HTPC On a Budget (1 Viewer)

[Marcusb]

hi Semichco,

I have the Digital Now Dueal Hybrid card. I love it. I haven't been able to get analogue to work with MP, but then again , I haven't tried that hard.
I also have a Compro t300 (which is good value and works well) and a Dvico Dual DTV card (which sucks and now isn't even in my PC, it's sitting on the desk). The digital now seems the best in terms of reception strength and all round reliability. I bought mine from eyo.com.au and found it was about $20 cheaper than buying it straight from digital now. You can also save a further $20 by not buying the software that comes with the card. I like that choice a lot. Most of the cards come bundled with crap software that still finds its way into the price.

Again, don't buy anything to improve the performance of your PC until you actually try it with the parts you have. Then you can upgrade if needed. This is especially true for the gfx card.

 

[semichco]

Thanks Marcusb,

Well i have not purchased anything yet so i guess when i come to buying the system ill do it without the graphics card and see how it fairs. As for the tuner i think ill go with the digital now. After Ogden mention not using anologue anymore i can see his point so ill probably just stick with the dual digital one.

 

[charli181]

Semichco,
Just as a thought, Using the analogue tuner, you posibly plug your old VCR(VHS/beta Max??) (lol) into it and and transfer viseos into digital media. Thats about the only advantage unless you don't get digital in your area......

 

[semichco]

Nope, dont own a single vhs tape, and we get sd and hd into our area.

 

[charli181]

you are young then...............

 

[semichco]

Quick question Marcusb with your Dual Hybrid (or anyone else that has one) Do you need to use the supplied remote to change channels or can that be done with say the microsoft media center remote though the antecs supplied ir receiver?

I ask this because i note this tuner is supplied with its own ir receiver and remote. I want to use one remote & keyboard to do everything within media portal.

I have too many remotes as it is... tv, amp, dvd... i dont want another two for a media center

 

[OgdenP]

Quick question Marcusb with your Dual Hybrid (or anyone else that has one) Do you need to use the supplied remote to change channels or can that be done with say the microsoft media center remote though the antecs supplied ir receiver?

I ask this because i note this tuner is supplied with its own ir receiver and remote. I want to use one remote & keyboard to do everything within media portal.

I have too many remotes as it is... tv, amp, dvd... i dont want another two for a media center

I don't have a dual hybrid, but I do have two adaptors (Compro DVBT-300 and a DigitalNow TinyTwin - a total of three tuners) in my HTPC and each unit was supplied with its own remote. I don't use the remote that came with either unit. I use an MCE Remote to control Media Portal and the tuners (no trouble changing channels).

 

[semichco]

Just thought id update the thread and say i have purchased everything for my media center apart from the case.

The specs have changed a bit from the original post. Specs now are:

CPU AM2 Athlon 64X2 5200+
MAINBOARD Gigabyte MA69GM-S2H
RAM DDR2 2GB CORSAIR TWINX 6400 KIT
GRAPHICS ONBOARD
CASE - SAVING FOR ORIGENAE CASE
KEYBOARD\MOUSE Microsoft Media Center Keyboard
TV TUNER Digital Now Dual Hybrid
HARD DISK SAMSUNG 500GB 16MB
DVD DRIVE ASUS SATA LIGHTSCRIBE
REMOTE Microsoft Media Center

Prices have come down a bit so it gave me the luxury to get some better components.

 

[ian123]

Hi, just to update regarding the Avermedia Hybrid Duo pci-e A177. I just put one in (only cost $A105) and got it working with the digital tuners. Will now add the analog side (I hope) and get it fully working. Will post the XML config when done.