash on something else. NOTE: There are a few other free products.

Q.3 Will this setup be ok? is there a better way I could go about it, because non-techie members of the family will have to be able to use it......

Most of these media systems are designed to be easy to use by non techies so you should not have a problem there.

BTW I use the Hauppauge pvr 150 and I find it is a very reliable bit of hardware.

Good luck with your project.

SouperComputer

Q.1 Will I be able to connect the FX5200 to a television via S-video, and will the quality be ok?

Quality will be fine. Download the latest MCE drivers from nvidia. There is also a media centre extension package for nvidia cards. If you want it, ill put up a link for you. It originally came with 77.99 drivers if you want to extract it yourself.

Some pointers on your TV out:

1. Obvious one, make sure you select he correct format for your country, IE PAL

2. If you dont have the original "splitter" cable from the graphics card and use a 4pin svideo lead, be sure to select composite as the video type in the
settings.

3. Set your res to 720x480.

Q.2 Will I be able to stream recorded TV from the Media centre to other PCs in the house?

Depends on the software you use:

MCE: Technically speaking no, or at least not without a lot of messing with maybe VLC. You can however create a shared folder from the location of your recorded shows. This goes for Media portal too. Be forwarned that you will only be able to play the video on machines with XP SP1 or higher.

GB-PVR: Is networkable, have a look on their website for more info.

MythTV: Linux based and completely networkable.

Any of these are easy to use, setup for myth is more complex.

PVR 150 is fine, 550 even better.

conzy

Thanks lads.....

What about a Sapphire Theatrix Theatre 550 Pro

I am asuming it comes with some sort of break-out lead to connect audio and composite?

Thanks

8T8

^^^ It does, that PS2 style looking port is where the cable with the s-video and composite input connections come from.

conzy

Thanks

And is it a decent card?

8T8

Yeah I'd say it's worth it now, it gave me some serious headaches at first but constant driver updates from ATI has resolved them.

The picture quality is superior to some of the other TV tuners out there bizarrely even recording programs* and watching them back though MCE yields better picture quality due to the cleanup done to the signal by the card.

* Not everything but programs with poor image quality definitely seem to benefit.

conzy

Thanks

One last question, where will I order it from?

Komplett have the sapphire version for €79, is that a decent price?

8T8

I suppose I got the Powercolour branded version from Komplett back when it first came out and cost me €100 or thereabouts I think.

Wherever you can get it cheapest is the best answer I guess.