Windows Media Center / Home Premium to record Freeview+cable

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Hopefully this is a simple to answer question.

I built a small pc last summer with the intention of using as a home-theatre pc, particularly for acting as a freeview PVR. However, since then I have got Telewest (now Virgin) TV, and need to integrate this in.

My original install was using Ubuntu and MythTV, but I never got this running how I wanted and university work prevented me from polishing it off.

I am considering swapping to MCE2005 or Vista Premium OS for ease of setup so I can get it working again. I plan to use a red-eye ir-blaster to output IR signals to the the Telewest STB, but would also like to keep my existing Freeview card(s) in parallel to allow watching of freeview when recording Cable TV. I have read that this might not be possible :( , but I hope I am mistaken. Does anyone have any experience of such a system.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

I also am debating whether to go for MCE2005 or Vista Premium, seeing as they are about the same price. My media box is quite humble (Turion ML-28, 512Mb, Nvidia 7300) would it be able to hack Vista? Would the x64-edition be a good option?

Hmm, so a fair few questions. Any answers would be great, as it would save me a whole lot of hassle (or disappointment if I end up with something that doesn't work).

Thanks :)
Jon
 
i use a dual dvb-t card on vista and it does allow to record one channel and watch another... so i guess it would work with your freeview card and cable with a capture card or a dvb-c card

u could run vista but i would say upgrade your ram to 1gb or 2gb
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the reply I thought a RAM upgrade might be needed. Another 512Mb isn't going to break the bank I guess.

I plan to use an existing capture card for the Telewest box, I don't know of any DVB-C that work with UK cable TV. It was the combination of cable/freeview that I wanted to check if anyone has experience of.
 
Dihi Doctor said:
Thanks for the reply I thought a RAM upgrade might be needed. Another 512Mb isn't going to break the bank I guess.

I plan to use an existing capture card for the Telewest box, I don't know of any DVB-C that work with UK cable TV. It was the combination of cable/freeview that I wanted to check if anyone has experience of.

are u on digital Telewest? if u are, digital cable = dvb-c
 
gareth170 said:
are u on digital Telewest? if u are, digital cable = dvb-c

Sorry, I meant to say that I don't know of any DVB-C TUNER CARDS that work directly with UK cable providers. I.e you have to go through the STB so that they can use their encrytion etc.
 
Apologies for a double post, but does anyone know if I could do this (freeview and cable) using MediaPortal instead? I have a spare XP licence kicking around so it would be a cheaper (and possibly better) option.
 
Dihi Doctor said:
Apologies for a double post, but does anyone know if I could do this (freeview and cable) using MediaPortal instead? I have a spare XP licence kicking around so it would be a cheaper (and possibly better) option.

yes u can
 
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