Jim, that's some real good information, I appreciate it. I was wondering how to record multiple shows at once with DirecTV, which is what we have. So basically it'd be like a fancy VCR? With the ability to set it up to record shows in the future? Anyways, yeah it doesn't seem like we need a power house system. We have a Wii, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, and we enjoy playing games on the consoles, but I do have some ROMs from older gen consoles that I wouldnt mind playing occasionally. Anyways, I appreciate the input!
On 4/27/07, Jim Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Greg Morphis [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Friday, April 27, 2007 1:06 PM > > To: CF-Community > > Subject: PVR suggestions > > > > So I'm considering building my own PVR from the ground up and wanting > > some suggestions on the processor, RAM, video card to use, even OS > > (would XP do it, or should I use Media Center? ), Hard Disk space, > > should it be in a RAID configuration?), etc. > > Your help is appreciated. I don't think I'll be playing many games on > > it, but an occasional game on the 37" LCD TV would be nice. > > Things are pretty simple nowadays on the hardware side - just about anything > will do. > > If you only want a PVR you can get away with slower parts. That means > (importantly) quieter, cooler parts. An older Celeron or Duron part (maybe > in the 1.4-2 GHz range) or even (if you can find one in a nice little mobo) > a fast Via chip would let you use a slower, quieter fan. By the same token > an older video card also lets you do a quieter machine - older cards, even > those without active cooling, can play a decent game. > > (On the other hand if you want a real gaming machine then you'll need to > deal with noise and heat.) > > As far disks I would only consider a RAID configuration if you want > mirroring. RAID striping is just overkill - even a slow IDE disk is plenty > fast enough to record and playback multiple streams (note that commercial > DVRs don't got the any extremes with this - they just use plain-jane, > off-the-shelf disks). For a plain DVR I'd just go with a single sizable > disk (say 300-400 Gig - again, the fewer components the quieter and cooler > things are). If you want to archive shows (as in "you'll be really pissed > off if you lose the disk") then a coupla giant disks in a mirrored array is > just the thing. > > The size of the drive really depends on the video/TV card you'll use. HD > recordings take up upwards of four times more space than non-HD... but even > standard resolution recordings from an HD source look great. You'll have to > play with things to balance size on disk v. quality. But the rule of thumb > is bigger is better: if give the option between performance and size always > go for size. > > As for software that depends. Windows Media Center is the obvious choice if > want to stick with Windows. It is somewhat limited however (it records in a > special format for example) but works well enough. The capture cards > themselves will come with software - some better than others but all of them > seem to have at least one really annoying flaw. > > Two record two (or more) things at once you'll need to have multiple video > cards (or a multiple tuner card). The problem (like everything) is that to > record most cable/satellite systems you need to go through their box first - > limiting you to just one recording at a time. > > Jim Davis > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Macromedia ColdFusion MX7 Upgrade to MX7 & experience time-saving features, more productivity. http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion?sdid=RVJW Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:233492 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
