This assumes you aren't contemplating a "Media Center and strictly
want to record TV... and we are not talking HD.
The most important thing here is the CPU, and a Intel P4 or above is
the only one for this job. For encoding the faster the better. AMD
just doesn't do as well with this. For basic recording and editing
out commercials 2GB of RAM, and a quick 72K drive works great. You
don't need RAID unless you are planning on making your own movies
with your own 3D graphics... that sort of thing.
Any decent video card will do for TV recording, and commercial
editing. I am still using a Matrox G450 for exactly this job, and it
works great with a P4 3.4Ghz and 2GB of RAM, a Hauppage TV tuner and
USB2 DVR with 1.6TB of drive space in four drives. The great thing
about the Matrox is DVDMAX. When enabled on a dual head all you do is
play video from any media app and it will output perfectly to your
TV. No adjusting ..nothing. Perfect every time.
I also use a dual Xeon 3.056Ghz with 4GB of RAM, a AIW 800XT and
Raptor drives.... but there is no real difference in the output....
other then encoding speed, of course.
For regular TV broadcast recording I use a collection of AIW and a
USB2 Hauppage TV tuner. Surprisely there is very little difference
between the ATI and the Hauppage. What does make a difference is the
souce. Recording from a Digital cable box into the Line In Jacks does
a superior job to any PC turner out there. Things like Hardball,
Charlie Rose I record on the Hauppage or AIW to watch on the PC or
outputted to my TV. Things I want to keep and turn into a DVD I
recorde from the Digital Cable box into the In Jacks of the All in Wonder.
Just about any name brand PC TV turner will come with it's own
remote. They all suck but start there because maybe that is all you will need.
One thing you will want is a huge amount of storage space. DVR is a
black hole of GBs. Get it now, or get it as you go along, but you will get it.
Operating system you want XP PRO or better. AIW only works with XP so
you can pick one up used cheap.
However, if you want to build a video editing workstation that is
second to none then consider this 12k baby!
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2145632,00.asp
June 13, 2007
Build a Content Creation Workstation
By Loyd Case
Creating content is a huge business. Whether it's developing special
effects for Hollywood blockbusters, video and PC games, or just the
web, productivity is the key.
We'll be discussing how to build your own content creation
workstation. Along the way, we'll build one very high-end system, but
we'll also discuss alternatives along the way to either reduce cost,
improve flexibility, or target specific types of applications.
The focus today, though, is on content creation. While the system we
build may be well suited for CAD (computer aided design) or CAE
(computer aided engineering), it's not optimized for those
applications. Rather, we're going to talk about 3D content creation,
with an added side trip discussing video editing and rendering.
Most of the applications we'll be looking at are optimized for
multi-threading, and can generally take advantage of multiple CPU
cores. We'll also take a look at the effect of using accelerated 3D
(versus software rendering) for actual creation and editing. Pure
rendering of the final scenes, of course, are software generated.
That may change over time, as high end graphics accelerators begin to
look more like general purpose CPUs. Today, however, the traditional
model means creating and editing interactively, then rendering offline.
With these thoughts in mind, let's take a look at the components
first, discuss the building process, then talk about performance. Continued...
At 01:01 PM 6/21/2007, you wrote:
I am sure some of you guys have made some homemade DVR computers. I am
looking for suggestions for hardware, software, and anything else
related. I have never made one and pretty much have no idea of what's
required except I am pretty sure a HD is needed haha. Not looking to
break the bank but if there were cool enough features I might spend more
if its worth it. Right now I have a cox rented DVR and it integrates
with the channel guide which is a pretty big thing so I would want that
functionality. I also like the idea of accessing the videos/control
remotely like on my phone or laptop.
Thanks,
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Ali Mesdaq
Security Researcher II
Websense Security Labs
http://www.WebsenseSecurityLabs.com
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