Newbie who is completely lost..need step by step guide to setting up a PVR. (1 Viewer)

[Libertarian]

Hi folks, unfortunately I'm a complete noob when it comes to PVRs but this software looks VERY interesting to me!

PC specs:
Core 2 Duo 2.4ghz
Windows XP Home
2GB ram
300GB SATA hard drive
8800GT

The only thing I believe I'm missing is a TV tuner card. I am confused because there are SO MANY different options for TV tuner cards! On top of that, I see many complex terms being thrown around here (codecs, compression, plugins, XML lists, etc) that make my head spin. I just want to keep things as simple as possible and am wondering if someone could give a brief "MediaPortal for Noobs" guide.

My cable company went all digital a few months ago. My question is: Is it possible to get a PVR up and running that can record digital channels without lots of computer skill and without spending more than $200?

If so, it would be a dream come true. Given my specs above, I would really appreciate some advice on where to go next. What specific cards or hardware do I need to buy to get a perfectly running PVR with MediaPortal? What specific codecs and software do I need to download to retrieve local listings and schedule recordings? What specific combination of hardware/software have worked well for you??

If I could get an exact list of things that definitely work with MediaPortal, it would be awesome!

P.S. I'm willing to spend a bit more on expensive hardware if needed, but I would really like the CHEAPEST options possible! Any help greatly appreciated!

 

[craigparris1]

Hi Libertarian,

Well, welcome to the world of the Home Theatre PC! Like countless others before you, your "I'm a newbie, how do I set this up for $x?" is just a tiny drop in a giant ocean of similar questions. And, unfortunately, the vast array of different answers is an even bigger ocean !!!!

Having said that, though, it's not always as daunting as it seems. My MediaPortal story can be found here (2 months into my journey, and I'm certainly not finished by any means, BUT I do have a working system).

There are a few things, though, which are always different for everybody - and that's the reason why there's no standard, vanilla response to setting everything up. You've specifically mentioned "PVR" in your subject line, and asked about TV card hardware for a "perfectly running" Media Portal setup. This is a whole other tangent in itself, and if you've got the time, I'm sure you could spend days trawling through the posts not only on this site, but a myriad other HTPC sites, discussing "which TV card is the best?". If you read the post for my build, you'll see I'm running 2 x Leadtek DTV1000S cards - these are going great, so far, and were only about $40 each. Do a search for "hardware" on the MediaPortal forum and read some recent posts - you should get an idea of the sorts of hardware that people are having success with, then you can see what fits your budget. You've also got to consider what slots (PCI, PCI-e) you've got available in your machine, and whether you want single, dual or more tuners.

So, once you get your TV card, you're certainly almost there. Let's talk about your hard drive, though. You've just got the one SATA drive? If so, I'd say the recommendation from the majority of MediaPortal users would be to invest in at least one more drive. You really want to try and have a separate drive for MediaPortal to record to, one that doesn't have your OS/program files on it. I'm running three drives - one for OS/apps, one for timeshifting files and one for recordings. So far, I haven't had any problems recording two shows at a time, plus watching live TV, or watching a previous recording. If all that was running off one disk, though, I'd say it would definitely struggle.

Aside from that, the specs on your machine seem fine. I'm running a much lower speed CPU, but I've never seen my CPU much over 20-25% - I'm not actually outputting to a HDTV, though, so I can't comment specifically on what extra requirements there might be if you've actually going to be viewing in HD.

In terms of codecs and TV-guide functionality, again, there are a mountain of posts in the forum to go through, but here's my quick story: I have PowerDVD 7.3 installed, which I'm using as my TV codec - however MediaPortal does come with built-in codecs for standard def digital - you'll only need something extra if you want to get HD channels as well. As I said before, search the posts - you'll find a long line of users who both like and dislike all the different available options (like ffdshow, CoreAVC, etc. .....). EPG/tv-guide functionality is going to be fairly specific to your region. I'm in Australia, and up until now I've just relied on the broadcast EPG, but I'm certainly find it a bit lacking - I'm just in the process of configuring my setup to use a local, free EPG provider. The TV-server component of MediaPortal has an XMLTV plug-in, so if you can get an EPG in that format, you'll be able to upload that. If not, there may be someone who's written an EPG plug-in for your region - check the plug-ins pages. Most of the time, I just schedule shows using date/time - not the EPG - but I do like the program name to end up on the recording, which doesn't happen if the EPG info is missing.

Well, there you go - a reasonably quick answer on everything, yet look how long it is! All I can say now is GOOD LUCK! Don't forget - search the forums, chances are pretty good that you'll usually find an answer to your question because someone else has already asked it!

Cheers,
Craig

 

[Libertarian]

wow, thanks a million! I knew this question had probably been asked before and I expected to get a "Do a search noob!" answer but you actually gave me a real one. That was very helpful.. Thanks again.

 

[Spragleknas]

*Giving craigparris1 a [Thanks!], since newcomers can not*