TV , on PC , Bikr needs teh help...

[bikr]

Ok.. Here's the situation , my parents left town on a 3 week... Err.. Nevermind..


Anyway.. I have aquired a compaq theatre pc 9000 which is basically a 100mhz computer , that runs windows 95 and has 128 megs of ram<--thanks to my upgrading it to that..

It has a tv tuner card <--or built in to a riser , anyway.. It has multiple inputs ,etc...

The system when purchased , came with a 36 inch monitor , yes , a vga monitor , the thing is massive , right now it serves as my television in my bedroom , It's pretty cool , but with limited usb support , and no chance of wireless without a nic card and ethernet bridge , etc.. It's lacking..

I don't want to run cable etc.. I am pondering taking my fiance's old machine , a duron 1.0 ghz and putting it in the bedroom on this monitor.. Here are the things I need to consider...

1. TV Remote , and keyboard etc...
The monitor has built in IR sensors , and the vga cable has ps2 mouse and keyboard cables atttatched to it.. The unit came with a wireless keybaord with built in mouse and wireless remote with built in mouse.. I'd love to retain these and use these as my keyboard and mouse. I am pretty sure it just passes standard keyboard and mouse signals into the ps2 ports , so I doubt this is a problem , however , the new tuner card , that I buy for the new pc , must be able to accept the signals for changing channels etc.. If they are fully programmable in a (touch whcih key you'd like to use as channel up) fashion then I should have no problem , but I foresee having to use some sort of macro software..

2. Sound ...
The monitor has built in speakers and I would love to use them of course untill I get a surround system for in the bedroom .. This is not a problem unless the tuner card has it's own audio out , which even then shouldn't be a proiblem as i'll run it to the PC in and have the pc's audio out , going to the tv speakers , there will be a volume problem on pc sounds , ending up in a difference between tv sounds and computer sounds etc.. but this is already the case with the current setup so isn't much of a problem at all..


3. Recording...
I want to record tv shows , so therefore , timed recording would be a plus , I want the card to work with free guide services , so that we can browse shows , and set when to record etc.. Have it automatically record the shows we have set to, and view them at a later time.. I know most tuner/capture cards , can capture , but I don't know how they work as far as setting up recording time etc.. I'm sure we'll see many of these features flooding the market soon but as of right now I don't know what is out there..

4. Wake..
Right now , with the windows 95 system it's on , the monitor shuts off when you press power , and it goes into a kind of sleep mode , basically like standby on windows 95 normal pc.s. the disk every once in a while reads , but other than that nothing happens , only pressing power on the tv , or the remote can wake it. I'd like to have the system in a standby state at all non use times , however with recording etc.. monitor off may be the best bet..

5.. On/TV Buttons..
The monitor itself has built in channel and Volume buttons , however these are only passing info to the tuner card I'm sure as regular keystroke combos etc.. As the remote has them as well..

Well with all of this in consideration I want to hear your ideas for my new Bedroom Media Center PC....

I have seriousley considered getting a copy of Windows XP media center edition , but the resources it requires is out of reach for my 1ghz machine. I'm sure it'd install and run but wouldn't be as stable as i'd like and could cause choppy video , plus buying their remote is borederline neccisary and thus I couldn't use the one I already have.. It also only works with very vew capture cards which at the present time aren't the cheapest things on the market..

Let me know what you think and I'll take all thoughts into consideration while working on this project.. --Josh

[Buster]

Most all of the ATI All in Wonder cards do what you need as far as channel guides and recording. Also some good software to use is from Snapstream , I have been using snapstream with an ATI Radeon AIW for a couple of years and I love it.

[bikr]

Fantastic , snapstream looks awesome , Exactly what I was looking for , does it custom tailor it's guides to your cable co and location etc..?? --Bikr

[bikr]

another question , do you know if the system will work signals from a ps2 ir device rather than usb? --Josh

[Kauhiboy]

Originally posted by bikr
Ok.. Here's the situation , my parents left town on a 3 week... Err.. Nevermind..


Anyway.. I have aquired a compaq theatre pc 9000 which is basically a 100mhz computer , that runs windows 95 and has 128 megs of ram<--thanks to my upgrading it to that..

It has a tv tuner card <--or built in to a riser , anyway.. It has multiple inputs ,etc...

The system when purchased , came with a 36 inch monitor , yes , a vga monitor , the thing is massive , right now it serves as my television in my bedroom , It's pretty cool , but with limited usb support , and no chance of wireless without a nic card and ethernet bridge , etc.. It's lacking..

I don't want to run cable etc.. I am pondering taking my fiance's old machine , a duron 1.0 ghz and putting it in the bedroom on this monitor.. Here are the things I need to consider...

1. TV Remote , and keyboard etc...
The monitor has built in IR sensors , and the vga cable has ps2 mouse and keyboard cables atttatched to it.. The unit came with a wireless keybaord with built in mouse and wireless remote with built in mouse.. I'd love to retain these and use these as my keyboard and mouse. I am pretty sure it just passes standard keyboard and mouse signals into the ps2 ports , so I doubt this is a problem , however , the new tuner card , that I buy for the new pc , must be able to accept the signals for changing channels etc.. If they are fully programmable in a (touch whcih key you'd like to use as channel up) fashion then I should have no problem , but I foresee having to use some sort of macro software..

2. Sound ...
The monitor has built in speakers and I would love to use them of course untill I get a surround system for in the bedroom .. This is not a problem unless the tuner card has it's own audio out , which even then shouldn't be a proiblem as i'll run it to the PC in and have the pc's audio out , going to the tv speakers , there will be a volume problem on pc sounds , ending up in a difference between tv sounds and computer sounds etc.. but this is already the case with the current setup so isn't much of a problem at all..


3. Recording...
I want to record tv shows , so therefore , timed recording would be a plus , I want the card to work with free guide services , so that we can browse shows , and set when to record etc.. Have it automatically record the shows we have set to, and view them at a later time.. I know most tuner/capture cards , can capture , but I don't know how they work as far as setting up recording time etc.. I'm sure we'll see many of these features flooding the market soon but as of right now I don't know what is out there..

4. Wake..
Right now , with the windows 95 system it's on , the monitor shuts off when you press power , and it goes into a kind of sleep mode , basically like standby on windows 95 normal pc.s. the disk every once in a while reads , but other than that nothing happens , only pressing power on the tv , or the remote can wake it. I'd like to have the system in a standby state at all non use times , however with recording etc.. monitor off may be the best bet..

5.. On/TV Buttons..
The monitor itself has built in channel and Volume buttons , however these are only passing info to the tuner card I'm sure as regular keystroke combos etc.. As the remote has them as well..

Well with all of this in consideration I want to hear your ideas for my new Bedroom Media Center PC....

I have seriousley considered getting a copy of Windows XP media center edition , but the resources it requires is out of reach for my 1ghz machine. I'm sure it'd install and run but wouldn't be as stable as i'd like and could cause choppy video , plus buying their remote is borederline neccisary and thus I couldn't use the one I already have.. It also only works with very vew capture cards which at the present time aren't the cheapest things on the market..

Let me know what you think and I'll take all thoughts into consideration while working on this project.. --Josh

I suggest that you purchase a megabox computer....In New Zealand this computer is a must for those who wants all from their system