2008-12-12, 10:40 AM
I've had enough with Comcast. Our rates are outrageous. I have decided to drop cable completely and build a PVR. I am building from scratch and have no spare parts. I am hoping to do this as cheap as possible. However I don't want to spend too little and get something that has bad picture or is jittery. I am hoping to have two ATSC tuners to record whatever I can get over the air. I will watch that plus I am planning on streaming from netflix and sites like hulu. I plan on keeping comcast internet and will probably have a hard wired connection to the router.
So how much CPU and motherboard do I need. I would like to be able to record on two tuners (I could drop to one tuner) and watch recorded content at the same time. I had picked out the cheapest one at newegg with an HDMI out but the I read that the radeon 3200 video is bad and I should go with nvidia 9400 or at least 8200.
How about:
$60 motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813135085
$57 athalon chip
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819103211
Case with 270w power supply for $59
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811121068
500 GB hard drive for $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6822152052
4gb ram
any rec's
OS
I can get pretty much whatever thru my wife's school for free. Should I get Vista MCE?
I know on top of this I need two tuners. I'm confused as to why some tuners cost $20 after rebate and some cost $120. I read that with ATSC they should all have the same quality. Do I need one with a remote so that I can have a remote sensor.
What about a remote. I have a harmony 520 that I would like to use if possible. I would need something to control playback and enable FF/RW etc.
Thanks
So how much CPU and motherboard do I need. I would like to be able to record on two tuners (I could drop to one tuner) and watch recorded content at the same time. I had picked out the cheapest one at newegg with an HDMI out but the I read that the radeon 3200 video is bad and I should go with nvidia 9400 or at least 8200.
How about:
$60 motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813135085
$57 athalon chip
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819103211
Case with 270w power supply for $59
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811121068
500 GB hard drive for $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6822152052
4gb ram
any rec's
OS
I can get pretty much whatever thru my wife's school for free. Should I get Vista MCE?
I know on top of this I need two tuners. I'm confused as to why some tuners cost $20 after rebate and some cost $120. I read that with ATSC they should all have the same quality. Do I need one with a remote so that I can have a remote sensor.
What about a remote. I have a harmony 520 that I would like to use if possible. I would need something to control playback and enable FF/RW etc.
Thanks