Will my system work?

[djshawnee]

Hey all... I want to make a PVR for my entertainment system. I have an old 866MHz PIII with 512MB of RAM. I have a 64mb nVidia graphics card laying around somewhere too. I am going to buy a Hauppauge PVR150. Will this system work fine (and not too sluggish)?

If not, what would be the most cost efficient way to get this PVR to work more smoothly? Would the best thing be to get a better graphics card, or to get a new mobo/cpu combo? If I can get by without any of this, that would be great.

I am trying to make this PVR with the least amount of money as possible, thanks!

Shawn

[capone]

Only thing that may give you problems is the processor....I'd try, and see what the best processor the board can support and upgrade (or get a new board/proc combo).

The nVidia card will need to have a tv-out.

[dneprrider]

My system is similar to yours and I love it. It works great and I have no problems watching timeshifted TV or recording & watching. (live TV is a little jerky on occasions). I use this to watch recorded shows without commercials, GREAT!

I also wanted to do it on the cheap and here is what it cost so far:

COMPAQ 600Mhz PIII $30 used
640MB RAM, had it lying around
WINDOWS 2000: had a copy
PVR250: $119CDN new from http://www.staples.ca
GeForce MX440 s-video out card. $25 on ebay
One 60GB HDD; $45 from ebay a while back. I am planning on putting in another bigger for more video space.
DVD burner: $50CDN used bought locally. Used for buring recordings to DVD-R format.
So in total the system cost me in $230US
Good luck and have fun.

[djshawnee]

My system is similar to yours and I love it. It works great and I have no problems watching timeshifted TV or recording & watching. (live TV is a little jerky on occasions). I use this to watch recorded shows without commercials, GREAT!

I also wanted to do it on the cheap and here is what it cost so far:

COMPAQ 600Mhz PIII $30 used
640MB RAM, had it lying around
WINDOWS 2000: had a copy
PVR250: $119CDN new from http://www.staples.ca
GeForce MX440 s-video out card. $25 on ebay
One 60GB HDD; $45 from ebay a while back. I am planning on putting in another bigger for more video space.
DVD burner: $50CDN used bought locally. Used for buring recordings to DVD-R format.
So in total the system cost me in $230US
Good luck and have fun.

Is your graphics card a 64MB or 128? If I don't have to upgrade anything, then I will only have to buy the Hauppauge PVR-150 card, and that would make me very happy.

My card does have an S-Video out. Also, would the PVR run faster on Win2000 vs XP?

[capone]

I think your proc is the minimum for XP...2k will probably be less demanding. Again, no harm in trying it out.

A 64 should be fine. I have a 64Mb nVidia (ti4200), and I play most games at near-highest settings....video playback uses alomst nothing.

[dneprrider]

My GeForce MX440 s-video has 64MB ram, so yours should be fine too. I don't know if xp or w2k would be better. I had w2k so that is what I used.

[reboot]

A sleek XP install, and a very large/fast second hard drive is all you need.
The video card, CPU, and everything else are capable as-is.
Google for "XP Lite" and you'll find lots of ways to cut it down for a minimum install to run the PVR.

[wtg]

I have a 1.1 GHz Celeron that probably isn't too much more beefy than your PC, and it works fine. I record to the highest level mpeg, and I can record one movie while watching another without trouble. Live TV is ever so slightly jerky, though I don't know if others would notice it - I'm looking for it. I don't really use Live TV anyway so I don't really care.

I may at some point convert the movies to Divx or XVid to save disk space, and when I do so I know it will put much more burden on the CPU during playback. I may find I need to upgrade the CPU then, but for now mine's fine and I'm guessing yours will be too. You may however have to spend a bit more time tweaking since you'll want optimal settings for your low CPU power. People dedicating a 3.0 GHz PC to their pvr have CPU to burn, unlike you and I, and so don't really have to be concerned if they've got their tuned precisely.

Good luck,
Tim

[vwtom]

reboot...have you done the xp lite thing? If so - what did you toss and what did you keep?

Thanks,
Tom

[capone]

I did it to mine. Tore out a ton of stuff I knew I could be rid of, but couldn't say what exactly. Picked up a little performance on stuff. It was a nice suggestion.