Harware Suggestions Needed (2 Viewers)

[meyersmp]

Area: Hardware
MP Version:
Skin:
Windows Version: XP SP2
CPU Type: Intel Celeron 3.06 GHZ
Memory: 1GB DDR 400
Motherboard Chipset: Abit
Video Card: Onboard



Synopsis: I did a quick test drive of Media Portal on my laptop and really liked it. I'm just starting to build a system to use with Media Portal. So far all I've got is an Abit Motherboard with onboard video and an Intel Celeron 3.06GHZ processor. I want to order my tv tuner card as well some of the other componenets but would first like to get some advice from the forum.

I'll be using MP with Dish Network, so I assume the only way to make that work would be with a IR blaster and Dish Network reciever. (1)Correct? ((2)Are there any TV tuner cards that would not require a separate Dish reciever and IR Blaster?)

Second, TV tuner card problem. I'd like a good card, not a super expensive card. I have no experience buying these types of cards and I'm not sure what I should be looking for in a good card. I'm willing to pay for a good card but not an amazing card. (3)Recommendations?

(4)Lastly will my Celeron 3.06 GHZ processor have enough power for MP? I assume the TV tuner Card does most of the encoding work and the processor isn't working as hard on that.

Thanks for the help and time. I'd also appreciate any tips regarding the Dish Network setup compared to a regular cable one.

 

[Spragleknas]

1. Yes
2. Don't know
3. Hauppauge PVR-150
4. Yes, as long as you have a HW-based TV-card (See 3.)
Extra: You should probably get a stand-alone gfx

 

[falser]

3Ghz is plenty of speed. You don't even need a tv tuner with hardware encoding like hauppage 250, just the 150 is fine.

 

[chili]

Yea, to schedule recordings and such, you will need a blaster. The MCE remote/receiver is a good, cheap option, or if you get a Hauppauge card with remote it will work too.

umm, the PVR-150 is a hardware encoder card.

I agree that you will be better off if you get yourself a dedicated dx9 capable video card.

Dishnet setup is pretty simple. What will help you a lot is to go to the downloads and get the zap2it epg plugin. If you have more specific setup questions, just post them here and I can try to help.

 

[Tech Geek]

1. Yes
2. There are no legal options I'm aware of for Dish or DirecTV.
3. PCIe or PCI?
If you have PCIe slots:
$65 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815117802
Actually as good as you can find and for little more than a decent (not crap) software tuner. The video capture from the SVideo is very good.
The only PCIe option.
PCI versions are $69 without rebate.
The Happauge 150 are very good as well, no PCIe version. It's slightly cheaper for PCI.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815116633
I think in high quality mode the ATi 550 based cards (the first 2) have a slight advantage with some video sources but you may not even notice since your planning on using satellite output.
4. Your Celeron should be fine.

 

[Spragleknas]

3Ghz is plenty of speed. You don't even need a tv tuner with hardware encoding like hauppage 250, just the 150 is fine.

Rather have 2 GHz AMD64 than 4 GHz Celeron.... I don't belive the celly furfills the "2.8 GHz Pentium4 or eq." statement from D-MAN

 

[Tech Geek]

3Ghz is plenty of speed. You don't even need a tv tuner with hardware encoding like hauppage 250, just the 150 is fine.

Rather have 2 GHz AMD64 than 4 GHz Celeron.... I don't belive the celly furfills the "2.8 GHz Pentium4 or eq." statement from D-MAN

Oops... I thought the 150's all had a hardware encoder.
It's the PVR-150 that has it and it's $85.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815116631

I'd go with one of the ATi 550 based cards in that case.

 

[onkl]

150's are hardware encoding cards. More specific, I'd guess they are the most popular cards around in the MP community. :wink:

 

[Spragleknas]

3Ghz is plenty of speed. You don't even need a tv tuner with hardware encoding like hauppage 250, just the 150 is fine.

Rather have 2 GHz AMD64 than 4 GHz Celeron.... I don't belive the celly furfills the "2.8 GHz Pentium4 or eq." statement from D-MAN

Oops... I thought the 150's all had a hardware encoder.
It's the PVR-150 that has it and it's $85.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815116631

I'd go with one of the ATi 550 based cards in that case.

Perhaps I missunderstod;

If you have PCIe slots:
$65 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815117802
Actually as good as you can find and for little more than a decent (not crap) software tuner. The video capture from the SVideo is very good.
The only PCIe option

If you have a software tuner you celly is a bit weak. If you go for the PVR-150, which is HW-based, yoou CPU is fine.

 

[meyersmp]

PVR-150 vs PVR-250

Thanks for all the help. I'm about to buy the PVR-150 which has the IR blaster bundled from what I understand, and I saw the PVR-250 which seems to be almost identical. Is there a reason to jump up to the 250?

I'll definetly get a separate video card, and I appreciate the discussion on the Celeron vs Pentium. I've always gone with AMD Athlon 64's but I found an amazing deal on a processor - Motherboard combo with the celeron. I'll let everyone know how it works out. I expect the TV tuner Card and the Video Card to take most of the load of decoding and encoding the signals. So I'm hoping.

Thanks again everyone.