pc to tv

Jay A · 19 Jan 2008 at 20:15

Hi folks

was clearing up a load of stuff here at home this past week and found that I've got some decent spare components and a case or 2, so I thought I might try and throw together a pc that I could connect to my hdtv and use as a media center and hopefully a satelite recorder (I think you'll get what I mean

).

And that brings me to my question: is it possible to setup/connect this pc (with a tv card or whatever) so I can record things via the satelite connection? If anyone has some tips on this - or better yet if you've done this yourself - please let me know! I's certainly appreciate it.

divine` · 19 Jan 2008 at 20:17

Probably best of having this moved to the Home Cinema + Hi Fi section, they know a bit about HTPCs which is what you're wanting to achieve.

Jay A · 19 Jan 2008 at 20:21

Ooh - sorry! Any chance someone could move it for me please?

Ben M · 19 Jan 2008 at 20:25

Yes, first you have to get to your pc, then go to the OcUK forums, then you have to post in general hardware.

afraser2k · 19 Jan 2008 at 20:36

Jay A said:
Hi folks

was clearing up a load of stuff here at home this past week and found that I've got some decent spare components and a case or 2, so I thought I might try and throw together a pc that I could connect to my hdtv and use as a media center and hopefully a satelite recorder (I think you'll get what I mean ).

And that brings me to my question: is it possible to setup/connect this pc (with a tv card or whatever) so I can record things via the satelite connection? If anyone has some tips on this - or better yet if you've done this yourself - please let me know! I's certainly appreciate it.

First thing is finding out what connection you're going to use from the PC to TV. Does your TV have a VGA/PC connector at all? I'm not 100% sure but IIRC VGA was better quality than S-Video and VGA is how I've got mine setup. The alternative as I said was S-Video but I had a few problems with NVidia drivers at the time trying to get the RGB signal. I think this was just down to my old TV not accepting RGB though. That'll enable video playback so I don't know if you'll need a modern card for proper HD.

What are you using for your TV? Terrestrial, Freeview or Sky/VM? I was using a Hauppauge HVR card to record TV from my old Pace VM box though I didn't check for V+ box connections. I don't think it should be too different with HD channels. If you're using Sky then use a DVB-S enabled TV-card. The Hauppauge HVR-4000 seems to be the top-end card you want but out of stock at the moment on OCUK. You might also want to consider remote control peripherals like the MCE 2005 remote and MCE keyboard (keyboard requires an MCE 2005 update to enable it properly under Windows XP).

For software I used MCE 2005 and it was easy enough to setup though became a problem due to hardware issues and OEM activation so I just went with Windows XP and Media Portal. You could also try MythTV if you have any experience with Linux. There's an Ubuntu-based project called Mythbuntu that works well.

In my HTPC/PVR I was using a Western Digital 500 Gb AAKS drive for media storage as I was soon filling it up with DivX movies and MP3 music so might be something else to consider, whether or not you'll store media on the PVR or on a main machine/NAS.

Jay A · 19 Jan 2008 at 21:42

Yep - my tv has a VGA connection on the back of it. I guess that card is ok for playing stored recordings back through to the pc aswell, so if that's the case - great. I have a spare E6600 dual core cpu sitting here so that's hopefully a good thing. Was looking at the Windows Media Centre stuff aswell as possibly setting up Linux aswell, but it all boils down to whether or not a card like that Haupage one you suggested let's me run a connection from the back of my Sky+ box to that and then to the tv itself. I guess it can be done somehow so that's just something I need to work on.

All I really need now is some memory, a hdd or 2 for storage, a pc vga to tv cable and I'm mearly set. What compnents do you have on your system (i.e. case...)?

afraser2k · 19 Jan 2008 at 22:21

I've got an old Shuttle SB75G2 though I'd recommend a desktop or slimline system for putting under your TV in your stand so that it doesn't look out of place.

My full system is pretty basic though enough for playing DVDs/Music: Shuttle SB75G2, 1 Gb RAM, 2.4 GHz "Northwood" CPU (as my version doesn't accept Prescott processors), 500 Gb SATA hard disk, FX6100 graphics card, on-board Realtek AC 97 audio. The memory is enough for running Windows XP with Media Portal though I don't know about Vista. Components you want really depends on what you want your system to do.

Jay A · 20 Jan 2008 at 17:05

I'll be going for (more than likely) a shuttle unit as this would be sitting on a shelf next to the tv itself. I'll check out that card soon but one thing though: what cable to do you use to connect it to the satelite unit? Is it a normal coaxial one?