Main > Everything Else

Recommendations/Suggestions for building HTPC

<< < (2/3) > >>

Goz:
It really depends on the content that you intend to play as to what sort of horsepower you will need.

HD WMV, H.264, ISO's images all take a bit more juice to get a good playback.

Of course you could blow that budget by just buying an HDDVD or Blueray drive.

knave:
www.tomshardware.com Has a section on HTPC.  I've found the write-ups great and they usually cover some pretty cool cases and other components.

Crax:

--- Quote from: lcddream on November 02, 2007, 01:08:56 pm ---
gbpvr - free
Mediaportal - free
SageTV - not free but It's what I settled on after many many hours of tinkering


--- End quote ---

I don't have a dedicated HTPC, but I do have a tv card in my regular pc I use for everything and I also use SageTV.  The default install isn't bad, but once you go to the forums and get it all setup with the many addons available, it's great.  I would recommed SageTV for a windows system as well.

I  also never did hear what you would be hooking up to your system.  Do you have a dish/satellite/antenna?  If you have satellite and depending on cable as well, you will most likely need to use an irblaster and hook your satellite reciever up to your HTPC.  Sage does a good job of getting them all working together.

somunny:
Thanks for all the info.  Looks like I have quite a bit of research ahead of me.  :)

I have a question:


--- Quote from: lcddream on November 02, 2007, 01:08:56 pm ---
gbpvr - free
Mediaportal - free
SageTV - not free but It's what I settled on after many many hours of tinkering


--- End quote ---

Do these programs run on xp or are they standalone?

lcddream:
they definitely run on xp, not sure about other os's.

the only problem with the two that are free, or any other free TV software is getting the channel listings. You used to be able to get them free from a company called Zap2it, but they recently discontinued this service.

With a program like sage you get the listings as part of the programs price.

If you do try sagetv(they offer a 15 or 30 day full trial), be sure to try out the plugin called SageMC. Sage just wouldn't be the same without this plugin.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page

Go to full version