Media PC Spec check please

The tuner built into your TV is COMPLETELY separate to the tuners built into the capture card. For what the Nova-T 500 costs, I'd say get that, even if you're only going to be recording with it. Just gives you the option to record two programs simultaneously, or two that overlap slightly - with a single tuner card you wouldn't be able to do that.

Note that if you want to keep your TV plugged into the aerial feed, you'll need to split the feed - one for the tuner card, one for the TV - which will lose you signal strength. Hopefully it will still be sufficient (it was for me - just), but if you have a loft amplifier with a spare output the best thing would be to run two separate feeds to the room your setup is in.
 
Freakitchen said:
The tuner built into your TV is COMPLETELY separate to the tuners built into the capture card. For what the Nova-T 500 costs, I'd say get that, even if you're only going to be recording with it. Just gives you the option to record two programs simultaneously, or two that overlap slightly - with a single tuner card you wouldn't be able to do that.

Note that if you want to keep your TV plugged into the aerial feed, you'll need to split the feed - one for the tuner card, one for the TV - which will lose you signal strength. Hopefully it will still be sufficient (it was for me - just), but if you have a loft amplifier with a spare output the best thing would be to run two separate feeds to the room your setup is in.
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Cleared something up for me there - I thought the TV cards would have and input and an output like VCRs. Hopefully the signal strength will be enough!

The Nova T 500 is £50. I'm really not that bothered about being able to record 2 things @ the same time so are there any cheaper options with one tuner? I notice there are a lot around the £25-30 mark, and there's no point in me paying extra for 2 tuners if i'll never use it.

Thanks for your help dude.
 
I've only used Hauppauge cards so they're really the only ones I can recommend. The single tuner version of the Nova T-500 is just called the Nova T - just make sure you get the PCI version.

And no, unfortunately the cards don't have the RF Loop like VCRs. I just got a standard Y-Splitter for my setup. If that's not enough then there are other options, but no point getting into them if the passive split works!
 
I think you'll find that watching tv through the media center is a lot easier than changing to the tv's tuner. I think that the guide is a lot nicer than the one on my tv (Samsung) too. The dual tuner is really worth the extra.
 
why would you need to split the signal 3 ways? all you need is a single feed into the tuner regardless of whether its a dual or single tuner. I wouldnt bother using your tv's built in tuner. It’s annoying flicking from one source to another and mce provides such a good experience with dvb and its programming theres just no point.

If recording one channel while watching another appeals to you then grab a dual tuner card like the nova t500. In MCE 2005 you could actually run two single cards to carry out the same function, but for some reason this fails to work in vista at this present time.
 
I think i'll go for the dual tuner, you can do some cool features like see your tv channel in a window while browsing etc.

I disagree with not using the tvs tuner though. I will only be using the media centre when I want to record, play movies or music. Much easier to turn the tv on and press the channel than it is to boot up your pc, grab your keyboard, open MCE etc etc. Plus the guide on my TV (panny th42px80b) is very good.
 
Do tv cards come with software to setup timed recordings, different channels, etc or do you have to subscribe to a media software?
 
Well, it's all ordered now. Thanks for your help guys.

Final Spec:

Samsung SpinPoint T £48.99
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H AMD 780G Micro-ATX £52.99
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4800+ 2.50GHz £43.99
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz £24.99
Pioneer BDC-202BK 5x BD-ROM £72.99
Antec Fusion HTPC Case - 430HE Watt PSU 99.99

Total price £410

Add to that a Hauppauge Nova T-500 dual tuner from PC World (got vouchers) £50

And a sweet media keyboard - Genius LuxeMate 810 £45
review = http://www.xtremecomputing.co.uk/review.php?id=353&page=2

So all in about £500. I'm well pleased with the spec. Should be schweet.
 
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