[Newbie] Is This Setup Ok?

[hollow5555]

Hi all,

I'm pretty new to the PVR stuff, but I have some spare PCs and a lot of time on my hands, so I thought this would be a cool project to try (especially since I want a tivo but can't justify the monthly cost... seems silly if I can do it for free)

I was hoping I could get some advice from you guys and maybe some verification that the platform I've chosen is ok and whether or not it will work with GBPVR.

The spare machine I want to use is a Gateway Essentials 800 bookshelf PC (800mhz celeron). It's a mini atx (that's what the case says) case, just big enough for the motherboard, hard drive, cdrom, floppy, and 2 low profile pci slots. The motherboard has an Intel video card built on and a sound blaster compatible sound card built on as well. There are 7 or 8 USB ports, 1 parallel port, 1 vga port, sound ports, and 1 modem port. I have a pci nic in there and was planning on filling the last slot with a PVR150 MCE low profile edition. The hard drive is currently 40gb, but drives are cheap if I need.

I was thinking of adding a USB IR receiver and blaster, since i'm using comcast digital cable and need to change channels at the cable box (the cable box has a serial port, but my pc does not... a usb to serial adapter could be used, but i'd rather use a USB blaster unless there's a reason not to?). Then I'd just need to pick up a media center remote, I suppose.

Is this setup ok to run GBPVR? I was going to put XP on the machine and then put GBPVR over that.

What else would I need? VGA->TV converter? Should I swap the NIC out for a USB NIC and use the pci slot for something else (it would have to be low profile, whatever it was). This is PC not a good choice?

Thanks in advance for the time and patience
Marc

[sub]

Its a little below the recommended minimum CPU. It'll still work, but may be a little sluggish. I usually recommend a 1GHz Pentium 3 class CPU, or slight higher if you intend to use MVP clients.

[hollow5555]

Its a little below the recommended minimum CPU. It'll still work, but may be a little sluggish. I usually recommend a 1GHz Pentium 3 class CPU, or slight higher if you intend to use MVP clients.

MVP Clients?

The other question I had is, could I make a regular use PC into a GBPVR and still use it for other things (While it's recording?) My "other" PC is a 2.8GHz P4 with 1.2gb of ram and a 300gb hard drive. The video card is a GeForce 5500 and everything else is built on (sound, nic, etc..). But could I still play games and edit/burn videos on it with GBPVR running? Could I use the Hauppauge PVR-USB external series with it? or should I still stick with the PVR150 internal?

Thoughts?

Thanks again
Marc

[sub]

MVP Clients?

http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/pages/product...iamvp.html

[hollow5555]

http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/pages/product...iamvp.html

Ok now I'm confused. I would need that for playback? So I'd need the PVR150 to record and then the MVP to play back?

Isn't there a single device that can do both recording to PC and playback from PC? I thought that's what GBPVR was for, recording and playback. If I had a video card with tv out (or a VGA to TV converter), isn't that enough?

[sub]

No, you dont need one for playback. I was just saying I recommend a higher CPU if you do intend to use MVP clients.

[hollow5555]

Oh ok. No I don't think I plan on MVP clients. For now I just want to take my digital cable in my room and basically get tivo style functionality to my PC. I was going to dedicate a spare PC to be the PVR, but the spare PC isn't even 1/2 as powerful as my everyday use PC.

If I can get my everyday use PC to do it and not compromise my ability to waste time at night playing games and checking email, then I'm all for that. Does a WinTV-USB2 work as well as the internal PVR150? Does GBPVR even support them? I only ask because if I add a PVR150 to my box i'd have to lose something, most likely my firewire card which I use to capture video from my digital video camera sometimes.

If I got the WinTV-USB2 and either a VGA->TV converter OR a newer video card with TV out, woudl that be enough to get a full GBPVR system running?

I'm sorry if my questions are frustrating, i'm a little overwhelmed by the amount of hardware choices out there

[sub]

Does a WinTV-USB2 work as well as the internal PVR150?

It should do.

Does GBPVR even support them?

Yes, there is a few users here with them.

[hollow5555]

...but I just realized the WinTV-USB2 doesn't have the IRBlaster to change channels on my digital cable box... Does that sound right? I'll confirm with Hauppauge.

The problem is I have digital cable that i'd want to just read the signal in from on channel 4 of the tuner (like I do on my tv)..

[sub]

...but I just realized the WinTV-USB2 doesn't have the IRBlaster to change channels on my digital cable box... Does that sound right?

Yes, thats correct. It does not include an IR Blaster.