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HTPC software / TV card
sobermoode
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've been wanting to set up a HTPC for a long time now, and after reading about the Acer X1200, I've been reading up on software to run it with and tv cards, etc. I went through the list of HTPC software on wikipedia and I like the sound of Mediaportal. I just want some feedback if anyone has used it and what TV cards they like the best. I looked at the list of supported cards on the Mediaportal site and looked a few up on Newegg, but again, would like some feedback. Any suggestions for a first time HTPC builder are welcome, thanks 
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. sobermoode on
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As far as that computer, I think you could build a more capable machine yourself with an amd 780G motherboard, which can decode 1080p avc video and MPEG2 with its video subsystem using DXVA. EDIT: I guess that machine's got NVidia's equivalent video processing technology, I have no experience with it.
I use windows media center with an ATI TV Wonder 650. It currently works pretty well, I actually like the picture with it better than the picture with my TV's built in tuner.
The only issue I've ever had with the card is the driver. The one on the CD works perfectly, but if I get the one from AMD's website or let windows update update the version, I get a blue screen whenever I try to access the tuner.
EDIT2: Mediaportal interests me, I'm downloading it right now.
I was looking for it to support the one thing that's missing in Windows Media Center, which is QAM support with my tuner card. So far it looks like that's a big fat no go.
As far as the paid options go, any recommendations?
I have A LOT of TV series on my comp and the MP-TV Series plugin is simply awesome. If your files have some sort of logical naming system the setup is fairly painless. It will automatically search for the series info from thetvdb.com. That can include banners, a synopsis, screen caps for each episode, DVD covers, credits and more.
I found the best and most simplest naming scheme is "series" - "season"x"episode#" - "episode title".
Say I had the 11th episode in the 2nd season of Metalocalypse titled Dethrace. It would be:
Metalocalypse - 2x11 - Dethrace.avi
You can find bulk renamers to do this for you. I think this one was the one I used.
I got a XPS 420 with digital tuners, which works well, when MS isn't breaking it with crippled updates. Things have improved greatly after Vista SP1.
thegreenbutton.com is the best forum I've found to read up on Media Center, lots of tuner card info there, but mostly VMC related.
I got a XPS 420 with digital tuners, which works well, when MS isn't breaking it with crippled updates. Things have improved greatly after Vista SP1.
thegreenbutton.com is the best forum I've found to read up on Media Center, lots of tuner card info there, but mostly VMC related.
This is mainly what I want to use it for, along with music, etc. I download a lot of shows, even stuff broadcasting in the US, but I figure I might as well use it as a DVR as well, since the one in my receiver has pretty small disk space, and no easy way to offload content. This way I can save myself some download time at least.