What would you recommend?

[Stuart Brierley]

Hi,

At home, I have GBPVR with a Hauppauge Nova-t and I use a Pinnacle Showcenter to watch recorded TV on the TV. A colleague of mine is interested in having a similar setup but I don't know what to recommend.

It's taken me about 2 years to get everything working as it should. I've had numerous different software packages, some other media streamer before I found the Showcenter and even a replacement PC. I'm still not confident enough to tell him to go out and buy all the same bits that I have even though my setup now works. It would be a disaster if I landed him with a couple of years worth of dissappointment.

Since I started my own project, Windows Media Center edition has been released. It's certaining something he should consider but what are the pros and cons of something like that compared to the excellent GBPVR and an independant streamer?

Thanks,

Stuart.

[stefan]

I can't see anything that works better in MCE, so... but I'm biased ;-)

[jasjol]

I use Hauppauge MVP and it is working fine when it works...

I do have had some problems with slow response and that it needs to reconnect from time to time.

But I do get the same interface and all my kids from 6 and up can easily use the interface.

The Wife Acceptance Factor (WAF) is sometimes low though because of not working perfectly all the time (reconnect etc) - Although Wife would never wan't go back to VCR....

[daphatty]

With a powerful enough PC (see my specs below for my opinion of "powerful enough"), several Hauppauge cards, and a Media MVP or two (for the kiddies and/or bedroom) you just can't go wrong. There will always be a learning curve but that will depend on just how computer savvy you and your friend are. I'd wager his experience won't have as many growing pains as you did. Especially since he'll be starting off with the best PVR software available anywhere in the world. To me, selecting the right software was the biggest obstacle.

Just my 2 cents.

[buckeye]

I would recommend buy/ build a mce pc then run gbpvr on it

He could also get and x-box 360 and use that as second place to watch it
( i think that you can watch high def through it ) (i am not sure )

[Stuart Brierley]

Thanks for your suggestions. He's going to get an xbox 360 and a new MCE PC. It'll cost much much more than my own solution but I'm sure he'll have less problems with it. If MCE doesn't do a very good job then I could always help him install GBPVR.