Total Newbie Question...

[DarkCanuck]

So, I've decided to take the plunge into PVR's, and I've decided to go with GB-PVR.

I'm very familiar with software/hardware, but one thing has my mind in a fog.

Will the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 be the only "video card" that I will need? I know that it is essentially a tuner, but do I need another video card along side it? Or will the WinTV-PVR-150 work alone?

Here's my future set-up, feel free to make any recommendations. I plan to be a regular around here!

Motherboard Asus A7N8X
CPU AMD 1800+
Floppy Basic
CD-ROM Basic
Case Basic
Power Supply 350W
RAM 512mb
Video Card Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150
Hard Drive 250gig

Thanks for your help in advance!

[DarkCanuck]

Thanks for the quick reply!

Does it matter what "quality" the video card is? I plan on setting up my system like this...



I wanna keep this as cheap as possible.

I will be using this guide... http://www.byopvr.com/Sections+index-req...age-1.html

Also, recommend XP Pro over Windows MCE?

[stefan]

The quality of the video card per se is not that big of a deal. What you need to get is a video card that has good (great?) quality on it's tv out (s-video). Many video cards has really crappy tv-out quality. It all depends on your personal cravings, I guess =) Try to get the store to show you a movie (and perhaps the windows desktop, too) on the tv-out of the graphics card you want to buy and build yourself an opinion if it's good enough.

Something that you haven't taken up in your specs is sound. The Asus A7N8X has on board sound which may be good enough (my guess is it is), so try your setup with that first before going out there buying an extra sound card :-)

[stefan]

If you're going to use GBPVR, you will not get any advantages from using MCE over XP.

[DarkCanuck]

Excellent!

Okay, so just to confirm, the Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150 deals with the inputting/recording of the video, while the regular video card (Nvidia Geforce4 MX 4000 128 DDR AGP 8x) deals with the output of the video to the TV?

Does this setup look correct?


Any recommendation on HD size? I realize that "bigger is better", but is there a "limit"?

[McBainUK]

Okay, so just to confirm, the Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150 deals with the inputting/recording of the video, while the regular video card (Nvidia Geforce4 MX 4000 128 DDR AGP 8x) deals with the output of the video to the TV?

Correct

Does this setup look correct?

Why the splitter?

Any recommendation on HD size? I realize that "bigger is better", but is there a "limit"?

Always been wary of HUGE harddrives. Think "all your eggs in one basket". More than 250gb is alot of data to loose if it fails. Maybe go for 2 hard drives as then can seperate Windows, apps etc from media storage.

[DarkCanuck]

This was the rational on the guide as to why he used the splitter...

"This setup allows me to watch "live" TV bypassing the PVR whenever I want"

[McBainUK]

This was the rational on the guide as to why he used the splitter...

"This setup allows me to watch "live" TV bypassing the PVR whenever I want"

Sounds like a good idea.

[gEd]

Here's my future set-up, feel free to make any recommendations. I plan to be a regular around here!

Motherboard Asus A7N8X
CPU AMD 1800+
Floppy Basic
CD-ROM Basic
Case Basic
Power Supply 350W
RAM 512mb
Video Card Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150
Hard Drive 250gig

Thanks for your help in advance!

sounds like a good plan.

A few things to consider:-

Sure you can't stretch that cd-rom to a dvd-rom or even a dvd writer. gb-pvr plugsin's allow you to burn your tv shows to disk.

How important is it that the pc is quiet as achieving this takes time, a careful selection of components and money.

graphics cards: my personal faves are the 9600/9700/9800 pro's. Take a look around on fleebay and see what's available.

Power supplies: More is better but it you are penny pinching, a good 350 will do just fine with this seup as long as it is a good make such as Enermax, Antec etc.

Case: Unless funds are really tight, try not to get a really cheapo with unbrander power supply. they look naff (which may not be an issue for you) , the cases can vibrate and the power supplies are cheap, un-reliable and noisy. These cheap antec towers might fit the bill and their power supplies are pretty good.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Antec_Cases.html


The sound on this board is pretty decent , i don;t feel an urge to upgrade it atm.

Don't forget a heatsink and fan!

good luck and welcome

[Torque]

Your Dish reciever might have an S-video out along with the coax. If so, use one for the computer and the other for the TV so you don't have to split/degrade your coax signal. I know for sure the Haup PVR150MCE has an s-video input (not sure about the retail PVR150).

Also, another thing to consider is you'll need to remember to set your Dish receiver to the correct channel prior to your scheduled recording since you didn't specify a channel changer for your Dish reciever. I'm using the USB-UIRT and it works great for a transmitter. When GBPVR is going to record a show, it tells the USB-UIRT to transmit the channel to the Dish receiver just like you punching in the channel number on your remote.

I have a setup that should be pretty similar to what you want, so feel free to ask questions.