United States of America
hi everyone, im attempting to turn an older PC into a HTPC. i generally feel pretty confident in buying and installing computer parts and educating myself on this kind of stuff, but i have to tell ya, this one has me stumped 
. there seem to be so many variables in specs and such. anyway, let me tell you what ive done already and what im trying to do.
the PC i want to make the HTPC
-Intel P4 2.41GHz
-ATI Radeon 9000 64MB DDR
-512MB RAM (will be upgrading this to 2GB with next pay check, so disregard the 512MB)
-80GB Internal IDE Hard Drive, 1.5TB Internal SATA Hard Drive, 320GB External IDE Hard Drive
-Windows XP Pro SP3
-Media Portal ver 1.0 RC4
-TV-Server ver 1.0 RC4
-27" Olevia LCD (1080i)(1 VGA, 1 HDMI, 1 Component, 1 Composite, 1 S-Video, 1 Very Poor ATSC Tuner)
-DirecTv Receiver D11 (USB Port equipped for USB/Serial box control)
now what i want to be able to do is mostly record TV Shows/Sporting Events/Movies that i miss while at work or out with friends. from looking at various options, im pretty sure this PC should be able to handle all i want to be able to do right now. i DO plan on buying or building a new PC sometime next summer so this thing just has to do the job for right now. it's also for this reason that i really dont want to break the bank on it .
the parts i believe i need
-TV Tuner Card (must be PCI if internal, maybe an ATSC Tunner as well, maybe eSATA if external (if they make those), standard def is fine now since ill get HD on the new one)
-Graphics Card (must be AGP 4x, doesnt need to be fancy, im a console gamer so it doesnt need to play games)
-USB to Serial cable for controlling the DirecTv receiver (already found this i believe)
-IR Remote (needs to be able to control the PC and TV)
-Wireless Multimedia Keyboard w/ built in mouse of some kind
im only trying to do this now because im going to loose mind missing all my shows and attempting to watch them on Hulu with my slow internet connection at home (Satellite Internet). i mostly use my PS3 and Nero MediaHome for my media needs now but that doesnt cover new TV Shows. so again, i really dont want to break the bank on this (trying to see what i can do with less than $200 between the TV Tuner, Graphics Card, USB to Serial Cable and Remote). mostly ive just been getting confused with some of the specs such as "supports 125 channels" when my DirecTv has way more than that and how much power i need in my Graphics Card.
so hopefully someone can help to recommend some good cheap parts they know of because i just seem to be going in circles now trying to figure out what i need to get to finish this thing. in advance.
. there seem to be so many variables in specs and such. anyway, let me tell you what ive done already and what im trying to do.the PC i want to make the HTPC
-Intel P4 2.41GHz
-ATI Radeon 9000 64MB DDR
-512MB RAM (will be upgrading this to 2GB with next pay check, so disregard the 512MB)
-80GB Internal IDE Hard Drive, 1.5TB Internal SATA Hard Drive, 320GB External IDE Hard Drive
-Windows XP Pro SP3
-Media Portal ver 1.0 RC4
-TV-Server ver 1.0 RC4
-27" Olevia LCD (1080i)(1 VGA, 1 HDMI, 1 Component, 1 Composite, 1 S-Video, 1 Very Poor ATSC Tuner)
-DirecTv Receiver D11 (USB Port equipped for USB/Serial box control)
now what i want to be able to do is mostly record TV Shows/Sporting Events/Movies that i miss while at work or out with friends. from looking at various options, im pretty sure this PC should be able to handle all i want to be able to do right now. i DO plan on buying or building a new PC sometime next summer so this thing just has to do the job for right now
. it's also for this reason that i really dont want to break the bank on it .the parts i believe i need
-TV Tuner Card (must be PCI if internal, maybe an ATSC Tunner as well, maybe eSATA if external (if they make those), standard def is fine now since ill get HD on the new one)
-Graphics Card (must be AGP 4x, doesnt need to be fancy, im a console gamer so it doesnt need to play games)
-USB to Serial cable for controlling the DirecTv receiver (already found this i believe)
-IR Remote (needs to be able to control the PC and TV)
-Wireless Multimedia Keyboard w/ built in mouse of some kind
im only trying to do this now because im going to loose mind missing all my shows and attempting to watch them on Hulu with my slow internet connection at home (Satellite Internet). i mostly use my PS3 and Nero MediaHome for my media needs now but that doesnt cover new TV Shows. so again, i really dont want to break the bank on this (trying to see what i can do with less than $200 between the TV Tuner, Graphics Card, USB to Serial Cable and Remote). mostly ive just been getting confused with some of the specs such as "supports 125 channels" when my DirecTv has way more than that and how much power i need in my Graphics Card.
so hopefully someone can help to recommend some good cheap parts they know of because i just seem to be going in circles now trying to figure out what i need to get to finish this thing.
in advance.